small suv good in snow

[cdskier]

When a tire is off by 10 PSI and it's not going off warning you ..... that's the problem. I've observed this over the years on Chevy,Kia and Toyota.

They're for people who don't know enough to check their tires.

Sorry don't need them for $200 extra

So how often do you check your tires? Once a day? Once a week? Once a month? The likelihood of someone catching a problem on their own is pretty slim short of an actual complete flat.

My truck shows me the actual PSI of each tire...so even without the warning light coming on I can see if one tire suddenly starts to drop a few PSI to signify a potential issue. Even for cars that don't show the exact PSI, a warning light coming on when it is 10 PSI below the recommended level is still better than not having it at all.

 

[deadheadskier]

I haven't read replies - but I'm a Mazda CX-5 owner. Bought first year they were out. Absolutely love it. My hesitation with buying it was that it had shortest warranty of all. But the split seat arrangement won us over and overall driving. It has 90k miles now and has never been to shop but for oil change and brakes. First new car I've ever had never needing a warranty repair. My daughter got in accident over summer - boohoo - but $6k front end fix and I can't even tell driving it. Ours has small engine so it does drive like a dog. Going from a BMW to this almost killed me once trying to pop quickly into high speed lane - oops lol. But they now make a 6cyl which I would get. But it has manual override so can use that if want to be a quicker dog lol.

Only bad thing in snow is the front wheel wells tend to clog with snow. After a few hours of driving in snow and need to clear them out.

I once rented a RAV4 when our van was broken and couldn't wait to get back to Mazda - just didn't feel "one with the road" like I do with mazda.

Oh Bluetooth with iPhone is good but husband complains about his droid - we could probably get an upgrade ??? But it's a 2013 and I suspect it's better now. But compared to a recent Prius we rented it was much easier to operate I thought.

Not a V6, but a 2.5L 4 cylinder vs your 2.0L.

Mazda has abandoned V6 engines all together. Even the new CX9 has a turbocharged 4

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[cdskier]

We have a 2009 Traverse and while it has had some issues - Timing belt replaced under warranty and a recall on the steering - it now has 170000 on it. It goes (and stops) well in the snow, fits all our gear(skis included) inside and has 3 rows of seats which is nice with 3 kids. The audio system has been the biggest pain in the ass. Water leaks into the wiring harness in the doors and shorts out individual speaker channels on the amp. I only half 3 out of 8 speakers left working. Well a 4th works sometimes.

Tempted to say that might be the same year of the one my dad had. He also had the timing belt replaced under warranty and they told him it would probably need to be replaced again after it was out of warranty. He had issues with something in the steering system that Chevy kept telling him there was nothing wrong with and then suddenly after it was out of warranty they said "Yea, you have a problem and it needs to be fixed out of your own pocket" (I think the recall on the steering was announced after he had already sold it). Then the struts had issues (again right after the warranty expired). Before replacing the struts is when he decided to dump it and went with the Pilot which he's been happy with.

 

[Jully]

Maybe we need to bubble wrap all the vehicles. I get safety but if 100% of the vehicles had all the same safety features but they don't in Colorado there are no inspection s even.

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When you require tire sensors you do have all vehicles having the same safety feature though. Still not necessarily a fan of it, but I at least see why. I thought the exploder was caused by dealers and/or owners purposefully lowering the tire pressure anyways?

 

[dlague]

ours have too any false negatives. In both cars they always seem to be on at some time. The day after getting brand new tires on one car it went on. So I wouldn't rely on them at all.

Same happened to me. Took it back to the tire dealer and their solution was to charge me almost $100 for a new sensor. I left and about a week later seemed fine. Like I said earlier it would always get out of sync at higher speeds. Thing was always on.

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[Jully]

So how often do you check your tires? Once a day? Once a week? Once a month? The likelihood of someone catching a problem on their own is pretty slim short of an actual complete flat.

My truck shows me the actual PSI of each tire...so even without the warning light coming on I can see if one tire suddenly starts to drop a few PSI to signify a potential issue. Even for cars that don't show the exact PSI, a warning light coming on when it is 10 PSI below the recommended level is still better than not having it at all.

Even with monitors (though mine don't give me actual psi) I still check my tires once a week. At a minimum it'll substantially help with gas mileage.

 

[cdskier]

Even with monitors (though mine don't give me actual psi) I still check my tires once a week. At a minimum it'll substantially help with gas mileage.

Do you think the average person does that (with or without sensors) though? It wouldn't surprise me if say 90-95% of people on the road never check so I much prefer those people having sensors than not having them. I personally check mine every month or so to make sure the sensors are still reporting accurately but I'm sure I'm in the minority.

