Posts Tagged 'tire'

So about two weeks ago, my flat tire monitor chimed on driving on the QEW. We pulled over, checked the tires, they all physically looked fine so we drove off. When I got home I took out the tire pressure gauge and sure enough the drivers rear tire was low. I refilled it using the cars onboard mobility kit. While these are definitely *not* run flats, they are carbon fiber side walled, and as a result will never have a bulged appearance until they are critically low, which these were not. Watching it during the week, it appeared to lose a consistent about 2 PSI a day. After missing the noon closure last weekend, this weekend I managed to haul over early enough to Jensen Tire to get it repaired. A modest $25 later, a 2″ nail was removed from the tire, the hole enlarged, filled with new rubber and epoxy, patched, and then shaved down using a Dremel tool. After a balance and remounting, I’m ready to smoke them once again drive cautiously and in a mature fashion.

The other cool factoid of note is that the car is equipped with the FTM (Flat Tire Monitor) as opposed to the TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitor). US cars all got TPMS in 2007+, though the guys at the garage told me some Canadian and European models kept the FTM. The FTM works by tracking wheel rotation and can detect if a tire is spinning too fast. It has to be calibrated after changing tire/wheel size or extreme temperature change, but at least it doesn’t have the breakable/losable wireless stem monitors.

The e86 chassis is so stiff, with the rear tire barely off the ground, the front tire freely spins around :)