ok so my car now has 4500 miles on it and my tire pressure gauge came on.... filled up all the tires with air and they all had between 20 and 30 psi on them. i feel like an idiot for not checking them sooner but has anyone else had problems with this? the max pressure was 51 psi and i've never had problems with any other cars i've owned losing pressure this fast....

 

Was it cold outside and had you not driven you car for a while? Heat changes tire pressure readings.

I think I do 32 in the front and 30 in the rear. My light never comes on.

 

nope i live in florida........ not cold

 

hmm .. interesting .. I wonder at what psi below 32 does the TPMS indicate a warning.

Bodi

 

one of my tires was at 22 psi, and the warning came on while i started it up to drive to work, then it shut off as i started the car up to leave.... came on again this morning so i filled them all up

 

So? I live in texas and sometimes get the warning if my tires are cold and not filled up.

More importantly, does the warning go away after driving for a bit?

 

If you want to get max life out of your tires...and have the maximum performance and safety...you need to check tire pressure and rotate the tires often.

Check the tires pressure at least once a month...and rotate every 5-6000 miles. When the weather changes...the tires need to be checked.....pressure is directly related to temperature

All the little things...................

 

i plan on rotating my tires every oil change ( as recommended from the dealer).... still though i've only had the car 2 months and the tire pressure is at 22 psi at one tire and under 30 on the other 3. NOT USUAL!!!!

 

Look at all of the tires, make sure there isn't a nail in one of them that could be lowering the tire pressure.

 

I keep my tires all at 35psi. Anything other than that and my light comes on.

#518

 

1. make sure that the valve cores are tight
2. get an accurate air guage. not a $2 walmart toy.
3. check the pressure every week. low profile tires do not hold a lot of air (are you accustomed to the bif balloons on an suv?) you don't have to lose a large qty of air for the pressure to drop dramatically

 

you need to get a more accurate pressure guage. the tpms should only register at something like 26 lbs if I remember correctly. that is already dramatically under inflated. if you are putting 35 lbs on your guage to turn off the tpms your guage sounds like it way off.

 

The TMPS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) sensors are set to trip the dash light on low pressure of about 26-28 psi and high pressure of about 48 psi. The book and door jamb sticker calls for 32 psi for stock tires. I run mine at 33 psi front and back and check them at least once a month. And always check tire pressure when tires are cold since pressure goes up due to temperature increase when driving.

 

I think I had a pretty good gauge on hand. I wish they had a more sophisticated system to tell you which tire is low and such. I rarely have issues...I had a nail once, but that's about it.

 

What Dave said. The light is triggered at 5psi below or above the min and max, the numbers being what Dave mentioned above.

And living in Texas, your light will sometimes come on when it's cold in the morning. Although your tires will more than likely warm up and the light will go off, you still need to add air to your tires. The light means you need air period, regardless of the weather.

 

I'm glad they aren't on our cars...they are glorified idiot lights...

 

The maximum pressure listed on the tire sidewall has absolutely NOTHING to do with the pressure you should be using. You should NEVER be anywhere close to the maximum sidewall listed pressure. That's a safety rating, and isn't related at all to the tire pressure that you should be using. See the door sticker or owners manual for the actual tire pressures to use.

Just thought I'd mention that, since you brought up the max sidewall pressure!

 

the temperature in Massachusetts changes like mad (at least this year). It was 20F in the middle of the week and today its 60!! Its warmer than Sacramento, CA .. hehe. So I have been checking it every week.

anyway the manual mentions using a digital tire pressure gauge. I wonder why? The only difference I have seen is that the digital gauge that I have does not seem to let out too much air when getting a reading as opposed to my analog unit.

Bodi

 

^^ Ditto that with Texas weather too. It's gonna be 83 today and only 41 tomorrow. WTH??? Good thing I aired up my tires earlier this week.

 

funny you should mention that. all the dealerships are gettign new DIGITAL tire pressure guages as part of their Special Service Tools

i check the Kowa Seiki website but dont see the tool listed yet. its like $40