Hi everyone,

I have my car about 2,5 years and in that time had the RPA warning of a punctured tire about 4 or 5 times.
But never had a real puncture.

And the one time that I had a puncture, the warning did not apear ...

I guess I better switch this RPA of.

How are your experiences with this?


my car:
model 2006, european car, 520d
standard rims and tires (no run flat tires) 225/50 16

 

a piece of the tire wall blew out just the other day. the tire didn't immediately go flat. i did get the tire flat warning when it did the next day. i have run-flats so was able to still drive (at low speeds of course).

 

In the last 2-3 months I have been unlucky enough to get 2 punctures in the rear tyres - 1 in each on separate occasions. On both occasions the TPMS sounded identifying pressure loss. On both occasions I was near to a petrol station and so pulled in . The first had only lost 5 psi and I could barely see the problem - I used an airline to detect which tyre was low. The second time it was more obvious. In both cases the TPMS has possibly saved me from having an accident, but has definitely saved me potentially damaging the tyres and or wheels - I have the 172M 19" wheels fitted with non RFT's.

So in my case I have nothing but praise. Wish the standard system identified which wheel had lost pressure though. I believe this maybe a feature of some countries but not in the UK?

Have you calibrated your system each time you have checked & adjusted tyres pressures? Just a thought as to why you maybe getting false alarms?

 

Funnily enough, first time for me was 2 days ago. Older RPA system, rather than TPMS. Although I already knew I had a slow leak - got to car on Monday morning to find front nearside tyre totally flat. Reinflated, held pressure, drove to work. 3/4 of way there got a puncture warning - when I got to work I checked it and it had only lost around 4psi, so obviously quite sensitive. Quite impressed really.

That said, I changed from RFT to non-RFT about 2 months ago (with superb handling/ride/noise results). Don't know if it would be slightly less sensitive with RFT due to stiffer sidewall.

My tyre guy pulled a large screw from the middle of the tread and repaired the tyre for free. Which was nice.

 

Dear avaneyck,

These false RPA warnings come from time to time.

When driving winter (soft) tires in the winter they are very common.

In a BMW the ABS sensors calculates the tire rotation speed for the RPM,
and when the tire slips for a while the RPM reacts to it.


Check your tire pressures every month!

 

Well, avaneyck, my December '04 E61 has now given me ten false RPA warnings in the 7,000 mile year I have had it, since August 07. It has nice chunky Run-Flat tyres with lots of tread. The tyres seem recent, don't seem to leak, even if not used for a month or more, even if used lots during a month. There has never been a real puncture.

So I have to carry a tyre pressure meter with me, and after each warning have always tried to stop somewhere promptly to give the wheels a reality check. Some of these places have been very awkward - such as on a motorway with 5 in the car and loads of luggage, in driving rain, no way to stop safely until the next service area, so I have had to slow to 50 mph, the run-flat limit, for a quarter of an hour to the turn-off, anxious time with huge trucks surging up behind with their spray bow-waves drenching us for a minute as they power past at their EU-governed 6 mph overtake speed, drivers obviously annoyed by being held up in the inside lane by a car that they know can do well over a ton. Of course all my passengers heard the loud chime and read the central puncture red warning, noticed me slow down, sensed the trucks, and they all immediately felt very apprehensive.

Of course too, I now keep a comprehensive record of those tyre pressure measurements. I am keen to have the right presssures, and would always inflate cold for 5 plus luggage, then deflate at the next cold opportunity for just me again, so generally when I set off cold, I will have just done and recorded a pressure check or adjustment.

Despite pressures checked exactly equal cold before departure, each time after a warning, perhaps 5, or perhaps 80 miles down the road, the warm- or hot-tyre pressure of one of the wheels may be about 0.05 to 0.1 bar (about 1 to 1.5 PSI) different from the opposite one across the axle. There seems to be no pattern: sometimes rear, sometimes front, sometimes left, sometimes right. Sometimes I had changed the pressures that day and reset teh RPA, sometimes I had not touched them for a month. After these false warnings, I don't then change these small differences in pressure, but just use the reset function instead. On one nasty rainy day, after resetting it, it drove happily for 40 miles, out came the sun, up came a second puncture warning, where the pressures had somehow re-equalised across the rear axle!

In other words this system is just too sensitive to be reliable.

In my previous E39 1998 5-series, with no warning system, you could use common sense to detect punctures: we all probably look at our tyres every time before we drive, anyway. When moving, if the car oversteers one way compared with the other, or if you find you are listing like a boat, there is probably a puncture!

I'm very close to being determined to ignore the next warning in the absence of any oversteer or listing. Did you mention, avaneyck, that it could be switched off? If so, I'm tempted to join you and do the same. I might even try always running at 5-plus pressures regardless of load, far less effort, probably less fuel consumed, and not that much loss of handling and grip. But first, in the light of the experiences described here of ethanbmw, boltoa and Palmo, is there anyone else who would perhaps say why we shouldn't turn off or ignore the RPA?

Robert
E61 525i Sport M Touring, 248 g/km
Yes! - smaller boot than the E60 Saloon!

 

Welcome to the Forum roberts5,

Seems that your Progman is not updated.
At least in my '04 and the '05 a Progman update did help a lot.

But the E60 system is not perfect!

Regards,
149 g/km

 

Had tow punctures in my car, and both times I got warned well in advance. Thumbs up for RPA!!

 

the first couple of days i got my car, the idrive showed that (supposably) i had a puncture so i started freaking out and went to a tire shop but nothing!!!!

I havent had a puncture since but i do check my air pressure regulary

 

Thanks, Ricracing - your hint about Progman and updating is much appreciated. I'll see what I can organise.

Thanks also, benstone and southgate, for your experiences. As Ricracing says, it is not a perfect system - but perhaps worth persevering with, for a while longer?

Robert
E61 525i Sport M Touring, 248 g/km
Yes! - smaller boot than the E60 Saloon!