Winter Tires and TPMS Sensors
 

Hello Everyone,
I have looking at getting a set of winter tires for my RX8. I reviewed and spoke to several people at tirerack and found the following package:

4 225/50QR17 Dunlop Graspic DS-2 $103.00 $412.00
4 17X7 ASA JS1 Silver w/Machined Lip $119.00 $476.00
Total: $888.00

Plus shipping, however when I spoke to the sales rep he mentioned that the TPMS sensors were approx. $106 per wheel which is more than the tires and I am not really willing to pay. I have done a search and from what I found is that:

1. No ability to measure tire pressures (under 26PSI -- over 49PSI)
2. TPMS Light Stays on (Can be covered with a litle black piece of tape)

Are there any other things I should be concerned about?

Thanks,
Stephan

Anyone??

I don't think so. I will be installing my winter wheel and tire package for the first time this year, and I didn't opt for the TPMS sensors. My research turned up the same results as yours. Some have reported that the car will beep at you during startup for the first couple times the TPMS reports a problem, but goes away after a while. I plan to use some black electrical tape to cover the flashing indicator light if it bothers me too much. However, I have experience dealing with flashing indicator lights. My previous car, a '92 Mitusbishi 3000GT, had a two-mode (touring/sport) electronically-controlled suspension. However, that system failed 5 years or so into the life of the car and was not worth the cost of repair. As a result, there was a constantly flashing "sport" light in the instrument cluster.

I was considering the Graspics but they are not directional tires. You get what you pay for and they are the cheapest. If you are set for the Graspics you might want to consider 215/55/17 as it has been exposed before that you want to go narrower for winter tires.

As for the TPMS, I will also be using a piece of tape instead

_____________________________-

Not being a tire expert what are the key benefits of directional tires.. I understand that they are designed to travel in one direction, do they disperse the snow and water better? How great of a benefit is this? Handling?

I took off the TPMS at the last minute from my order with TireRack. With the winter wheels and tires mounted, I'll see a flashing light on the dash about 15 minutes after the car is started. I don't know about you, but I don't find the flashing light annoying enough to justify splurging $400 (even though it's a good safety feature).

I don't know about you, but I don't think I would like to be driving on a flat tire in the snow and not know early on, especially when the feature is available in this car.

I agre with you that I don't want to be driving on a flat tire in the snow, but don't you know if when you're tires are low and if its just a mater of checking the tire pressure once a week I can save over $400

Yeah but what happens if you check your tires weekly on Sunday nights and you get a flat on Wednesday. The fact that you dont know early on could mean the difference between a $15 patch or a $200 tire.

Why wouldn't you know early on that you had a flat tire? I would think that it would be immediately evident from the dynamics of the vehicle, even if you are driving on snow.

The way I see it, it would take 3 ruined wheels or tires (cheap 17" winter set) due to flat tires to justify the $400+ that the TPMS sensors cost. I guess you could argue that a single crash would justify the cost of the sensors, but if a flat tire is the cause of a crash, I'd argue that it probably happened so fast that TPMS sensors wouldn't have helped.

And if you didn't buy the spare and you use their tire repair goop then your tire is ruined anyway. The only flat I have had in the past 20 years (I'm old) that wasn't a slow leak was from hitting a curb that was buried in snow and it tore out the sidewall. Spend the $400 on an exhaust, you'll be happier. :D

There's supposed to be a benefit in terms of handling and overall performance of the tires. I got this from the web:

"Directional tires have a "one-way" tread pattern that are optimized for the direction the tires rotate on the car. They must therefore be mounted on either the left or right side. Little arrows or triangles on the sidewall indicate which way the tire is supposed to turn. The tread blocks and grooves are angled to optimize handling. They also do a good job of channeling water (snow) out from under the tire on wet surfaces to reduce hydroplaning and improve wet traction. Directional tires can be rotated front-to-rear but cannot be rotated side-to-side. "

I also passed on the TPS sensors, - the light (as mentioned above) normally doestn even start flashing till about 15-20 minutes in....when you turn off and on again, so far for me at least, the light is off, then starts flashing later...in my opinion very bearable. on a road trip, id consider tape, but its not too bad right now.

with a tire gauge, and just spot checking your car, it could save you lots of money to pass on them. but its up to you, it is a nice feature and we all get lazy about checking pressure.

I ended up ordering a set of 215/55QR-17 Dunlop Graspic DS-2 and x7 Sport Edition Fox 2 Sport LT GREY rims. So all in all it should look pretty good on a black car. I passed on the TPS sensor as I normally check it once a week anyway.. And they should be arriving next week so I'm pretty excited.

Have people forsaken responsibility in the name of technology? Buy a good gauge and check y'alls tires, people. :)

:D