Dropped off the wheels and sensors to be mounted with General Altimax Arctics in 215/60/16 hopefully by Friday.
I'm hoping that the vt30 issue is resolved by then as I only have the sensors on the car to test with anymore. I got some fresh 9v batteries today to help eliminate that as a possible cause.
One thing I am curious about if anyone has mounted stock steelies on their Kizashi--do the lug nuts that come with the sport 18s work? Or will I have to get a set of lug nuts for the steelies?
My Dealer-less TPMS Tire Change Story
Forgot to note that the service writer at the shop kinda lit up when I mentioned the Arctics--there's a guy in their shop that ice-races every weekend and that's the tire of choice of all the racers. 
Sounds like a strong choice for daily driving. 
Sounds like a strong choice for daily driving. So update. The tires were ready this morning so I went to pick them up. They actually had them nicely bagged and ready to go. They had a lot of documentation on the balance as well as the tpms kit they used. Everything looked good and up to spec. I was pleased that I chose this place as they exceeded my expectations. They also printed out a whole lot of information on the ice autocrosses--at $20, I'm going to try it if I can!
I took the vt30 with me and on a whim while I was waiting, I tried to read a sensor through the bag and it worked! I didn't have any repeated luck later with another tire, but I didn't really try as I was more interested in mounting them since I could work on the tpms later.
I mounted them myself and took my time spending about 3 hours in our apartment dimly lit garage (you think they'd change the bulbs with how much we pay). I inspected the brakes, rear shock stops, and tire wear while I was at it.
Brakes looked fine, rear shock stops look like the pre-tsb design, and I have a good reason to believe the passenger side is creaking/leaking. The alignment is definitely off as the inside was worn on the fronts just as has been described here. So glad I've been reading about this as I wouldn't have thought much about it if I didn't know about the tsb.
Lug nuts weren't tightened properly on the rear with some on the border of actually being loose. I didn't have a torque-wrench, but I've borrowed a neighbors (he works on his car right next to me in his parking spot), and need to just get the 19mm socket for it.
Oddly enough, the brake scraping went away with the new wheels, although the caliper clearance is really tight, more than I would normally be comfortable with. I might get the stock steelies for the Kizashi if there's more clearance, so just get some more sx4 crossover wheels and switch the setup next time.
The car seems lower, although that may be just an opical illusion. I hope it's not lower because that's definitely not a plus in snow.
Interestingly enough, the tpms light is not on. We're about to go for an extended drive (wife is calling me to go already), so I'll report back later.
I was pleased that I chose this place as they exceeded my expectations. They also printed out a whole lot of information on the ice autocrosses--at $20, I'm going to try it if I can!I took the vt30 with me and on a whim while I was waiting, I tried to read a sensor through the bag and it worked! I didn't have any repeated luck later with another tire, but I didn't really try as I was more interested in mounting them since I could work on the tpms later.
I mounted them myself and took my time spending about 3 hours in our apartment dimly lit garage (you think they'd change the bulbs with how much we pay). I inspected the brakes, rear shock stops, and tire wear while I was at it.
Brakes looked fine, rear shock stops look like the pre-tsb design, and I have a good reason to believe the passenger side is creaking/leaking. The alignment is definitely off as the inside was worn on the fronts just as has been described here. So glad I've been reading about this as I wouldn't have thought much about it if I didn't know about the tsb.
Lug nuts weren't tightened properly on the rear with some on the border of actually being loose. I didn't have a torque-wrench, but I've borrowed a neighbors (he works on his car right next to me in his parking spot), and need to just get the 19mm socket for it.
Oddly enough, the brake scraping went away with the new wheels, although the caliper clearance is really tight, more than I would normally be comfortable with. I might get the stock steelies for the Kizashi if there's more clearance, so just get some more sx4 crossover wheels and switch the setup next time.
The car seems lower, although that may be just an opical illusion. I hope it's not lower because that's definitely not a plus in snow.
Interestingly enough, the tpms light is not on. We're about to go for an extended drive (wife is calling me to go already), so I'll report back later.
More notes. Well, tpms light came on about halfway to our destination. Not really as much of a bother as I thought it would be, but it did freak out the wife like I expected. Definitely glad I'm working on resetting this myself.
On a related note, I tried testing the car again in the same icy/snow-covered parking lot with the tpms flashing and didn't notice that the esp didn't kick in. I'm not sure if I didn't push it far enough or what. I did try turning off the esp and it still behaved the same. I couldn't recall if the esp kicked in before. I'm going to study the factory service manual and see what it says about the system and failsafe modes.
