[bdieffenbacher]

Having rotated my tires for the 1st time this last weekend I was rudely awakened to the fact (according to the dealer) that every time you rotate the tires you must have the sensors reset. he rub is that they charged me $60+ for it. I watched the guy do it and all he does is basically point a remote at the location of the sensor and press a button.

Has anyone rotated their tires yet and not taken it to the dealer to do this?

You would think they would be able to design a better system where you can rotate the friggin' tires without having to do this.

I may just forgo utilizing the TPMS option if it is truly necessary and rotate the tires myself.

 

[kooldak]

What a bummer. I am going to back to my dealer for some warranty issues later this week & plan to ask about this. I'll post what they tell me...

 

[Peaty]

Really? AFAIK the sensor is not specific to a location (eg FR, RR etc.) when a tire goes low a light on the dash comes on and then you check all 4 to see which one is low. This sounds fishy to me, I need to investigate I'll check the Service Manual to see if it says anything about this.

 

[Peaty]

A quick check here says you may have been taken on that one, I think a call to the subaru 800 number is in order to verify:

http://www.cars101.com/subaru/tiremonitor.html

Rotation? (updated May 2005) The system isn't programmed so it knows which sensor is at which wheel so there's no issue with rotations. The dashboard warning light only indicates a low tire, not which tire is low so you have to check all 4.

 

[Peaty]

OK now I'm getting conflicting info, the SM says to reregister the ID after rotating. I need to contact someone I trust and double check. Stay tuned I'll report back.

 

[[email protected]]

might as well have the dealer rotate your tires, saves you the work and it costs $20. i smell b.s. though, i'll call my dealer to find out. wouldnt adding more psi to the tires eliminate this?

 

[Peaty]

OK here is what I think. Yes technically when you rotate the tires they are to be re registered as to the location. While the dash does not say which wheel is low, the TPS monitor knows. Each sensor has a unique ID. However, if you don't re-register it will not effect the system in any way, it will still work fine and as far as you know nothing will be different for you. A tire goes low you will need to find which one. The TPS system will know but it's not going to tell you in any way unless you own a Select Monitor system like Subaru. I plan on rotating my own tires anyway. As long as the system works who cares about anything else. Since you rotate on the same side - front to back what's the difference. You have a 50:50 chance the system will know where the tire is, it's not going to change anything anyway. In my reading through the manual I did learn something else new. The proper lug nut torque is 81.1 ft / lbs. Just thought I'd throw that out there. All the other subaru's I've seen so far are around 66 ft/lbs

 

[kooldak]

Great info as usual, Peaty!

 

[Peaty]

Made a page today with more info for anyone interested.

http://www.scoobymods.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7235

 

[Drez]

At the risk of bumping an old thread, does the AWD system take into account power distribution with low tire pressure? If so the reason for re registering the TPMS sensor then would be that if it thinks the wrong tire is low on pressure and changes power distribution on this might have a minor effect on performance in some rare instances (ie when you have slippage and one or more tires are at low pressure). Just a thought.

The whole cost vs convenience of the TPMS is debate worthy though. I opted for no monitors on my winter sets as I didn't want to have to worry about reprogramming twice a year...

 

[drbrousters]

Make sure the dealer changes the air in the tires too. That old air gets dirty and throws the balance off...I'm sure they'll throw it in for less than $100...Oh...and check the pressure setting on the windshield wiper blades.

 

[cansubie]

Just to add a late few cents to this topic, as Peaty says the system does know which sensor is reporting what. For a low tire it does not matter to the driver which sensor it is, you just go check them all until you find it. But when you have a sensor failure ... which one was it again?

 

[heavychemist]

I just put my summers back onto my 08 Tribeca. I had different TPMS sensors on my winters, but one failed and I never had the reset system in the fall. So after staring at the bloody TPMS warning light all winter I just expected to continue seeing it after I put the summers back onto the Tribeca. I rotated the tires so they aren't in the same location as before. Much to my surprise, the warning light is off and I did not have to get the system reset after rotating the tires. As far as I can see, the sensors are not location specific. As long as the same sensors are somewhere on the car, you should be able to rotate the tires without resetting the system.

 

[Legolas]

Well, my issue is a little different...I have both winter and summer tires, but I have them un-mounted and re-mounted on my original rims...I was too cheap to buy and extra set of rims...My issue is here: I do NOT have any TPMS light on during the summer, but on road trips in the winter...it constantly flashes...I have checked, re-checked and triple checked the pressures and they are all within 1lb of each other...but the light still flashes...???...
Thanks for your help in advance.
Legolas

 

[cansubie]

Flashing is an indicator of a system fault. A solid light is in indication of a low pressure. In my case all 4 sensors had failing batteries around the 100,000km mark, and would trigger flashing TPMS intermittently. Perhaps you have one or more weak batteries that do not like colder weather? A dealer should be able to pull a code that tells you what the error is.

 

[timothyh]

I have a question for everyone
have not changed anything with my tires on my b9 tribecca 2007.
TPWS worked great until last week. light is on however all 4 tires are within 1 lb of each other and at max tire pressure.
light is on solid no blinking.
thoughts?

 

[timothyh]

tire pressure monitor light

I have a question for everyone
have not changed anything with my tires on my b9 tribecca 2007.
TPWS worked great until last week. light is on however all 4 tires are within 1 lb of each other and at max tire pressure.
light is on solid no blinking.
thoughts?

 

[bionicbadger]

I have a question for everyone
have not changed anything with my tires on my b9 tribecca 2007.
TPWS worked great until last week. light is on however all 4 tires are within 1 lb of each other and at max tire pressure.
light is on solid no blinking.
thoughts?

Those TPMS sensor have batteries in them and batteries die. TPMS is just a money making scheme anyway, just live with the light on your dash. I live with it on all winter when I have my winter tires on. You can feel when a tire is low.

 

[scarpi]

I like the old system better........you know when everybody was smart enough to check their tire pressure every couple of weeks and we didn't have to put up with TPMS sensors. But what do I know, I'm 66. :lol: The TPMS system in my 09 RV is constantly on. I checked all the tires and they are fine. Took it to the dealer where I bought my RV tires and they told me the sensors are ok but they couldn't put them "in the learn mode" and basically told me I could put a piece of black tape over the dash light or take the RV to the dealer. :lol: I just ignore the damn thing. I just do it the old fashioned way with a tire gauge. The dealer wanted to charge me many $$ to check the system out. :lol:

 

[JimLev]

I was reading the manual a few months ago, it said something about the tire pressure light wouldn't come on until the tire pressure was 25% low, so that's about 8 PSI low.
My light came on a few days ago most likely due to the colder weather. All tires were 3-4 PSI low. Is the manual wrong?