I bought a set of 09 wheels and tires with TPMS. How far can I drive my 07 before the computer figures out that the TPMS are not registered to the car yet?

 

~20-25 miles or ~ 1 hour in my experience.

When this happens you just get 'X' for the PSI and the warning light. You also can't go into competition mode, just turn off traction control.

 

Approximately one hour.

And that's one hour without shutting the car down.

If you had one/two/three bad or unregistered sensors, as soon as you start driving the TPMS would get a signal from at least one sensor and be expecting to hear from the others - so you'd get DIC messages about low tire pressures within a minute or two of starting to drive.

However, with NO sensors registered, the TPMS won't get any signals form any sensors. In that case it takes about an hour before the car figures that the TPMS must be at fault (it can't imagine that you would drive without any sensors!). So, after about an hour of steady driving, you'll get a "Service Tire Monitor" message in the DIC.

The simple solution is to just register the sensors - it's about a one minute procedure.

Bob

 

And if you have your old wheels in the garage next to the car and you don't drive very far each time you go out, the car will just keep reading the old ones every time you come home. Many here have misunderstood this situation and assumed that somehow the car found the new sensors on its own.

 

Thanks guys. The dealer is about 8 miles from my home and I wanted to make sure I wouldn't have any problems getting there.

 

You wont have any problems.

I drive to the dragstrip (55 miles), race all night and drive home without any issues. I've also kept the wheels on for 3-4 days after to drive to work.

I could care less about something trying to tell me they're not working :P

As far as I'm concerned, you could drive indefinitely like that.

 

I have been driving with out the sensors for 4-5 days now on my track wheels.

Can some one give more info about "Competitive Mode" without TPMS

 

???

You can't take the TPMS out of the car or disable it (although Phoenix Racing may have come up with that capability for a track only car). Federal law requires all cars to have tire pressure sensors and a TPMS, so it can't be disabled in a street car (sort of like seat belts, or catalytic converters).

I think you mean you don't have tire pressure sensors in your track wheels.

Comp mode without tire pressure sensors is the same as Comp mode with them.

If none of the 4 sensors in your track wheels are programmed into the TPMS, you should be able to drive for approximately one hour before the car thinks the reason it isn't getting tire pressures is due to the TPMS computer in the car (actually part of the RCDLR module), and not a bad sensor.

During that one hour, you SHOULD be able to go into Comp mode or turn AH off completely - so you shouldn't have any problems during track sessions less than one hour long. Some cars built at different times throughout the C6 run seem to have different tolerances to running without any sensors, so YMMV.

You'll probably see tire pressures displayed in the DIC, but those are the last "remembered" tire pressures that the TPMS received from the sensors that are programmed to the car.

If you unhook the battery, the TPMS will lose those last remembered pressures, and you may have problems as soon as you start to drive. In that case, you MAY not be able to go into Comp mode or turn AH off - but you'll just have to try it in your car to see how it reacts to no sensors.

Like cclive said, if you have your street tires in your garage or in the pits with the sensors that are registered in the TPMS, if you park within 30 or 40 feet of them the TPMS may pick up those tire pressures and keep the DIC display current with the pressures of the tires that are not mounted on the car.

The sensors in those tires will only transmit once per hour, because they're not turning.

When you start driving, the sensors wake up and start transmitting once every 60 seconds.

Now, what was your question about Comp mode???

Bob

 

Thanks for the info Bob,

yes I don't have TP Sensors in my track tires & I already drove more than one hr on them, I currently see a notification on DIC about the Tire System (don't remember the exact phrase it says, but I always just push the reset button & it goes away but the warning light stays on, got used to ignoring it), I am not having any problems(traction related) with the car though.

Now my question is, is it true that you cant go into "Competitive Mode" without the TPMS sensors & I did get the answer to that from your previous post.

Guess I need to start looking for used TPMS sensors in the FS sections

 

The DIC message you probably got after an hour of driving was "Service Tire Monitor" (meaning it thinks the TPMS computer in the car is messed up), and it may have been followed by "Limit Speed to 55 mph".

During that one hour, you should be able to go into Comp mode or turn AH off completely, but at the approximately one hour time into your drive, if you were in Comp or had AH off, it would automatically come back on.

When you get that message, you should be able to stop, shut the car down, restart, clear any messages, and then you should be able to go into Comp or turn AH off for another approximately one hour.