 

[dlague]

Do you think the average person does that (with or without sensors) though? It wouldn't surprise me if say 90-95% of people on the road never check so I much prefer those people having sensors than not having them. I personally check mine every month or so to make sure the sensors are still reporting accurately but I'm sure I'm in the minority.

Thing is there are a boat load of cars with out them. I had sensors and still did a visual because it is not a perfect time system. I just a new to me car with out them. I think the more they put in vehicles the more they cost and the more things that can go wrong.

I think new vehicles have gotten ridiculously expensive. Even the used vehicle market is high IMO.

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[Smellytele]

I think the more they put in vehicles the more they cost and the more things that can go wrong.

I think new vehicles have gotten ridiculously expensive. Even the used vehicle market is high IMO.

This! I just got my first vehicle without manual roll down windows. Guess what? I had to replace the switches because they died or worked intermittently. I used to buy vehicles without air conditioning or power mirrors also. Now it is impossible to find vehicles without these features. Can't even call them options because they come standard. These standard features are the reason trucks went from 20k to 40k.

 

[Scruffy]

Did you guys forget the whole Firestone tires / Ford Exploder ordeal? Many, many people died as a result. Your disregard for safety is concerning. Feel free to risk your own lives, but I'll be pissed when you kill my family after your under inflated tires explode and you lose control of your vehicle.


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Of course remember, and that's a weak argument for mandated TPMs. That incident had more to do with two faulty designs: that year explorer was so shittily designed from a stability standpoint, it was criminal; coupled with Firestones crappy tires, and you had a perfect storm.

I'm not against technological advancements, I've spent 35 years building very sophisticated super computers and devices, that, without exaggeration, are running the world. And I have TPMs in my cars and I check them as a secondary check--I also visually, and manually with a tire gauge, inspect my tires all the time. I visually glance at my tires every day I use the car, which is every day. I quick glance as your approaching and getting in the car-that's what you did before TPMs, that's what people should do regardless of the sensors. People need to take responsibility for their own, their families, and their fellow drivers safety. It starts with properly maintaining your vehicle, and driving in a sane and safe manor, and properly fastening down items your carrying on your roof,...etc...

Fathers use to teach their daughters, when teaching them to drive, to check the tires, and even how to change a flat. Come on, it not that hard to be involved, and take responsibility for the speeding bullet your controlling.

I just don't feel it's necessary to federally mandate these things, sorry I want the option to mount my tires without them.

 

[Jully]

Do you think the average person does that (with or without sensors) though? It wouldn't surprise me if say 90-95% of people on the road never check so I much prefer those people having sensors than not having them. I personally check mine every month or so to make sure the sensors are still reporting accurately but I'm sure I'm in the minority.

That's fair... from that standpoint I can see that being a useful thing.

Thing is there are a boat load of cars with out them. I had sensors and still did a visual because it is not a perfect time system. I just a new to me car with out them. I think the more they put in vehicles the more they cost and the more things that can go wrong.

I think new vehicles have gotten ridiculously expensive. Even the used vehicle market is high IMO.

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Vehicles do cost a lot more these days. The used vehicle market being high is not totally connected to the price of the new car. More things that can go wrong though... absolutely. I want the base base base model for any car I buy, but I want it without the fancy gadgets that are 'luxury.' Any safety feature I'm okaying paying for. What I hate is that vehicle trims are bundled with a lot of crap that I don't want. To get the safety features I'd want I would have to also get a moon roof, heated seats, golden leather trimmed steering wheel, a $3000 audio system, and on board wifi (exaggerated but still).

I'm happy to pay for safety related things, but coupling them with non-safety items pisses me off. I'd rather have the gov regulate the safety features so dealers don't make me buy everything else to get the features. If this ridiculous bundling was done 25 years ago, you would have to get the luxury trim just to get seatbelts, airbags, and antilock brakes!

 

[Scruffy]

VW (at least mine) has simplified the whole thing. Instead of fancy sensors it uses the abs and traction control monitors to check the diameter of the wheel, if something changes the light goes on. Check the tires and if everything is ok, just hit the reset button.

That's smart. I'll take that over those flaky TMPSes. Too bad the Alltrack doesn't have the ground clearance I need.

 

[SkiFanE]

That's fair... from that standpoint I can see that being a useful thing.



Vehicles do cost a lot more these days. The used vehicle market being high is not totally connected to the price of the new car. More things that can go wrong though... absolutely. I want the base base base model for any car I buy, but I want it without the fancy gadgets that are 'luxury.' Any safety feature I'm okaying paying for. What I hate is that vehicle trims are bundled with a lot of crap that I don't want. To get the safety features I'd want I would have to also get a moon roof, heated seats, golden leather trimmed steering wheel, a $3000 audio system, and on board wifi (exaggerated but still).

