------ The Description of Set up ------

I have been meaning to do a review on my HKS Hipermax IV SP / Volk CE28SL 18x9.5 +22 / Bridgestone RE71R / Alligator TPMS set up, but have been having issue after issue.

I purchased a set of the Alligator TPMS sensors off of an eBay reseller, who sent me a cloning tool so I could clone my existing TPMS sensors as well. This way I could have two sets of wheels and not have to have my relearn the new set.

I wanted a set up that required no rolling of the fenders. I ended up getting 255/40 tires because they were out of 265 until September and Noize had the same spec'd wheels and same tires on his set up, didn't rub and never rolled his fenders. Also, the 255/40 RE71 is almost square as 265s I had on my Enkei RPF1s.

So I install my coilovers which are specced out for the track (height, dampening, spring rate, etc). I got everything else installed, and got an alignment done. -2.4F, -1.4R and almost 0 toe. (like 0.1 toe). I forgot to tell them to be strict about the toe.

When I first started the car, it acted like it didn't see the TPMS sensors when I backed out of the garage. My thoughts are that it thought my original wheels were still on the car and I backed out of the garage and it didn't read. I turned the car off and started again, and it read the new ones. Either way, was good too go.

Long story longer, I would hit a corner here and there and find my rears were rubbing!! It made no sense as I had the same spec wheels (18x9.5 +22) as Noize, same alignment, and exact same tires. Ok is it the toe? Didn't seem to be as I reached up and felt rubber shavings in the middle of the lip of the well. I believe the SP coils dropped so much that they didn't leave enough room for the tires to clear. It's worth mentioning that i'm BARELY rubbing. Just enough to leave a mark, not enough to take off the extra rubber marks on the sides.

------ The Issue ------

One day, I went around a hard right corner about 80 smelled a little bit of tire rubbing on the left rear and about a minute later my TPMS system started blinking saying it needed to be serviced. I'm not sure if this was coincidental or not, but it was nearly the same time. No amount of turning the car off and back on would reset it. I figured the driver side rear sensor maybe went back from the vibration of the rub.

When the car is started, it would flash the TPMS light on the dash 5-10 times, and of course takeover my LCD screen with the egregious "TPMS SERVICE REQUIRED" message.

I had them all scanned a few days ago at Discount Tire and they all had the correct hexadecimal ID numbers as my stock ones, were reading air pressure correctly, and seemed to be as normal.

He wasn't sure what was going on so he tried the relearn procedure. He claims he's done a ton of Evos with this new tool they have. When he attempted, it kept "failing". I'm wondering if it has to do with me having a Final Edition or not. However, when he was done there wasn't a "service tpms" warning any longer. I have driven about 50 miles since and it hasn't come back.

--------- Questions ----------

I'm wondering if anyone has ran into this? Is it possible that some vibration triggered a warning thinking one of the TPMS sensors was too loose and needed repair? Perhaps there is an algorithm that detects the frequency these communicate at and if it raises about 315Mhz it knows something is wrong?

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

 

I don't know man. Hard to tell from behind my computer. I'll probably have to drive your car to figure this out. Expect me around 6:30 tonight. Make sure you're wearing pants!

 

Easy guys... too many replies. Hard to keep track.

 

Wasn't a tpms tool like that on sale in the classifieds here?

Once I realized the tpms warning light didn't interfere with me having the s-awc diagram, I just left it.

 

Looks like it's a ProSeries so same tool. It is a bit tempting, just hard to justify to get rid of a light.

It came on again today, about 1/2 mile from my house. I'm tempted to put my old wheels on to see if it goes away. It almost feels more like a check engine light style. Like it won't go away until told so. It would be nice to know if there is a code so I had a general idea of what was happening. Anyone have experience with this?

 

I would try programing them as a standalone set and have your tire shop manually input the PID's off the alligator tpms sensors into the computer. This requires a bit of labor as they will have to break down the tires to get the PID's off the back of the sensors and then scan them into the car.

 

Yah I can get the PIDs from the company I bought them from. I think I'll throw my factory wheels on and see if I get some love that way. I may need to put them on anyways with the rains coming.