Check tire pressure vs. TPMS

KevCarver

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I check 2-3 times a year and they generally are all uniformly low. Probably should do it more, especially since I have my own compressor. I rotated the tires today, and they were all about 3-4 psi low. Spare was 15-ish down. That’s an important one to check! I doubt most people ever do that. I always check all 5, and the spare is always down more than the mains.
Last time I had a TPMS warning it was down to teens by the time it showed. Pothole hit broke the sidewall and was leaking. Bead and rim were fine.
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BriteBlue

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I check tire pressure about once a month & more frequently when ambient temperatures are changing due to the seasons. IOW not just a big change because it was cold for a day. The rule of thumb I’ve frequently seen is that a 10°F change in ambient temperature causes about a 1 PSI change in tire pressure.

About a month ago my TPMS light came on. The tires looked OK & the following morning I checked & all their pressures were within 0.5 PSI. Obviously I was surprised the warning light came on. I adjusted pressures so they were all the same & reset the calibration procedure.

Later that day the light came on again. Now I’m thinking that a wheel speed sensor is acting up & starting searching for OBD2 trouble code. I found this thread & a couple comments said the calibration might have to be done a few times.
https://www.civicx.com/forum/threads/tpms-sensor-not-going-away.52974/

Message #5 had the info that helped. Waiting 45 seconds to see if the low pressure light comes back on. That’s actually in the owners manual.

I drove about 20 minutes & watching my speed. At my first stop I did the 45 seconds check & light was on. When I got back home & did the 45 seconds check the light was off, and it’s been fine since.

But have no idea why the warning light came on in the first place.
 

MrJustin81

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This is slightly off topic, but why do/WOUKD someone get their tires filled with nitrogen? What is benefit/purpose of doing so?
 

Fit2Hatch

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This is slightly off topic, but why do/WOUKD someone get their tires filled with nitrogen? What is benefit/purpose of doing so?
Your question is not off topic at all! Since it affects tire pressure, whether checking with precision gauge, digital indicating TPMS and non indicating TPMS.

Nitrogen is thicker/denser/dryer than normal air. It is more stable, has much less effect with ambient temperature/humidity swings. Ambient air contains nitrogen but pure nitrogen definitely offers more stability for holding tire pressure than normal compressed air.

Our local Costco offers nitrogen for members/non-members. Unlike my HB, my C6's TPMS shows actual tire PSI, so, for over a decade, I experienced few fill up and now for the HB, after Costco mounted the PS4S and a complete fill with nitrogen, HB is also experiencing very few tire fill ups.
 


MrJustin81

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Appreciate the responses. Was curious because the member I bought the wheels/tires of off had said that abd at the time did not think to ask.
 

dstix747

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Bought this 12v 100 PSI High Volume Air Inflator (harborfreight.com) last week for the simple fact that every air pump in GA is either down due to damage, card reader faulty or the coin slot is jammed.
How well does that work? I've owned a couple of those where the piston is so small it takes like 10 minutes to get 2 lbs. If it works well, I may have to invest in that one. I have a tiny tank unit at home but it still has a small piston and takes 5 minutes to reach 100 psi.

Also, to tag along with the thread, a few months back I had a TPMS sensor go off. The car didn't feel like it was driving weird, so I recalibrated at a light, and it came on again after about 3 minutes... enough time to totally destroy the flat I was driving on.

Then last week, I had one go off and recalibrated, but I also stopped to look at the tires to make sure I wasn't running on a flat. I didn't see a difference between tire height with these rubber band tires, so I figured it was OK. It came back on just as I was getting home. When I checked, the LR tire was at 28, with all of the others still perfect, so I figure the system does work when it has to.

I grazed one of those big boob reflectors the day before so it may have just broken the tire seal enough to let some air out. No issues and holding steady since I refilled it. In my '17, I did blow a tire and bend one of my rims on one of those.

These are the ones I'm talking about!
Honda Civic 10th gen Check tire pressure vs. TPMS 1631660208427
 

The Bad Guy

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How well does that work? I've owned a couple of those where the piston is so small it takes like 10 minutes to get 2 lbs. If it works well, I may have to invest in that one. I have a tiny tank unit at home but it still has a small piston and takes 5 minutes to reach 100 psi.
It fills quite fast and funny thing is a coworker had a flat in the parking lot on monday and in less than five minutes it went from zero to 20lbs as that's all the tire could hold. Here's a quick vid (not mine) on it in action.
 

dstix747

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It fills quite fast and funny thing is a coworker had a flat in the parking lot on monday and in less than five minutes it went from zero to 20lbs as that's all the tire could hold. Here's a quick vid (not mine) on it in action.
Nice! Looks like I'll head up there to get that!
 

number9

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How well does that work? I've owned a couple of those where the piston is so small it takes like 10 minutes to get 2 lbs. If it works well, I may have to invest in that one. I have a tiny tank unit at home but it still has a small piston and takes 5 minutes to reach 100 psi.
I have nothing against the electric ones, but as a bike rider, I have always had a manual pump in the trunk. It will never let you down, as you are the pump. They are cheap (look at topeak for example), most of them have presta and schrader so you can fill any tire, every time you fill a tire it costs $0.00, and they are reliable as hell (I think mine is going on 20 years)

I highly recommend just having a manual pump around. You can fill your bikes, BBQ pit tires, car tires, lawn mower tires, inflatable pools, inflatable mattress, sporting goods and you do not need to find an outlet of any kind.
 


BriteBlue

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I checked tire pressure about a week or so ago & all were OK & the same PSI. But a couple days ago the TPMS light came on, just like it it did 4-5 months ago. So I checked the pressure again & all were the same, at least as close as possible, probably within .1 to .2 PSI. IOW about a needle's width on the pressure gauge. I haven't driven the car yet in order to recalibrate the system, but I wonder what the heck is triggering the system to give a low pressure reading.
 

myke

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Just inflate your tires to the proper pressure. You don't need to check them after that unless the TPMS icon lights up. If it does, then inflate the tires to the proper pressure. That's all. Don't over think it.
 

BriteBlue

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Just inflate your tires to the proper pressure. You don't need to check them after that unless the TPMS icon lights up. If it does, then inflate the tires to the proper pressure. That's all. Don't over think it.
Please re-read what I posted.

I stated they all were OK but a couple days later the TPMS light came on. I checked & the were still OK. So what caused the light to come in the first place? Is a wheel speed sensor acting up?

I do need to check the tire periodically because as the outside temperature drops so does the tire pressure. The rule of thumb is an ambient temperature change of 10°F causes a 1 psi change in tire pressure. If all the tires drop by 2 psi the low warning light will not come on because the TPMS system will not show that one tire is low compared to the others. That's the drawback of the passive system used by Honda.
 

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1) re-Calibration determines rotational rate of each tire at the pressure you inflated the tires to. It will alert when any, some, or all tires drop below the low pressure limit threshold - it's smart!
2) TPMS also looks at harmonic frequency of each tire and will trigger if it's out of limits.
In addition to a malfunctioning wheel sensor you could have a damaged or defective tire. Best to monitor the situation.
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