I used the factory jack from the car to remove each tire and put it back on. I usually do this since it's great practice with the tools you'll have in case you have to do this at the side of the road. I wasn't partcularly impressed by the quality of the jack or its design. While the design is similar to that of my 95 Altima, 94 Accord, and 96 Galant, it just doesn't work as well. The wrench can easily slip off the end of the piece that goes in the jack, and the jack seemed to be made with much thinner metal than I've worked with before.
Everything worked relatively fine, but it definitely wasn't impressive for Japanese quality. I believe it was the factory jack since it had the tag attached to the wrench and everything was in the places in the trunk foam insert. But one thing I was curious about was all the other spaces in that foam insert--was I missing some things? All I have is a jack and two tools. Anyone else have more in theirs?
One thing made my day--I found a metal license plate frame with a laser etched 'Kizashi' in the trunk foam! I guess it was from the original owner. It even looks nicer than the factory one like this:
Tommorrow is tpms day and hopefully everything will just work. But if not, I'll talk to ateq on Monday and see where that new firmware is. It's only a matter of time before I'm done with this project.
On a related note, I tried testing the car again in the same icy/snow-covered parking lot with the tpms flashing and didn't notice that the esp didn't kick in. I'm not sure if I didn't push it far enough or what. I did try turning off the esp and it still behaved the same. I couldn't recall if the esp kicked in before. I'm going to study the factory service manual and see what it says about the system and failsafe modes.
I used the factory jack from the car to remove each tire and put it back on. I usually do this since it's great practice with the tools you'll have in case you have to do this at the side of the road. I wasn't partcularly impressed by the quality of the jack or its design. While the design is similar to that of my 95 Altima, 94 Accord, and 96 Galant, it just doesn't work as well. The wrench can easily slip off the end of the piece that goes in the jack, and the jack seemed to be made with much thinner metal than I've worked with before.
Everything worked relatively fine, but it definitely wasn't impressive for Japanese quality. I believe it was the factory jack since it had the tag attached to the wrench and everything was in the places in the trunk foam insert. But one thing I was curious about was all the other spaces in that foam insert--was I missing some things? All I have is a jack and two tools. Anyone else have more in theirs?
One thing made my day--I found a metal license plate frame with a laser etched 'Kizashi' in the trunk foam! I guess it was from the original owner. It even looks nicer than the factory one like this:
Tommorrow is tpms day and hopefully everything will just work. But if not, I'll talk to ateq on Monday and see where that new firmware is. It's only a matter of time before I'm done with this project.
Well, I didn't have high hopes, so I wasn't diappointed. The vt30 read one sensor and the Bartec read none. I think the Bartec goes back on Monday, and I'll call ATEQ to find out where we are on the firmware.
Hopefully by next Friday I can report on my sucessful relearn.
Hopefully by next Friday I can report on my sucessful relearn.
So before I called to return the Bartec, I described my problem with the sensors triggering fine outside the wheel, but not when mounted. They mentioned to check the 9v battery and make sure it's absolutely fresh. I'll try it again with a fresh battery in the Bartec and see what happens. It would be nice to have the tpms light off.
Tried a fresh battery yesterday. Still only got one sensor to trigger. 
Talked to Bartec again today about any other ideas, and the only idea they had is that the unit might be bad.
I called ATEQ right after Bartec and they literally got the new firmware while I was on the phone. They're going to test it and then send it my way. Today might be the day! 
Talked to Bartec again today about any other ideas, and the only idea they had is that the unit might be bad.I called ATEQ right after Bartec and they literally got the new firmware while I was on the phone. They're going to test it and then send it my way.
Today might be the day! Unfortunately, I don't have any of my cameras with me.mgp123 wrote:Samird,
When you get an opportunity, can you get pics of your wheels and tires on here? I would like to see them.
Thanks
I don't have one good picture of the car or anything. 
And I used to take pics like this on a regular basis:
I plan to bring at least one of my cameras back to MKE after my next trip to HSV. Hopefully that will be in the next two weeks.
Then I'll get some shots for you, although everything will probably be dirty from the snow and salt. 
Got the email from ATEQ for the new firmware, but I'll have to try it tomorrow. They also sent some special instructions about the Kizashi/Continental/Siemens/VDO sensors. I'll need to understand that too as it may explain why both the Bartec and vt30 are having trouble.