I'm happy to pay for safety related things, but coupling them with non-safety items pisses me off. I'd rather have the gov regulate the safety features so dealers don't make me buy everything else to get the features. If this ridiculous bundling was done 25 years ago, you would have to get the luxury trim just to get seatbelts, airbags, and antilock brakes!

I wish they'd keep things simple. I'd rather control things with a manual lever than an electronic button. Can always use duct tape to fix a broken dial/lever but if it's electronic- you're SOL. We have bought Bosch d/w and washers - 5-6 between two homes in 15 years, base models. Base models on both were solid and had simple dials, 2 wash stages. Next time we had to buy the base models had electronics and more "brain". The old dishwasher NEVER had problems - we learned quciky that the "auto sensor" cycle sucked, have to do "normal" - and since it defaults to "auto" every freaking time I have to reenter normal AND push "sanitize" because that only defaults with auto wash. So a 1 button push (on) has now turned to 4. So my QA / testing experience says that's 3 additionall places to fail. And they no longer have a stainless bottom, is gray plastic. So we got electronic crap that I'm sure will fail eventually (our first Bosch dw caught fire by of a faulty chip from China, Bosch replaced panel for free ...) instead of stainless bottom. Our washing machine went form normal/gentle with a manual RPM dial to 8-10 different cycles with set RPMs that allow a little adjustment. Have had this machine a few years now and have to keep chart handy for how the different cycles work. It's freaking maddening!

 

[SIKSKIER]

Just got rid of my GMC Envoy Denali.TPs seemed to be a constant issue.I seemed to have one not working a lot.LI tried many times to recalibrate them and always had an issue with the same one.Last time I bought tires at Town Fair they fixed mine and then told me I couldn't get it inspected without all working.I saw a different view from another post.Anybody know what the deal is in NH?

 

[Bene288]

I can't say enough about my Tundra's snow performance, best vehicle I've ever had in the snow. Maybe a newer Tacoma with a cap is just as capable. I haven't driven a newer one in the snow yet. Pretty expensive for a small truck though.

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[SIKSKIER]

Just found my answer.No in NH but Vt and RI do need working tps to pass inspection.4 of the 18 states listed on this page require that also.http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/tech/techpage.jsp?techid=214

 

[BenedictGomez]

Need? No. I could do it myself...but why waste my time? What takes him a few minutes with an impact wrench while my truck is up on the lift would take me a lot longer jacking each wheel up individually and changing each tire by hand. I don't need to "prove" something to anyone by swapping my own tires.

Your mechanic changes your tires for free?

Granted I own a real jack, not one of those Fisher-Price things that comes with cars, but it probably takes me 25 minutes tops (if that). It's really not an ordeal.

Don't get me started on those TPM sensors. It's another nanny state/grease the pockets of the tire mfgs. ruling.
Stupid Feds making them required is insane.

Give enough $$$$ to a politician, and there's not much you cannot "accomplish".

Yes you can buy them without the TPSM
I honestly hate them and won't buy until they are required in the state inspection

I'll gladly look at the little warning light all winter.

Tire rack suggests you buy them ..... it's a money maker for sure.

Interesting, I didnt realize they were allowed to mount them without the sensors, but if this is an option I'll go this route for sure. Saving $400 is a no-brainer over something as mindbogglingly simplistic as occasionally checking your tire pressure.

 

[BenedictGomez]

So I think I'm most likely right about it being illegal:

NHTSA's interpretation of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act prohibits service providers from installing aftermarket tires and wheels on your vehicle without working TPMS sensors.

But it seems tire sellers can get around it by offering this option at point of sale.

Mount and balance the tires on the wheels without TPMS sensors. I will have my service provider transfer my existing TPMS sensors or install new TPMS sensors obtained locally.

Sort of a "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" kind of a thing it I'm guessing.

 

[cdskier]

Your mechanic changes your tires for free?

I think it was $20 last year he charged me to changeover to the winter wheels/tires. My time is more valuable than that, so to me it is absolutely worth it to just let him do it while he has it for regular service. In the spring I needed new all-season tires, so just paid for the tires and mounting on the summer wheels. In a sense you could say that time it was free to change the tires since there was no additional cost specifically for that.

 

[JDMRoma]

So I think I'm most likely right about it being illegal:



But it seems tire sellers can get around it by offering this option at point of sale.



Sort of a "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" kind of a thing it I'm guessing.

Interesting .....

If they worked better and I do like the idea about reporting PSI to the driver. But I've yet to see that on all, they need to be standardized.
Funny thing is when I mounted the non TPSM rims on the car it took 15 miles for it to figure out the sensors weren't there. And it resets when I park near the original tires.
The dealer mentioned my warning light was on last winter at inspection and I said yup that's correct. Winter tires. No sensor and no issues from them.




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