Like I mentioned, if your TPMS doesn't have any last remembered pressures (i.e., the DIC displays "xx psi"), you may not be able to go into Comp or turn off AH.

If you go out on the track and are unable to go into Comp mode, when you start cornering aggressively and trying to accelerate hard at track out, the car may pull power on you - it will reduce timing and/or fuel flow and it can be pretty dangerous when other cars behind you expect you to be accelerating fast out of the corner. Maybe even worse than the lack of power is the AH jerking the car around when it puts on individual brakes to keep the car going straight.

I've had that happen and it totally screws up your track session. I've had a sensor stop transmitting at NJMP and Daytona, and both times I just had to come back into the pits and attempt to reprogram the sensors. In one case I programmed in my backup tires that were stacked up in the pits (wheels don't have to be on the car to program the sensors) and was able to go into Comp mode (the HPDE track sessions were 25 to 30 minutes, so I didn't run into the one hour time where the AH would automatically come back full on).

I do like very much having sensors in my track wheels. It's nice to know if you're losing pressure during a session, and I have seen a high pressure warning when the pressure gets up over 42 psi.

That's the whole purpose of not being able to go into Comp or turn off AH - it's to protect you if you're losing pressure in a tire, whether on the street or the track. It will pull power on you to keep you off the guard rail on the off-ramp, or the tire-wall at the track!!

Good luck, and have fun at the track!!

Bob

 

This didnt happen yet , I better start looking for the sensors..

Thanks a bunch

 

What year is your car?

The 2005-2009 uses one model sensor, and a 2010+ uses a different one.

If you have a 2005-2009 you'll need a tool to trigger the sensors during the procedure.

Bob

 

Its an 08, wont the tire mounting stores have these tools?

Just got back home & took the car for a drive. Soon as it turned on it gave me the "Tire Service Monitor" message, as usual hit reset & it cleared, but the low pressure symbol was still highligted.

Was able to turn off TC & AH, able to use competitive mode, everything worked just normal, took the car for a quick spin trough some high speed turns with Competitive mode enabled, nothing abnormal, though it might not be the same on track..

But just for my peace of mind I am still getting the TPMS Sensors.

Btw here is a thread I started after seeing this one in Autocross & RoadRacing section:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/auto...pros-cons.html

 

Pardon my ignorance, but how/who do you register the TPMS? I just had tires installed by Big O and with a new TPMS that I purchased elsewhere and had them install(had 1 bad sensor). The display is showing tire pressure x. They gave me the old sensor, so I believe they installed the new one.

 

If you have a 2010+ C6, it has a different TPMS computer in the car, therefore uses different tire pressure sensors in the wheel than the 2005-2009.

The 2010 does not require a tool - you can do the procedure by just letting air out of the tires to trigger the sensor. You'll just need a compressor to pump the tires back up after you program the sensors.

I looked in your profile, and it looks like you have a 2006 - so you'll need a tool. I can't believe your tire shop didn't take care of you as part of their service!!!

Take a look at the video below. When you take it back to get the procedure done, you probably better be prepared to show them how to do it!!

Good luck!

Bob





.

 

Great Video..

How much do these retail for, I would need it as I have different sets for track & street, cant ask the shop to do it every time I switch wheels

 

Looks like they go from anywhere around $100 all the way up to several hundred, is there a specific make/model you need for a C6?

 

Here's info from forum vendor Gene Culley's website (gmpartshouse.com):
I know forum vendor Bob's House Of Wheels has very good prices on them (I think less than $200 for a set of 4).

You can find used ones on eBay for around $30 or $40 each.

The 2005-2009 sensors won't work in a 2010+ C6, and the 2010+ won't work in a 2005-2009 C6 - so get the correct ones for the model year you have.

Bob

 

Gene is selling all 4 for 170$, Bob for 180$.

I am trying to find out the price for TPMS tool, is it car model specific/will it work on any car..

 

Of course vettes have had the TPMS forever, '97 C5 onward (might have been an option on even the later C4s with optional run flats if I remember correctly). Other cars that didn't normally have TPMS had to phase it in based on the following rules from NHTSA.

They made some exceptions to the above time frame but those were the general dates of compliance. Anyone interested can read more about it here.

http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/ruli...nalrule.6.html

I'm not trying to be a smart a** just thought I'd clarify the above bold statement a bit. I know I was wondering about the rules one time so I thought maybe someone else might have wondered about it also.