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8,046 Posts
Ok, I can officially say that the whole "you can't turn VSA off if the TMPS light is on" myth can be laid to rest.
I bought a set of winterforce tires, steel wheels and an extra set of TPMS sensors from discount tire on here to get my E through the upcoming North Dakota winter. Best investment so far and I'm loving them.
After installing the rims/tires I started to drive home, and low and behold, the TPMS light ca,e on. I expected that. The first thing I wanted to do was to try turning the VSA system off because I had heard everything from "it won't turn off", to "you'll be stuck with it on all the time", to "your car will shut off". I push the button, and just as before the new rims and tires, the little VSA light comes on. JUST LIKE BEFORE!
Hmmm, strange, this wasn't supposed to happen according to the people on EOC. :?
Now, no snow was on the ground yet, so I couldn't try to do any insane slip 'n' slide burnouts (I tried on dry pavement, and with brand new grippy winter tires, it's damn near impossible). So, this being North Dakota in December......snow wasn't too far off.
Low and behold, 2 days later it snowed. Woohooo!! We got some snow on the ground, it was packed down by other cars creeping along at some seriously unreasonable slow speeds, but the E was handling as if it were dry out. I LOVE THESE TIRES!!! For the $67/tire I paid for them, you can't beat their performance. I'm taking them on a road trip all over the east coast for the rest of the month and I'll have a review of them after that.
But that's not what this is about, the purpose of this thread though is to put to rest the myth that you have to take your car in the get the new sensors activated otherwise the VSA system will not function properly.
So I take the E with it's bright glowing TPMS light and all out to a nice patch of road with some nicely packed snow and do the same tests as before.
VSA system ON with lit up TPMS light, drop the clutch, wheels spin, power gets diverted to the back wheels, engine bogging down as it tries to get traction, VSA light blinks, car takes off just like it did before the tire swap.
Now with the VSA switched off via the VSA button next to the cruise control button with TPMS light still nice and bright, drop the clutch, front wheels spin and spin and spin and spin, I can take the car all the way up to redline and it'll just sit there and spin the tires. VSA light never blinks, just stays on.
So what happened to the whole "your car will blow up/stall/VSA will come and kill your family and steal your credit cards" thing?
From what I can tell, the only adverse effects that not having a set of learned TPMS sensors has on my car is that I have a little orange TPMS light on my dash. This was taken care of with the help of a small square of blue painters tape. Why painters tape? Because it won't leave a nasty residue for you to clean off your easily scratched gauge cover.
I can deal with a little piece of tape for 5 months to save $70. Well, $140 actually, since I would have had to go get the sensors in my summer wheels relearned as well.
Anyway, sorry for the long post. I tried to make it a bit amusing.
Long story short. The TPMS warning light has no ill effect on the VSA system at all. Learn to deal with the little light (or cover it up) and save yourself a few bucks.
I bought a set of winterforce tires, steel wheels and an extra set of TPMS sensors from discount tire on here to get my E through the upcoming North Dakota winter. Best investment so far and I'm loving them.
After installing the rims/tires I started to drive home, and low and behold, the TPMS light ca,e on. I expected that. The first thing I wanted to do was to try turning the VSA system off because I had heard everything from "it won't turn off", to "you'll be stuck with it on all the time", to "your car will shut off". I push the button, and just as before the new rims and tires, the little VSA light comes on. JUST LIKE BEFORE!
Hmmm, strange, this wasn't supposed to happen according to the people on EOC. :?
Now, no snow was on the ground yet, so I couldn't try to do any insane slip 'n' slide burnouts (I tried on dry pavement, and with brand new grippy winter tires, it's damn near impossible). So, this being North Dakota in December......snow wasn't too far off.
Low and behold, 2 days later it snowed. Woohooo!! We got some snow on the ground, it was packed down by other cars creeping along at some seriously unreasonable slow speeds, but the E was handling as if it were dry out. I LOVE THESE TIRES!!! For the $67/tire I paid for them, you can't beat their performance. I'm taking them on a road trip all over the east coast for the rest of the month and I'll have a review of them after that.
But that's not what this is about, the purpose of this thread though is to put to rest the myth that you have to take your car in the get the new sensors activated otherwise the VSA system will not function properly.
So I take the E with it's bright glowing TPMS light and all out to a nice patch of road with some nicely packed snow and do the same tests as before.
VSA system ON with lit up TPMS light, drop the clutch, wheels spin, power gets diverted to the back wheels, engine bogging down as it tries to get traction, VSA light blinks, car takes off just like it did before the tire swap.
Now with the VSA switched off via the VSA button next to the cruise control button with TPMS light still nice and bright, drop the clutch, front wheels spin and spin and spin and spin, I can take the car all the way up to redline and it'll just sit there and spin the tires. VSA light never blinks, just stays on.
So what happened to the whole "your car will blow up/stall/VSA will come and kill your family and steal your credit cards" thing?
From what I can tell, the only adverse effects that not having a set of learned TPMS sensors has on my car is that I have a little orange TPMS light on my dash. This was taken care of with the help of a small square of blue painters tape. Why painters tape? Because it won't leave a nasty residue for you to clean off your easily scratched gauge cover.
I can deal with a little piece of tape for 5 months to save $70. Well, $140 actually, since I would have had to go get the sensors in my summer wheels relearned as well.
Anyway, sorry for the long post. I tried to make it a bit amusing.
Long story short. The TPMS warning light has no ill effect on the VSA system at all. Learn to deal with the little light (or cover it up) and save yourself a few bucks.
Want to put that one to rest too, Frozen?
