OEM sensors for my current car seem to be around £15 to £20 each. Third party compatibles around £10. I expect any tyre chain would add their own mark-up to these prices.
My car doesn't report the pressures but using a computer and diagnostic program connected via the OBDII port the readings for all 4 sensors can be obtained/plotted.
For a couple of days my car reported that one of the sensors was faulty and not responding. I attached my laptop to try an identify which sensor was misbehaving. Sods law and the fault disappeared not to be seen again in the last 8K miles.
Isn't it a shame , in these days when we are trying to avoid waste (well, some of us are <g>) potentially 'perfectly good' (in all senses but it leaks air) tyres are disposed of?
I understand the (current) rules regarding any 'alternative repair' but at the same time I try to look at such things realistically.
Like, say you got a panel pin on the inside shoulder that actually penetrated into the tyre inner but didn't case the tyre to leak (or leak much) air.
1) How often do 'most people' check their tyres for such things, or even pressure that matter (even those with erroring TPMS it seems). ;-)
2) What damage might occur if it was actually say a year between MOT's (the only time such things get spotted for many people).
Now, an answer to 2 could depend if the tyre was steel belted (V nylon etc) and if any of the belt wires were exposed to the elements because of said hole. If the nail passed between the belts and so didn't allow water to rust one / them, then potentially there would be no risk at all.
The rubber on the outside of the belting provides the tread and protection of the belting and the rubber on the inside stops the air getting away (as would an inner tube etc).
So, we can't repair any hole (of any size, no matter how minute) if it's too near the shoulder because of how much the tyre flexes there and how much that flexing may generate heat and lift anything that is glued / 'vulcanised' to the inside of the tyre or though the hole.
But what if the plug that stopped the air leaking out and the water getting in to the belting was flexible enough to stay in place on it's own, what would be wrong with that (in a practical sense I'm continuing)?
The answer of course is 'nothing' and I would consider that far safer than either not dealing with a nail (because you didn't know about it) that could come out at any time and cause a more rapid deflation or do more damage to the belting whilst in there (physically or allowing water ingress etc).
I am talking of course about quality pre-emptive puncture sealants and something I have used for a good few years now. And whilst this is not their primary design, can (for the same reason they work in the first place) be used to repair an existing puncture, including potentially those that wouldn't be repairable by traditional means. The stuff wouldn't however be able to repair a puncture on the sidewall (down to science) or one bigger than a certain diameter (where there would be a high chance of damage to the belting).
IF you were able to do a traditional repair and decided you wanted to (for whatever reason), you still could. The thing is, not all such solutions are created equal and you really have to know which one is the 'good' one.
This is similar that can actually be supplied and fitted in the tyre from the factory:
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So, given nothing is ever 100% safe and changing a punctured tyre / wheel at the side of a busy motorway, at night, in the rain (for you or the recovery person) certainly wouldn't be considered safe, isn't it (practically again) down to weighing up the odds and choosing whatever is most likely to give the best / safest result?
Being needlessly vulnerable to a puncture doesn't sound as safe as being protected against the same?
Now, I'm not aware of having a puncture in any of our protected vehicle tyres ... because the stuff has worked on any punctures I may have had else I'm guessing I would have seen a flat tyre, or I simply haven't had any etc. I can also vouch for the fact that it has worked retrospectively (for myself and several other people) to the point were no 'other' repair was needed for the remaining life of the tyre.
Bottom line, if it's repairable by such a solution (in that it stops the leak and can do no more re returning the full integrity of the tyre than any other form of repair), what's the issue (again, from a practical POV)? <shrug>
No you just have to shuffle wheels about. Or just take it easy until you can sort out the rotation/damage tyre out properly and as a matter of some urgency.
Thats a problem to be solved. Just because it hasn't leaked doesn't make it an approved repair so you could be driving around on illegal dangerous tyres. This is why the stuff is coloured and the instructions tell you to inspect your tyres so you can have them fixed properly.
Three penalty points, no insurance, fine, crash, etc.
Lets face it until the tyre fails and you crash few people would actually know a tyre was faulty and about to fail.
