Tyre pressure monitoring on 2006 passat

newtowheels

Hey,
Can someone tell me how the tyre pressure is physically monitored? my dash tells me when pressure is low woohoo but I'd like to know where is the sensor.
Is the sensor in the valve or rim? How does this feed the reading back to car to interpret. When I take off my wheel will I notice anything relating to the tyre pressure reading system.

Just curious
Thanks

puppetmaster

newtowheels wrote: »

Hey,
Can someone tell me how the tyre pressure is physically monitored? my dash tells me when pressure is low woohoo but I'd like to know where is the sensor.
Is the sensor in the valve or rim? How does this feed the reading back to car to interpret. When I take off my wheel will I notice anything relating to the tyre pressure reading system.

Just curious
Thanks

Yeh the sensor is basically the valve (and a wireless unit behind the valve in the wheel)

It wirelessly sends a signal to a control box reading all your wheel pressures. If you take off a wheel and change it for another it will read an error on your dash and a wheel missing. Each valve also has its own corner so if you switch front and rear wheels it will be telling you the pressure for the opposite wheels if you get me.

newtowheels

Got it thanks, first time having this in a car. In previous cars when I've gone to change out the tyres the valve was also changed.
So when I get the passat tyres changed, would the valve only be replaced if it was old/damaged? I guess if the sensor is in it then it wouldn't be practical to change the valve every tyre change?

Finally, when the tyres are changed I guess the tpms needs to be configured? (ill read the manual soon)
Thanks again

puppetmaster

yeh they wouldn't change the valves with new tyres, The renault one's are said to half a ten year life (id imagine VW are similar), but a with all electronics thats thumbs to the wind figure. They can change the core of the valve when changin tyres, which they usually will anyway and that will help with longevity. There's no need to reconfigure them when you change your tyres though, they will read the pressure regardless of the tyre type. You could to the tyre fitter that their in their before they change the tyres so they won't damage them, but their fairly common now and most tyre lads will Spot them by the sort of valve in em.

newtowheels

Thanks for all the info

JohnofDublin

Interesting topic. My wife's new 2015 Kia Rio showed tyre pressures warning light and sure enough the pressures was down due to a slow puncture. After repair the light stayed on for weeks even though the tyres seemed fine. On going to get the tyres checked it turned out two tyres has pressures that were too high - 38 psi. On balancing them all to 32 psi the light went out. Very impressive system.

bazz26

The tyre pressure monitoring system always needs to be reset or re-calibrated when you either change a tyre, repair a puncture or top up the air otherwise it will keep throw out warnings.

George Dalton

I know this is an old thread but just to clarify, the tyre pressure warning system on the 3C Passat as per the OP doesn't use pressure sensors at all. It uses the relative rotation speeds of each wheel to detect when one has a puncture.

I don't know which type of system the Kia uses.

JohnofDublin

Interesting, thanks.