Anybody using tire air sensors?

ElDiablo Viper

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I had it on my Vette and they were great. I know that now you can buy them from tirerack and install on any car. Is anybody using it?
 

Viper Specialty

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I have the SmarTire full display system installed on my car, as well as another Viper locally.
 

Trbulnc

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Look for almost all car manufacturers to start using TPS (TIRE PRESSURE SENSORS) in the next few years. I work for a Tier1 OEM wheel manufacturing company, and within the past year, all the companies we supply to (GM, Ford, Honda, Nissan, Dodge, etc.) are phasing in these sensors. Many have started mass production on them so they will be more common as the days pass. On a balancing note, one supplier was not able to balance one of their steel wheels so they had to leave 4 of the holes opposite the sensor not punched to equalize the weight distribution. They do make a huge difference in balancing.
 

Joe Dozzo

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I had the SmarTire system on my car for a while...

You'll have to re-balance wheels/tires with the new sensors attached. A good idea anyway since the tires just got R&R's.

Worked fine as long as roads were dry...

On my car, when roads got wet and tires cooled, I got all kinds of alarms from the system. Some of them made sense, others did not. And it often took several days to clear the mess, almost like water got inside the tires and affected the sensors. Unless osmosis was working overtime, however, I can't really buy that argument...

In the end, I yanked the system out. For me, I found the failures more annoying than the benefits when it was working properly.
 

Ron

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Joe;

Though perhaps too late, you should call SmarTire. There was a software upgrade to the system (they replaced the display unit (no charge) not the in wheel sensors) and that solved everything. I have never had a false alarm since.

On the balancing issue, if you have the tires balanced using the latest Hunter (I think) wheel balancing machine, (the one where they flip and rotate the tire to minimize weight application by matching both rim and tire imprefections plus it runs a 700 pound pressure roller while balancing to fully seat the bead), I know you'll find absolutely no issue. I've had my car up to 150MPH post SmarTire install with "as new" smoothness. In fact, because of the ability to match rim and tire properly, very little weight was used to balance my wheels.

I'm sure Luke at TireRack can help you find the right shop in your area.
 

TZL

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I have the full Smart Tire system mounted in the 19's I run on my 2002 Audi A4 Avant. I think its great to have that security with such thin wall 19" tires, but then again, I have never had lower pressure in them.

Install is simple, here is a tip, for balancing, try to create a weight approx the same weight as the Smart Tire sending unit on the inside of the rim. And place this 180 degrees from the sending unit. This will not completely balance your wheels, but will make it a hell of a lot easier to balance with those external stick on weights.

The first time I tried to balance the wheels without the internal weights, I ended up with a mound of stick-on weights on the outside. Now how lame is that now that you spend all that money on bling bling wheels?

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