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TPMS Diagnostic Tool - Whether to purchase or not
I do the winter wheel swap which presents the issues of registering the TPMS sensors. The dealer charges $25, a local mechanic charges more although I forget the price, perhaps $60? A tire dealer manager told me $90, those people are insane. So far I have used the dealer a couple of times and also have left the sensors unregistered for the entire season. I am debating purchasing an Autel TS601 at about $300. This would pay for itself at less than six years versus the cheapest service alternative.
All of this tire monitoring, while having the convenience of seeing slight pressure differences which prods me to pump up the tires, was created for the worst case scenario. But it does not always catch the worst case. I had this happen where possibly a pot hole cause a problem. I parked the car then came back after work. I heard a hissing. I keep a cheap cigarette lighter pump in the vehicle and used that, then went directly to the tire store. In this case the valve stem had come lose and they tightened it. If I had begun driving it would have taken a minute for the TPMS to register the pressure, a time during which the wheel could already be damaged. My conclusion is that I still must visually inspect the tires when I return to the vehicle, every single time, even with TPMS.
So, do I put more money into this system and dutifully register the TPMS every time, more for the sake of convenience of seeing the numbers in between manual checks? Or do I just go back to basics, visually inspect the tires frequently, occasionally put the pressure gauge to them, and not sink any more money into this excessively convoluted and pricey system?
All of this tire monitoring, while having the convenience of seeing slight pressure differences which prods me to pump up the tires, was created for the worst case scenario. But it does not always catch the worst case. I had this happen where possibly a pot hole cause a problem. I parked the car then came back after work. I heard a hissing. I keep a cheap cigarette lighter pump in the vehicle and used that, then went directly to the tire store. In this case the valve stem had come lose and they tightened it. If I had begun driving it would have taken a minute for the TPMS to register the pressure, a time during which the wheel could already be damaged. My conclusion is that I still must visually inspect the tires when I return to the vehicle, every single time, even with TPMS.
So, do I put more money into this system and dutifully register the TPMS every time, more for the sake of convenience of seeing the numbers in between manual checks? Or do I just go back to basics, visually inspect the tires frequently, occasionally put the pressure gauge to them, and not sink any more money into this excessively convoluted and pricey system?
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Comments
What car? Some brands tpms has auto register function after 50 miles
"and also have left the sensors unregistered for the entire season."...
You can buy Tpms relearn tool (search on ebay). It costs near 20$. To relearm tpms sensor just 2 buttons.
There are no such low-end solutions for this vehicle from my research.
I had to laugh when the site popped up with "Discounts Up To" $200 on your first purchase.
I get all my wheels online and have Tirerack include sensors, so those bonus sensor packs would be a waste for me.
Merely the need to get any of these is frustrating. This relearn should be a ten dollar operation.
The large selection of these devices by the same maker is convoluted. There is a large family of them with singular differences. This seems like a racket, like the PC industry used to be, where they deliberately make minor differences to force techs on an upgrade path.
I am thinking I will just commit to one of these, get it over with, and hopefully be set for a long time to come.
Aermotor tire pressure relearn tool costs 20$ on ebay.