Thank Goodness for Tire Rotations

[Ben]

Sitting at the tire shop right now. I came in for a rotation and they found a bolt in one of my tires with a very slow leak. I didn't have a warning light. I have LT tires on at 44psi, and the monitor is set for 25 for the stock tires (4runners have the idiot light vs the pressure readout per tire).

That's some good timing. Driving the LT tire in the low 30s - 20s for an extended period would have probably done damage.

[BobR]

I had a leak on the way home the other day, light came on about 5 blocks from the house so I went on home. Heard and felt the leak, thought it was a nail. It turned out to be about 2/3rds of a link off of a fair sized chain. At least it was repairable.

bob

[Ben]

All fixed free of charge.

I will say that I am really liking the tire monitor on my F150. I had a screw in a tire there a while back and caught it because it showed the tire down around 5psi from all the other tires. It's a really big plus for easy tire monitoring.

I have no idea why Toyota does not implement that (or maybe they have by now - mine's a 2014). Especially for their offroad vehicles. Out in the boonies is especially where I want to monitor my tire pressure. Individual numerical values should be standard for all new offroad vehicles.

I am sort of ticked that his fat screw made it into and penetrated my LT tires. I have those heavy ass tires specifically to reduce that kind of thing.

[BobR]

All fixed free of charge.

I will say that I am really liking the tire monitor on my F150. I had a screw in a tire there a while back and caught it because it showed the tire down around 5psi from all the other tires. It's a really big plus for easy tire monitoring.

I have no idea why Toyota does not implement that (or maybe they have by now - mine's a 2014). Especially for their offroad vehicles. Out in the boonies is especially where I want to monitor my tire pressure. Individual numerical values should be standard for all new offroad vehicles.

I am sort of ticked that his fat screw made it into and penetrated my LT tires. I have those heavy ass tires specifically to reduce that kind of thing.

My Jeep has the individual readouts for each tire, the truck just a singular light. I like the individual readings and will check it out when the car seems to pull one way or the other, 99.9% it is because of the road and not a pressure imbalance on the front tires, but it is nice to be able to check it. I run Kevlar belted (sidewalls) tire and so far nothing has penetrated through the sidewall, just the tread area. I will admit though, this last set of tires on both the Jeep and truck are the first flats I have had in decades.

bob

[Perd Hapley]

The tire monitor in my right front keeps going out. The tire's fine, but the thing blinks at me all the time. It's starting to damage my calm.

[MechAg94]

My current Tacoma has individual readings for each tire.  The F150 I had previous, one of the factory tires shredded on the highway.  Right about the time it came apart, the low tire pressure alert came up.  I think the alarm was set around 20 or 25 psi.  On that truck, it was hard to tell a tire was low visually until it got real low.  

[Ben]

I will admit though, this last set of tires on both the Jeep and truck are the first flats I have had in decades.

Yeah, I went for years and years with nary a flat, including while doing "young and stupid" stuff. For the last few years I've been an old guy driver minding my own damn business and getting a couple of flats a year.

The tire monitor in my right front keeps going out. The tire's fine, but the thing blinks at me all the time. It's starting to damage my calm.

Yes, the bad side of electronics. I love them when they're working, but could go full auto on the dashboard when they malfunction.

My current Tacoma has individual readings for each tire.

Good to know. Hopefully that means my next 4Runner will have it too.

[grampster]

I recall when I bought a brand new 78 Audi 5000 it has a set of Fulda tires on it.  I had never heard of them.  I asked the dealer to swap them out for some "better" tires.  He said that Fulda's were the best and they not only had a lifetime warranty, but if one of them went bad, they would replace it with a new tire free as well as replacing the tire on the opposite side of the axle.

Move the clock forward 4 years.  The Fulda's had about 40,000 miles on them and still had decent tread.  While I was washing the car, I noticed a bulge on the inside sidewall of the RR tire.  So I made an appointment with the dealer to see about if the warranty was as good as I was told.  So, I'm sitting in the waiting room and the service manager comes up to me and says, "I found one of the other tires was a bit out of round as well as the one with the bulge. If I put 4 new Fulda's on your Audi free of charge, would you pay for front end alignment?"  I drove out of there with 4 new Fulda's and a receipt for $50.00 that I paid for the alignment.  I looked at the receipt and the retail price for those 4 new, free, tires was a bit over $1200.00.  That was in 1982.

[motojim515]

Have tire pressure monitor on my Triumph Trophy 2013 motorcycle. Nice reading of the pressure. Let's me know if they are too low. Shows the pressure on the dash for both when selected. A nice flashing red light comes on for "RAPIDLY DEFLATING".

It has come on twice, both times the rear, once a nail and once a chuck of metal. Either time if I didn't stop would have been very bad. The first I was doing the legal speed limit (stop laughing Speedy) and it went off. The tire dropped pressure inside a couple miles. I pulled into a gas station that had, thankfully, a auto parts store across the street. I was able to get a plug kit and refill the tire. Since then I keep the plug kit and a compressor in my bikes top case.

The only problem with tire pressure monitors, the batteries die and some have the batteries soldered into them. Replace the unit can be a bunch of money. Soldering a new battery in lace does require the tire to be removed, yet is much less. I have not done that yet, though the Triumph is getting close.

[HeroHog]

Our 2013 Ford Escape Titanium only has the idiot light and when the weather turns cold after summer, it always shows low pressure and we have to get them aired up a little, like 5 pounds or so.

I would like ones that show pressure and which tire is out of spec, but I can live without it.

@motojim515, What? I didn't say nuthin!

[Brad Johnson]

This thread is a reminder that new tires for the truck are definitely on the short list. I usually get Michelins but SWMBO has had excellent luck with Yokohama tires on her truck. Thinking of going that route due to the 30% savings. I plan on trading in a year or two anyway so this set it mostly to get my by until then.

Brad