Air Down Tires Tpms Light

grimmysnr · June 30, 2010

So I picked up my new truck and on the drive back from the dealer the ride was so incredibly rough it was insane. I just happened to glace at the tire pressures on the DIC and noticed that my rear tires were inflated to 75PSI and my fronts were upwards of 55 or so. Realizing that these pressures are way too much than I need since I am not towing all that often I lowered them down to about 50 in the back and 40 in the front. My BFG load E's on my last truck (which was a half ton) were always at about 35-40PSI. I realize this truck is a bit heavier and all that but I still dont see it necessary to run that high of pressures.

I am happy keeping these pressures as is. The problem is everything I start the truck the DIC warns me of low pressures and requires that I hit the check button to get to the odometer. Plus the annoying TPMS light on the dash. I called the dealer and they say they cant do anything about it and cant reprogram the pressures to read lower. I find this a little hard to believe since those numbers had to be programmed to begin with.

So those of you who run lower pressures what did you do about the TPMS light and stuff? Can this be programmed or disabled? While I like the tire pressure feature I could live without it.

Stevens03 · June 30, 2010

Well, I'm guessing the trucks got e-rated tires. I'd suggest airing them up to what the door says. If the tires are still bad, then maybe considering jumping up in size to have "more" sidewall for a better ride.

Oh... and Congrats on the new truck

newdude · June 30, 2010

Really, you arent deoing yourself any favors running 50 out back, and 40 up front!. Now, I was told by a tech that the low psi parameter can be changed, but has to be done through a tech2 and thus I do not no the truth to this. The door sticker is rated at what its rated for max load carrying capacity. What is the sticker on yours? Last CCSB I saw was 55 front, 72 rear IIRC. I would atleast go 55 all around. Door psi is 35 on a 1/2 ton, which ok its acceptable to run 35-40, no problem.

Running tires way under any recommendation can increase tire wear greatly, reduce handling, lower mpg's by increasing rolling resistance and can increase the risk of tire failure (blowout, ruptures, bruises). It does you no good running them at 40 with an LT tire.

Also...its a 3/4 ton truck, with LT E load tires. Did you expect it to ride like a Cadillac? Want a soft truck? Stay with a 1/2 ton like the one you got rid of.

r1byker · June 30, 2010

The sticker says I should be running 60 front and 72 rear on my 2500 HD. I dropped that to 50 front and 60 rear for improved ride. My TPMS seems to have "learned" the new pressures because I'm not getting any warning signal from it anymore. I imagine you could run yours at a lower pressure as long as you're not getting much flex in your sidewalls. Actually, the thing I was worried about also was reduced traction at the higher pressures, especially in the rain.

I do track days on my motorcycle and we play around with tire pressures all the time so I didn't have any qualms about dropping mine down to what I did. if I were hauling a really heavy load, then I would just air them back up.

grimmysnr · June 30, 2010

I understand the concept of tires and how pressures affect them. I know airing them down more than what's recommended on the door can cause problems. I don't expect this truck to ride like a Cadillac but I can still try to make it enjoyable to drive. When I was driving back I was getting thrown around so much it just was uncomfortable even for a 3/4 ton. I drove to the deAler in a dodge ram 3500 and it rode better than my truck did and dodges aren't known for their ride comfort. I'm gonna play with pressures And maybe find a happy medium. My last truck had LT bfg all terrains in load e. They didn't wear poorly or excessive sidewall flex and I ran those at much less psi.

Ultimately I just wanna get rid of the pesky warning. 3/4 ton trucks have been running lower pressure tires before this toms stuff just fine. I will worry about the risks on my own. There is such a thing as running too high pressure as said above. Snow and rain come to mind.

Ulti

markw8 · June 30, 2010

I understand the concept of tires and how pressures affect them. I know airing them down more than what's recommended on the door can cause problems. I don't expect this truck to ride like a Cadillac but I can still try to make it enjoyable to drive. When I was driving back I was getting thrown around so much it just was uncomfortable even for a 3/4 ton. I drove to the deAler in a dodge ram 3500 and it rode better than my truck did and dodges aren't known for their ride comfort. I'm gonna play with pressures And maybe find a happy medium. My last truck had LT bfg all terrains in load e. They didn't wear poorly or excessive sidewall flex and I ran those at much less psi.

Ultimately I just wanna get rid of the pesky warning. 3/4 ton trucks have been running lower pressure tires before this toms stuff just fine. I will worry about the risks on my own. There is such a thing as running too high pressure as said above. Snow and rain come to mind.

