According to the techs at the dealer I've spoken to no, our cars can only store one set (4) of TPMS. Could be that's just what they're telling me, I dunno.

 

Or if you're in tune with your car enough, you usually can feel if one or more of the tires is low. In my case, I run my tires at 35-36 psi because I prefer a more taut ride. Factory recommendation for our sedans is 33 psi. TPMS only goes off when you're > than 3 psi low which would put you at 29-30 psi before it goes off.

I check pressure regularly and can pretty much determine down to which tire it is that I've got a low tire long before TPMS makes me aware of it. The car just handles differently even at a seemingly minuscule 3-4 psi delta. I still do make sure it's working. That's the great thing about preferences-- they're very subjective and individual.

 

Aw, that sucks. Thanks for the heads-up, Rex.

After a while, if you're accustomed to looking at all four tires before getting in the car, you can become pretty adept at eye-balling tires for low pressure. The TPMS can be useful, no doubt. But it's more useful to people who don't pay attention to their car. And particularly a crutch for old cranks who like to tell other people what to do.

 

I am going to head over to my buddies tire shop today and have him take out the TPMS out of the stock tires, the ones that were programmed for my car and worked fine. I am going to do the whole pipe trick and see if it works, nothing to loose but a couple dollars in PVC.

I will keep you guys posted.

Wonder if there is a dealer on here that could do some "real" research for us and actually see if they can get an answer on how many sensors our car can be programmed for?

 

Considering the variances in road conditions, outside temperature and which tire is falling 3-4 psi below 33, I don’t believe anyone can “feel” this happening. Of course, it’s hard to prove, but the convenience of a TPMS light coming on makes such a discussion unnecessary.

 

You can believe what you like, but I can definitely feel a difference in ride compliance and handling with a 4-6 psi pressure delta when I'm running a 35-36 cold pressure as well as through visual inspection like Rochester mentioned. I factor in a 1-2 psi increase/decrease for every 10 degree +/- in temperature, but that's me. No one is debating the added value and convenience of TPMS sensors. However, everyone has individual opinions as to where on the continuum of necessity that they rank. TPMS was not designed for the enthusiast crowd. It was designed for the person that would habitually run their tires at low pressure, which is a decent portion of society because they never think about it. I saw plenty of them way back in my tire shop days, and many of ruined tires as a result. At the end of the day, opinions are opinions and if Brad chooses not to run them, that's his prerogative. Wouldn't put it in the same category as removing seat belts and airbags though..

 

Well guys, I don't think it works by just the sensors reading pressure.

I took all the sensors out of all the factory wheels/rims that were registered and I had no TPMS light on before I swapped out my rims/tires. I then put all four of them in my spare tire, put pressure at 35 psi in that tire and started to drive. I drove around for about 5-10 minute clips while I ran errands this afternoon. I thought I didn't drive long enough so I took about a 15-20 minute drive to Lowes and back for some "honey do" items and the light is still on.

Any idea how long you have to drive around for it to "test" the signal?

Not sure it is even going to work, just don't know when the point is that I give up on the idea and just go have them reprogrammed.

Would be nice if Infiniti left the TPMS reset wire in the 2011+ g37.....

 

Yep. I was all set to go down that path, too. Before finding out that they changed the design in 2011.

 

When I put my first 20s on a few years ago w/ no TPMS sensors I thought the light wouldn't come on. I drove a couple short trips the first two days w/ no light but went on a long road trip (over 30 miles) and the light came on and ever since then it blinks then stays lit shortly after driving down the road.

 

Not to be cynical, but under certain conditions you may have to wait until your air bags inflate.

 

What I was hoping for was some "real" data so I can understand our cars a little better....

I found some data on other TPMS generic specification sites saying to drive above 35 mph for 5 minutes for Nissan/Infiniti.

I also found some data saying our cars can be reset with a TPMS ODB tool and wand programmer. So, I called a local shop earlier today and they also said the TPMS ECU (if it has it's own controller) can hold up to 8 sensors in memory and that I should be able to program a total of 8.

Anyone else have any specific data so I can rule this out or not and move on to testing if our cars have 8 available slots for TPMS sensors?

 

For my ’08 coupe driving at least 16 mph will reset the TPMS. I’ve done it and it works. But frankly, after your ill-advised decision to place the sensors in your spare tire, there may be no viable solution. I can only suggest you put them back on your wheels were they belong instead of trying to outsmart the system and the problem may go away.

 

I want to be clear about something here. I am NOT trying to trick the system, that is not my goal here. My goal is to get two sets of winter/summer wheel/tire packages to register to our cars. By doing this method it helps me better understand how our system works and to come up with the absolute best possible outcome to achieve that.

I am extremely particular about my cars, this is my first car that I have modded that has TPMS, I 100% agree about the safety side of the system and love it, that is why I am trying my best to keep the system intact. However if Infiniti didn't account for area's of climate where it makes sense to have a winter tire and summer tire in rotation yearly, I think the engineers missed a huge gap in design and function. For a car company to tell you have you to visit the dealer or go to a shop that has a programmer for TPMS without building into the system a way to store more than 4 sensors bothers me. To have to deal with this twice a year isn't that huge of a deal, have the shop change your oil and reset the TPMS at the same time, I get that.

I guess it's just the engineer blood in me that wants to make the system work the best possible way for me and others in my situation.

After doing a lot of research this morning, I am an early riser, I found that we have a dTPMS system in our cars. This system only transmits a signal when the sensor is moving or provided a "wake-up" signal to tell the sensor to turn on, otherwise the batteries would be dead in a year or two, makes sense. The system we have is the dTPMS that requires motion. The Lexus post I put up utilizes the dTPMS with a "wake-up" signal not requiring the sensor to be in motion. Which then can lead into the whole discussion that when Infiniti changed the TPMS in 2011+ did they switch over to a system that required the sensor to be in motion? That might mean the 2010 and older vehicles are different?

More specific info about dTPMS here: Tire-pressure monitoring system - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My goal today is to go to a shop and have my TPMS sensors reset as our system is the type that has to be moving. Now to deal with how many sensors our system can hold in it, guess I won't be able to test that until December 2014!

 

phemem,
I understand more now regarding what you’re trying to do. Living in Southern California we lose sight of those who have to switch tires for summer/winter driving. Please keep us informed on your progress.

 

Shop reprogrammed my sensors for $25! I am not worried about having them re-programmed now if it's only going to be $25 each time.

I will swap out my winter wheels/tires in December and see if my light comes up and update the post then. Until then I am considering the information I posted to be accurate.