Do you need to have TPMS sensors

[vrinner]

I now have dedicated track wheels and I didn't have TPMS sensors put in them. I've read some other posts about other brands not allowing specific driving modes without the TPMS sensors. I understand that I will probably get a warning light about TPMS but am I loosing anything other than TPMS by not having them in my wheels?

 

[F.D. Sako]

I don't think the TPMS interacts with other systems in our gen mustangs.

I used to not care much about TPMS on track, but I'm slowly changing my mind after witnessing a few events at the track.

Latest was a C6 vette that had run flats, which had a puncture mid lap and pulled into the pits because of the TPMS light. If it were my car, I wouldn't have known until it was too late!

So, if you have a few bucks to spare, I'd invest in a set of sensors.

 

[TMSBOSS]

By law, tire shops must install sensors if the car was originally equipped with sensors.

I have track tires Conti slick takeoff so on SVE drifts. The tire shop,would not mount if they were for the Boss, she came equipped. When I told the shop manager the tires were going on my 1969 corvette, no problem.

A little more info in the cockpit is always good thing.

 

[vrinner]

By law, tire shops must install sensors if the car was originally equipped with sensors.

I have track tires Conti slick takeoff so on SVE drifts. The tire shop,would not mount if they were for the Boss, she came equipped. When I told the shop manager the tires were going on my 1969 corvette, no problem.

A little more info in the cockpit is always good thing.

My shop did ask what kind of car but didn't ask about sensors. I have the Conti slics on the SVE drifts as well.

I do agree that having the sensors are a good thing. Just didn't think about it until after they were mounted. Next set of tires I'll put them in.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[blacksheep-1]

Some of the pressures we run would activate the sensors all the time, I don't recall at what psi the car requires for the tpms to properly work, but as I recall the stock tires are somewhere around 30 psi (?) we ran sub 20 psi on cold pressures. BUT..that was with CCW wheels which would not shed the tire at those low pressures.
Most wheels won't tolerate that.
FWIW one of our Porsches use them, the other doesn't, it's kind of fun watching the pressures going up and down on the telemetry depending on the corner, attitude, wheel spin..whatever. The driver can't get away with anything anymore.

Note the left rear tire..

 

[Berol]

There's really no 'harm' of going without the TPMS sensors other than less visibility on tire pressures / punctures as already noted.

I got to the point with Ford sensors and stems that they were actually more of a liability than an asset. The rubber components would get too hot, or the curbing would catch the valve stem, and it would create an air leak at the valve stem. It happened to me three times on track. I started to realize that I was more like to get a flat or a rapid reduction in pressure at very high speed BECAUSE of the TPMS. At that point, I ditched them and went to solid steel valve stems without TPMS.

I got turned away by one shop when I made this decision for the same legal reasons noted in this thread. I had to point out how silly this looked to me - Continental slicks, branded for non-DOT use and Racing purposes only, being brought to them in the back of my truck because I knew it wasn't street legal to drive the Mustang on those tires to/from the tire shop, they still turned me away and refused to service them. I tried pointing out that they were all bent out of shape over a DOT rule, when I was using them for non-DOT purposes.

I got nowhere with them. They told me if the wheels didn't have TPMS sensors in them already, they would still do the work and just assume the vehicle wasn't TPMS capable. I told them I'd pay them to dismount the worn slicks, and then I'd show back up 5 minutes later with a set of wheels that didn't have TPMS in them....

They didn't think that was too funny.

In the end, Discount Tire was willing to play ball. Even with the TPMS sensors installed in the wheels, he had a new company email/memo that gave him authorization to do non-DOT work so long as customers weren't driving to and from the shop on slicks. Give them a call and ask if you have any issues finding a shop- it was a nationwide policy that had been put into place about a year and a half ago.

 

[VoodooBoss]

The sensors and metal valve stems are very affordable. If you're driving your car to and from the track you might as well include them. Read more at the link below.

https://trackmustangsonline.com/index.php?topic=3408.0