Ulti

If you can find a willing dealer, they can do this with a tech-2. It is however a potential liability issue for them.

Mark

Stevens03 · June 30, 2010

Personally, if the rides that bad, I'd consider different tires. Tires can make or break ride comfort.

07BlueSierra · June 30, 2010

next time you get them rotated tell the tech the pressures you want. When he does the relearn after the rotation the light will go off. I had this problem when I went up from P rated to LT when I got new tires. The old 265s were supposed to be set at 35 and I run the 285 BFG AT D rated at 45. The light was coming on so I got the dealer to reprogram using their relearning tool. There is a 10psi window in each direction from what I remember so for the half tons with a 44psi max they would never hit it when fully inflated.

Diesail · June 30, 2010

I keep my rears at 65, it is just enough to make the TPMS happy. It goes off at 63psi. I take them back up to 80 psi when towing or working. I have gone down as low as 50 in the front and can't really seem to see any difference in ride so I keep them at the reconmended 60psi. But I do have a duramax which I understand is 900 pounds heavier than a gasser.

grimmysnr · July 1, 2010

I believe I have this issue resolved. I did some homework last night and found that our or atleast my TPMS system sets the light when the pressures dips below 20% of what is annotated on the door. So I am running 43 up front and 58 in the back. Surprisingly the truck rides extremely nice with these pressures. I guess there is a harmonic medium of some sort. So this terminated the light and made the truck ride like a champ.

This of course until my Duratracs come in here in a few days and then I will see what pressures they like to run at.

Stevens03 · July 1, 2010

Well... congrats on figuring it out.

deerhunter · July 3, 2010

I haul a camper, but not all of the time, so I change tire pressure based on whether the camper is loaded or not. The TPSM monitor drove me nuts when the camper was off and I dropped air pressure all around to 50 so that there was wet road traction (and a bit better ride). Finally, I found a reasonable dealer who would set the system to think that I had D range tires. Worked great until I loaded the camper again. Now with 65 in the front and 80 in the rear, the *&&%$# thing is nagging me again.

If they had any sense, they would build these things so that owners could set a value for it to monitor. Then it would be useful. As it is, this is what we get when Congress designs our vehicles.

Kenbow · July 4, 2010

I haul a camper, but not all of the time, so I change tire pressure based on whether the camper is loaded or not. The TPSM monitor drove me nuts when the camper was off and I dropped air pressure all around to 50 so that there was wet road traction (and a bit better ride). Finally, I found a reasonable dealer who would set the system to think that I had D range tires. Worked great until I loaded the camper again. Now with 65 in the front and 80 in the rear, the *&&%$# thing is nagging me again.

If they had any sense, they would build these things so that owners could set a value for it to monitor. Then it would be useful. As it is, this is what we get when Congress designs our vehicles.

It is not Congress, it is the lawyers!

grimmysnr · July 4, 2010

I think we should be given the option to somehow change the range based on the use of the truck. Yeah I have a 2500 and the main reason I got it was so that I could get a crew cab with a 6.5 ft bed. Then there was a few things that I would appreciate like tougher suspension and greater versatility. But the most I would use this truck for is hauling the camping gear, ATV's, and family out somewhere for a weekend of fun. I dont own any portable houses that I see people towing around or any travel trailers. This doesnt mean I am not allowed to have a 3/4 ton truck or hell a tractor trailer but I should be able to tailor my vehicle to my needs. During my homework i found that these tire pressure monitoring systems were not designed and implemented for the sake of GM trying to play big brother. These systems are actually a law being passed by the national transportation safety administration saying that these types of measures need to be met. So Ford, Chrysler and any of the other major auto manufacturers will eventually be forced to implement some type of tire pressure monitoring.

So 20% is what you have to work with on whats posted on the door. Some manufacturers may be different but thats what mine is. All I am saying is my needs for my truck arent exactly the needs of some guy towing these monstrous campers around (for the sake of "going camping" but this is another story). So if I want to run different tires at lower pressures I should have some nanny flashing at me to conform to some standard. This isnt what I fight for everytime I deploy.

This however is minor though on the grand scheme of things. Overall, I love my truck and think it was money well spent. Everyday I drive it things seems to be breaking in and getting smoother. Plus, the sound of that 6.0 when I get on it is just effin amazing. For a stock exhaust this thing sounds mean as hell. So I think I can overlook some tire pressure thing for everything else thats badass. But then again drama sells, and nobody really comes on these forums to praise stuff. If our trucks were 100% perfect nobody would have anything to talk about.