My Dealer-less TPMS Tire Change Story

[SamirD]

SamirD I have to thank you for your in-depth research of the TPMS system. I had been watching Ebay for a VT55 for months and almost spent more than $500 a couple times. Luckily I was outbid in the last few seconds. When I replaced my broken TPMS sensor I thought I would try letting out air from the tires but did not expect something so simple to work. I decided I would try letting the air out three times, if it didn't work I would get serious about getting a VT55. It worked the first time I tried!

I'm glad you didn't get the vt55 either. Especially since the vt30 I have works well and for less than half the cost. But what works even better and more consistently than the tools is the 'air out of the tire' method. That triggers the sensors every time. I kinda kick myself for not trying it the day one day when I put air in the tires, but I guess it helped us know more about the tools too.

You're welcome. I'm glad it was able to help you, and the many others who have expressed their gratitude.

[SamirD]

So we come full circle. I put back on the stock sls wheels this weekend with the bridgestone potenzas on. Guess what? No tpms light.

[SamirD]

What gets me is that doesnt make sense. There is a delay before the light goes on, but ive been driving long enough that the light should have already turned on if its going to.

According to suzuki, the kizashi doesnt have the ability to store two sets of sensors.

[KuroNekko]

So we come full circle. I put back on the stock sls wheels this weekend with the bridgestone potenzas on. Guess what? No tpms light.

I'm going to have to read this entire thread when I get new tires and have to deal with TPMS. I'm most likely going to get the same Potenzas as you so keep us posted on their performance and your impressions of the tires. Thanks.

[SamirD]

So I jinxed myself--the tpms light came on during a drive today.

Time to pull out the vt30 and relearn the sensors.

I like the Bridgestones so far. They are definitely not as harsh as the Dunlops were at ~30k, ride smoother even over the same bumps, and have this 'basketball' like feel between you and the road. A slight bit of bounce or a cushion of air that you know is there. Pressure is at 38.

They have superior cornering than the worn Dunlops at ~30k, and make it seem effortless. I purposely tried to push them today on a corner that's a sharp 90 (think parking lot 90) that's marked as 15mph. I hit that corner at at least 30mph and tried to turn extra fast and sharp to make it understeer. No drama at all--it just stuck and went. I really missed the fast and sharp turn-in of the sport tires--very nice.

[SamirD]

Just relearned the sensors from the sport sls wheels using the vt. It timed out on me the first time, but i got it on the second. Easy peasy.

[PittsburghJoe]

So we come full circle. I put back on the stock sls wheels this weekend with the bridgestone potenzas on. Guess what? No tpms light.

Thanks for the tire review. I'm considering these as well. You say they're superior to 30K dunlops but how would you say they compare to new ones?

[SamirD]

So we come full circle. I put back on the stock sls wheels this weekend with the bridgestone potenzas on. Guess what? No tpms light.

Thanks for the tire review. I'm considering these as well. You say they're superior to 30K dunlops but how would you say they compare to new ones?

That's a hard call since I never rode on the Dunlops new and don't even remember what they look like anymore.

I think they would be a little more grippy and more lateral traction at the limit, and possibly smoother. But again, these are almost wild guesses since the Dunlops seemed to deteriorate in quality very quickly and extrapolating from the deteriorated ride to the original can't be as linear as I estimated in my guess.

[Itexmon]

Hey guys! I've been lurking the forum for a long time.. and for a while I didn't have a kizashi. I bought a used one recently (a few months ago) and the previous owner apparently was cheap with tires and their maintenance. I didn't notice this until after I bought it, but it had four different brands of tires, and one was a different size, and it was in the front! This may have been the cause of the couple of times my transmission went into limp mode.

Anyway, the guy also had one regular rubber valve instead of the sensor.. so obviously the system would always give me that horrid yellow light. I've been following the thread.. A couple of weeks ago one tire developed a slow leak.. turns out it had been patched before.. Anyway in the constant air-ups I actually cracked the tip of the valve stem.. So I ended up calling the dealer to ask for the part number on my sensors.. Got them on ebay (used, four) and had two of them installed. Two because one was broken and one was non-existing. The other two on the car seemed fine. I did that yesterday at a tire place that turned out to be really good.. the guy was really careful with the tightening. (Also had a successful 4 wheel alignment there for 70 bucks!).

Went home and spent a good while trying to put the car into learn mode.. once I finally got it (thanks to these Instructions ) I let the air out of the tires and on the second try the dash read "Low Tire Pressure" At that point I was ecstatic because I knew it worked!. Aired up and all was good. Until today.. this morning on my way to work the light came back on.. Service TPMS.

I did the method again and its gone.. but, is this going to keep happening? What's going on here? Any ideas?

Thanks,
Albert

[redmed]

Service TPMS. Every time I had that it was a problem with one of the sensors. Now you have to guess which one it is. Unless you can find someone with a TPMS tool. Otherwise I would start with the two sensors you just put on. I programed my sensors back in May by letting the air out and everything has been fine since.