Riding a 2013 G37x. Does anyone experience TPMS lights, or low tire pressure warning lights come on the dash when its pretty cold outside?

I am from Des Moines, IA, and it was 4*F this morning. The tire lights came on, and I looked around and did not find a deflated tire. I have been around 9*F and about 100*F extremes before and have not seen the light, before in the 5 or so months of ownership and the transition from summer to winter.

I have had this happen in Nissan and Chrysler before, however not in my Volkswagen. Whats the difference? How can I remedy this issue?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

I actually had the same thing happen to me yesterday and was going to make a post... the light came on, i got out and checked all the tires and they were fine. It was cold yesterday as well.


my 2010 Acura used to do the same thing when it was very cold outside.

 

Colder air has a higher density, so your tire pressure goes down. So all this means is your tire pressure is riding the fence for the TPMS warning, and your cold temps are pushing it over to one side. Pump it up and keep an eye on it.

I experience this every late Fall and early Spring on my wife's car. There's nothing wrong... unless you have a slow leak in one or more tires. Sometimes you can drive forever with a nail in the tire before it starts leaking.

Anyway, start with proper pressure before you worry about a damaged tire.

 

This effect is why they use nitrogen in tires so temperature has less thermal expansion and contraction to change pressures. It's normal get air and go on.

 

For actual race cars, yes. But for road cars, I only agree with 78% of what you just wrote.

 

Hopefully not a slow leak or a nail. I'll see if the next two days and the rise in temperature makes it go away.

Thats an idea I have never thought of.

So any tire can be inflated with nitrogen? Do I need to worry about my valves or caps or whatever they are called if I have nitrogen on my tires?

The only reason I stayed away from it is because of the cost associated with it to fill up every time that you have to (which may not happen very often, but I don't know since I have never tried).

Please share your experiences on how nitrogen is treating you guys.

 

Yes. It's a very popular scam.

Firestone has a promotion available where you get a free magnetic bracelet with every nitro sale.

 

Costo has free nitrogen air refill station at their gas stations.

regarding the cold and TPMS light, I have also seeing this problem but not first thing in the morning. It happens if i drive a high speed for extended time, like cruising on the highway at 80 mph for 30 minutes or more. The light would come on, blink, then solid. When i slow down to a stop, the light will goes off afterward. I think my sensor is bad but it doesn't happen all the time so i just live with it.

 

The TPMS light will only turn on when tire pressure is =< 26 PSI. (from FSM)

When the cold weather arrives, set your pressure to the proper level (33 PSI for my car) and you won't have any issues.
Typically a tire drops 1-2 pounds PSI for every 10 degrees of temperature change.

Also, just because you have a TPMS doesn't mean you don't need to check your tire pressures.
The best wear and fuel economy is when the tires are at the proper pressure.

 

Also putting ~5psi of nitrogen in a tire will have 0 effect on your tires.

 

Yeah, It's hard to assimilate back into the real world.

 

Bah ha ha!

You lose roughly 1lb. of air for every 10 degrees the temperature drops. So if it drops 40 degrees overnight like it did here on Sunday night you lose 4lbs. of air in your tires. That is often just enough to set off the TPMS light. Another thing you can do is run an extra 5lbs+ of air in your tires in the winter and you won't see the light come on all winter when the temp drops.

 

Scam as in, we do not need nitrogen in tires? or if we put it, it isn't helping the PSI variances in winter?

Got it. So I should check my tire today. Although the temp has gone from 4*F to 14*F today, the lights are still on. I am curious to find out if I am going to read 26 or so today roughly.



Thank you. I will be sure to do that today.

 

Nitrogen is not a complete scam. It may not be worth the money, but the main advantage of using nitrogen instead of air is getting moisture out of your tires. Air has moisture in it, Nitrogen does not.

Nitrogen vs Air In Tires - Why Nitrogen in Tires

 

The air you're breathing is already 78% Nitrogen.

Pumping pure Nitrogen into your tires theoretically reduces the amount of pressure bleed around the bead between the tire and the wheel, as well as reduces the affects of density changes due to temperature fluctuations, which in turn affects pressure. These are concerns for Formula One cars and the like, depending on the track rules, not four-door sedans parked at the Piggly Wiggly.


LOL. I'll be here all week.