Ordering winter tires without tpms?

I drove last winter without TMPS. There is a warning n the 17" screen at the top, and another at the bottom of the lcd screen with the speedometer. It's slightly annoying, but it doesn't bother me enough to buy an extra set of TMPS sensors.

taraquin said:

I live in Norway and I`m unsure about the sottozeroes due to handling on icy roads. I was considering buying the nokian r2-package, but I`m not a huge fan of the 19" rims and they add almost 1500 USD compared to the sottozeroes which I think is way to much considering taxes are excluded when tires are delivered with the car. I`m thinking about buying the nokian R2 with other rims but they can`t be delivered with tpms and I have to buy it, calibrate it and get them mounted at the teslastore which will cost me up to 800 USD. The tire and rim-package costs less than 3000 usd in total, compared with the 2500 usd pirellis and the tesla r2-package which costs 4000 usd. My question is if anyone has driven without the tpms? It`s not mandatory in Norway but I`m a bit concerned about alarms\warnings that might be intrusive.

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mnx said:

I drove last winter without TMPS. There is a warning n the 17" screen at the top, and another at the bottom of the lcd screen with the speedometer. It's slightly annoying, but it doesn't bother me enough to buy an extra set of TMPS sensors.

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@mnx, very useful info, thanks. Can you tell us if there are any audio chimes either during startup or worse, during driving (like the seat belt not fastened chiming)?

Musterion said:

@mnx, very useful info, thanks. Can you tell us if there are any audio chimes either during startup or worse, during driving (like the seat belt not fastened chiming)?

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I thought I might have heard some kind of beep, but it's so quiet I can only heat it with the HVAC off and parked. I definitely didn't hear anything a few weeks ago while driving in heavy rain when a TMPS warning went off in the car.

Musterion said:

@mnx, very useful info, thanks. Can you tell us if there are any audio chimes either during startup or worse, during driving (like the seat belt not fastened chiming)?

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The TPMS warnings generate no audio signal. My car regularly gets a TPMS warning on the highway after about a half hour of driving, I see it almost daily and I can confirm it makes no sound nor does it change the way the car handles/behaves when the warning trips. All you get is a little red exclamation point icon at the top of the touchscreen. I've complained about the frequency of the error and Tesla Service told me it's because their system is very sensitive, since my car came with the Pilot Sports they apparently heat up a bit more than the Continentals so they trigger the alarm more easily. The system in the Roadster was apparently worse (more sensitive) - it would pick up wheel sensors from certain cars driving next to it on the highway and get confused.

For my winter rims I won't be installing TPMS sensors. I too got the Nokian R2 tires, I can't wait to see how well they work.

With no TMPS's in the wheels at all, on a 2013 US-Spec car:



At exactly 7 miles this shows on the dash. The warning in the upper right flashes.
At exactly 8 miles, the warning in the upper right stops flashing and stay on solid.
These warnings stay on for the rest of your drive.

It is mildly annoying.

Spurkey said:

My car regularly gets a TPMS warning on the highway after about a half hour of driving... the Pilot Sports...apparently heat up a bit more

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Spurkey, this is very interesting but also a bit confusing. To my recollection, the sensors activate only upon sensing LOW pressure. It would seem to me that you're describing a situation where pressure INCREASED because of the higher heat. Have you ever checked the tire pressure with a reliable gauge upon receiving the warning?

mnx said:

I definitely didn't hear anything a few weeks ago while driving in heavy rain when a TMPS warning went off in the car.

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I had the exact same TPMS warning when driving from our meet in Hamilton back to the GTA in the heavy rain. It had never given me a warning before or since. I was wondering if all the water was interfering with the RF signal from the wheels reaching the car.

How cool is this!!! I know next to nothing and I am not (yet) and owner. I ordered mine two days ago, HOWEVER, I know the answer to this question. While placing my order in Marietta, GA Monday I asked what the number one service problem Tesla is having and the tech told me it was the low tire pressure sensor. In fact, the 60 I sat in had this warning lit up. The P85+ I drove did NOT have this issue.

So there you have it folks the average Tesla owner is too lazy to put air in their tires?????

mnx said:

So there you have it folks the average Tesla owner is too lazy to put air in their tires?????

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I think the problem is the TPMS is too sensitive. And it sounds like their is a strong temperature relationship. And tire pressure fluctuations due to temperature changes are caused by water vapor in the air. ANSWER: Fill your tires with Nitrogen.

FWIW, I get a warning at ~43lbs... and yes, i'm too lazy to add a pound of air so I live with the warning for a week or two and then fill up.

Dreamin said:

I think the problem is the TPMS is too sensitive. And it sounds like their is a strong temperature relationship. And tire pressure fluctuations due to temperature changes are caused by water vapor in the air. ANSWER: Fill your tires with Nitrogen.

FWIW, A get a warning ~43lbs... and yes, i'm too lazy to add that 1lbs of air so I live with the warning for a week or two and then fill up.

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Jerry33 mentioned to me via reputation points that the threshold is around 35psi for the TPMS... (I've certainly had mine as low as 38psi with no warning). If a lot of cars are set for 43psi that would explain all the complaints to the SC's.

Do you still need to go to a SC to get the TPMS reset when you change from Summer to Winter tyres?

I have a couple updated pictures to add.

First this shows the warning that you see all the time on the large display when running without sensors:



This shows the instrument cluster in the situation where you are using the Traffic-Aware Cruise Control (TACC) and you have come to a stop and are in the Hold state:


Note: The alert is covering up a message that shows and tells you to push the accelerator to continue from the Hold.
Seems like the temporary pop up message telling you something related to current driving should pop up on top of the always there warning to get service.

Based on other posts saying that the tire pressure (TPMS) warnings were minor and easy to ignore, I did not have sensors installed. For me, having three warnings always present and one of them covering over other information is not going to work. So, I will be getting sensors from the Tesla Service Center ($50 each) and having them installed.

ChrisMason said:

Based on other posts saying that the tire pressure (TPMS) warnings were minor and easy to ignore, I did not have sensors installed. For me, having three warnings always present and one of them covering over other information is not going to work. So, I will be getting sensors from the Tesla Service Center ($50 each) and having them installed.

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I've been having TPMS problems (going back in to Service next week) and am more than familiar with these alerts! I wish there was a way to "clear" the message after it comes on.

mknox said:

I've been having TPMS problems (going back in to Service next week) and am more than familiar with these alerts! I wish there was a way to "clear" the message after it comes on.

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Right, there should be a way to acknowledge the alerts and to suppress duplicates.