I picked up a 2005 Z4 2.5L last year and have since put on about 18K miles. I noticed that the right rear tire had worn much more (but even across the tread) than the other tires. To remedy that situation, I lifted the car up yesterday and swapped the tires front to back. After torquing the wheels and doing a quick lap of my neighborhood all looked good. This morning, I saw the red tire pressure light come on after a quick burst to 100mph on the way to work. There was no change in handling and I just checked the pressure in all four tires. All are in the 34-36 range. Any theories on the tpms light ? Thanks, Myron M. Ft Worth, TX
Did the light go off or did it remain on? If the light went off, dont worry about it. But if it stayed on, it's possible that swapping the tires may have confused the system. Might need to have the system checked or recalibrated in case the system has gotten confused as to which tires are at which locations.
This is normal. The tpms system senses differences in pressure and changes. Anytime I rotate tires it sets the system off. Often, BMW cars are spec'd at different tire air pressures for the front, and the rear. This is often true even if your wheel/tire sizes are not staggered. My convertible has larger tires on the rear and calls for 32 in the front and 39 in the rear. My sedan has the same size tires front and rear, yet still have different pressures front and rear. This is to make the car handle better. When I rotated the tires recently on the sedan it set the system off on all 4 wheels. I let air out and added air as needed to get to 32 front and 36 rear. As soon as I did the system reset itself and the alarms went off.
One thing that used to set the TPMS on our 535i was if there was a noticeable change in temperature outside. Sometimes in south Florida we go from almost 90 degrees to a chilly 72 or so overnight and that was enough to set it off.
You must be stuck in south Florida. I mean, why else would anyone tolerate such miserable weather conditions? Here in Iowa we just make sure it's too freakin' humid or too freakin' cold for the TPMS to notice.
I want to know how you people in Iowa change the weather with all that corn? That's something I'd like to know. As for being too cold, you should ask that of our BMW friends in the "frozen north" -- like Maine.
No errors today. All pressures correct. Re: Cold temps & tire pressure alerts - Since I work at a dealership, I see many folks call or come in when their TPMS lights are triggered by the change in temperature. Pressure will change by 1psi for every 10 degree change. I guess its better than folks ignoring their tire pressure until the tires fail.
After you rotated the wheels, did you happen to reset the TPMS by holding down the button until the TPMS light lights up on the dash? Once the light lights up, then drive for a couple hundred feet and it will go out. This will recalibrate your sensors to the control unit. I have to do this when there is a large temp change once in a while.
Checking in from the state of Maine - the cold does absolutely effect the system. Lots of fun! The $18.88 portable tire air pump from Wal-Mart in the trunk is a good thing!
From SIB 36 05 05: The yellow tell-tale must illuminate during the NHTSA required test within 20 minutes when there is a 25% loss in tire pressure (any or all of four tires).
TPMS inactive after wheel switch I looked at the former posts, but didn't see anything about "TPMS inactive" warnings after a tire change or rotation. I just took my snow tires off an old set of wheels from a Mercedes and put them on a new set of wheels for my 335i. With that, I transferred the TPMS valve stems. Upon restart, the system says it is inactive and won't reset. Are these universal? I have two sets of identical wheels with TPMS and had no problem with the other set on this car. BMW says I will have to replace them, and that the system wouldn't say inactive if just one failed.