Yep, I can tell from the handling if the pressures in one or more tyres are a few psi away from what they should be (according to wear pattern). However it was the TPW system that alerted me to the slow puncture in a tyre the other month, it still looked OK but was down to 28 psi (should be 33) when I checked it fairly soon after the warning came on as I got home from a short trip to town were I suspect that tyre had collected it's screw...
Bad tracking can also wear the outside edges depending on which way that particular tyre is being forced. Then there is wear variation due to unbalanced wheel/tyre or brakes that don't given an even braking force per rotation. Pressure also varies a couple of psi with the season, at least the relatively high volume tyres I have do (235/55 R19).
Or spotted in a car park and a friendly "have you spotted that your front|rear drivers|passenger side tyre looks a bit soft" comment produces no more than an unconcerned shrug or "it's going for a service next month"...
The electronic module in wheel system on my car has been 100% reliable and accurate. The wheel rotation rate on her car has been more of PITA but I don't think it has actually false alarmed, just a sequence of faults, a badly seated tyre, a leaky valve and a I think an actual puncture.
That's what google is for... The required reset on her car is part of the PITA, that and it only warns of low tyre pressure it doesn't say which tyre. Mine tells me which tyre and shows a pretty wheel layout highlighting the problem one if the words are too difficult. B-)
Why am I not surprised...
Depends if the "sealed beam unit" has been designed to be unsealed and sensor replaced. "sealed" would indicate it hasn't, so the labour cost of disassembly, sensor replacement (if available as a spare), reassemmbly and resealing is prohibative. You can replace the actual bearings in the hubs on my car bit no one does if they fail. It's cheaper and quicker to replace the whole hub unit, than remove the hub press out the old bearings press in the new (requireing suitable tooling and press).
'Plugging' used to involve shoving an elongated doughnut-shaped plug with 'ears' at the end being inserted, through the hole, coated in tyre adhesive, using a giant hook device. Then trimming off the excess on the outside only. No tyre removal involved.
This was how it was done in the 60's when my school mates dad owned the local Ford garage.
This method of plugging a tubeless tyre is now banned, I believe.
But that's the "book" pressure and for the last two cars I've had has been wrong, according to the tread wear, for the fronts. Book pressure is a couple of psi low, that takes at least a couple of thousand miles to show in the tread wear.
And even though it had no air in it at all, it didn't look any different to the opposite rear tyre that was inflated, but made the classic 'flat tyre' sound.
Not been on a motorway in even heavy rain or fog recently?
Not that that was the point, the point was that even though these tyres have 3mm of tread they are noticeably poorer in performance when it's really wet than they were at 4 mm. Not that particulalry bothers me, I'll just drive a little slower in the very wet, it the performance on snow that'll have me changing them before winter really starts. First snow is normally end of October early November...
Not sure. It is certainmly OK to plug a tubeless tread
But taking a tyre off these days ios so trivial on the kit they have I would not be surprised if they made it mandatory -= cetainly easier to get a decent fix.
It has been solved, I've been using it for years. ;-)
Yes, I know, but that's the issue (that needs solving).
Well, that would be difficult to determine (if they actually were dangerous etc) and it's only the way conventional repairs are applied that would make such so in those locations.
As mentioned elsewhere, whilst that sounds ok in theory, in many cases where the puncture (that only leaks air, may not affect the integrity of the tyre *at all*) can't be repaired by traditional means and would have to be disposed of, a great cost to the owner and environment.
Sure, as I stated all along, I was arguing practically.
Quite ... and something that could prevent a tyre becoming faulty in the first place might then be considered 'a good thing'. eg, If a tyre has a slow puncture (that could easily have been automatically fixed by a good solution, as with the Contisafe tyres ...) that is then driven on, at speed without the driver noticing, and *that* leads to a blowout, how is that any better than not experiencing the puncture in the first place (practically I mean)?
FWIW, the better sealants also help with porosity and so there is a greater chance a tyre won't be run underinflated (potentially damaging the tyre) until the driver notices that the tyre is sufficiently low in pressure and does something about it?
Like most good drivers I will always scan my vehicle as I approach it (outside the house or when returning to it in a car park etc) and will generally spot things like any damage or 'soft' looking tyres or anything that may be stuck in them. Many don't.
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