Quote:
Originally Posted by androdev
It turned out to be a small nail (1mm dia) thats why the leakage was very slow. The tire barely has run 5K km, since I don't know for how long the car was riding on this leaking tire (this car sits at home more than 50% of the week), I decided to take a chance and got it repaired with a plug.
It was a mistake to trust the flat tire monitor to report any pressure loss. The same system works great in my non-RFT VW car. I plan to get an after-market TPMS fitted (Orange or Hella TPMS).
What was BMW thinking by giving this lame system on cars equipped with RFTs - it is simply useless and gives a false sense of security.
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As you have seen in the above post. The FTM can pick up a slow leak for non RFT because it can sense the change in diameter of the tires. For RFT, it is impossible to pick up the change unless there is a huge variance in tire pressure ie 30 psi vs 10-15 psi.
I think the VW sensor will not pick up a slow leak on vehicle equipped with RFT unless it is fitted with a TPMS. So again is not a design flaw, the FTM does it job by letting you know when there's a flat tire. When you hear the warning, you are suppose to drive slowly (80km/h or below) to get the tire change. So I don't think you will be put in great danger by the system.
I would just ditch the RFT and go with non RFT and a mobility kit.