Hadez

I am in the process of upgrading my wheels and was determined to go with run flats until the person asked me how I was going to know if I had a flat tire or not. I have no personal experience with run flats and just assumed that you would be able to tell from the feel of the car or maybe a slightly deflated looking tire. I asked the C5 guys and they all strongly recommended a tire pressure monitoring system such as this one from TireRack. Have you guys heard of any good/bad experience with this aftermarket system? For less than $300 complete it sounds too good to be true as I know the sensors alone from my dealer for my truck cost over $100.

http://www.tirerack.com/accessories/hella/tc400.jsp

427-390

Huh? I thought the whole concept of "run flat" tire technology was to get you off the road safely. I am pretty certain that if one of those tires did puncture, you would know right away by the way the car handles when braking or turning. Heck, $300.00 buys alot of fix-a-flat or even a few rides on a flat bed trailer Not sure about you, but in in 30 + years of driving, I have never had a tire blow out on me while driving, although I have run over nails and what not and have had tires lose air after I parked. JMHO. I hope some of the tire experts can weigh in on this. Good luck on what you decide.

I'm Batman

The whole idea of run-flat tires is so you can safely get to someplace where the tire can be repaired without carrying a spare tire.

Easy Mike

You would probably feel a puncture, but not a slow leak. My fiancee's 96 convertible has run flats and the factory low tire pressure warning system. If a run flat is low on pressure, you can't feel it from within the car. Sidewalls are stiff enough to keep the tire on the road and drivable despite the loss of air pressure.

427-390

OK, makes sense.

rdrunnur

I own a C5 with run flats and caught a nail. Tire went to zero pressure and the dashboard warning came on. Driving it to the tire store I did not feel very much difference at all. Then again I babied it.

Had it not been for the sensor I would never had known.

Rd

Jughead

I use this.

woodlandcorvette

Any more with as cheap as electronics are I can believe its not that expensive wireless pressure sensors and monitor. My wife has it on her new 350z and its ok I guess if you decide to drive 160 its nice to know what pressure tires are at. I did expect tire pressure to change on a rough road or hitting bumps but it doesnt.


Best Regards

Hadez

Okay...I think I am going to keep my life simple and stick with my current fix-a-flat cans versus adding more electronic gizmos causing more headaches if/when they fail or act up. Thanks all for your suggestions but at this time the basics will do fine for me.

GUSTO14

I have the TPMS on my 2000 hardtop and I know it has save me at least once already. These add-on systems have become so relatively inexpensive and reliable it is difficult to pass up something that can be so useful.

This one will monitor up to 16 wheels and only uses a "cap" to report.


I plan to get a system to monitor the tires on my trailer. It's a 22' enclosed trailer and I spend a good deal of time trying to view the tires to hopefully see one going down before it comes apart. I'm probably paranoid, but I check the tires at every fuel stop. I pull it with an F-250 and doubt I would notice one low on air until it was too late at highway speeds. The peace of mind towing this rig with an $80k car in it is worth the ~ $300 it costs. Heck, we spend at least that for a decent radar detector.

There are lots of systems out there in use, this is just one of them... (Oh yea, as you can tell, this system is even portable and doesn't require dismounting a tire even.)
http://www.tirepressuremonitor.com/

Good luck... GUSTO