I had three tire bubbles due to potholes here in KC when I had my IS. Low-profile tire life is hard in the Midwest. Had one in the GTI already... only had the car two months.

 

Steve: You are now a poster child for why idiots shouldn't circumvent/disable/not maintain their TPMS...a flat at freeway speeds can be disastrous and expensive!

Was glad to hear you are considering keeping your LS, rather than leasing a new model. Maybe those of us in the "buy and keep camp" are having some influence on you!

 

I'll let Steve speak for himself, but I suspect one reason for keeping the former LS is that neither he nor I was very impressed with the latest one. I suspect that the new G90 may be a temptation, though.

 

Definitely, I've had the same thing happen, shredded a tire in the middle of KS in December in the middle of the night driving home to CO. Wish I had a pic. I did have a spare.

I just picked up a 2017 MINI Clubman and they actually have a really cool little storage area for a spare, even hidden. Previous owner never added one and used RunFlats. I bought from a private party in Tacoma and had it sent here (Clubman All4 S 6-speed Manual with all the options, very hard to find, looked locally for months) . The $450 Bridgestone Potenza S001 she added made it 2 weeks with the Denver potholes before they started bulging.



Now I have the Conti DWS06 non Run-flat (with Road Hazard) after adding the spare. Went with a slightly bigger tire than stock by 1/2" to give a little more cushion.

 

Nice. Hope the DWS's survive the onslaught.

I had a tiny bubble in my tire, but it was enough for an excuse to upgrade. Once you have a bubble, you never really know anyway.

 

Tires were properly inflated and there was no weight in the bed of the truck. In this case it was more about the age of the tires. Truck had been sitting for a few years, but we needed it on a super short notice to run to another state to haul stuff back. It's actually been sitting largely unused since that trip, unfortunately, though the engine still runs great when I go start it occasionally.

Not to be semantic here, but I would say Steve is NOT a poster child because that would imply he had disabled the TPMS and suffered the consequences. He did things right and everything worked out.

When I bought my F150, I was getting a TPMS alert every time i started it. Annoying as hell, and it was only 2 years old with 36k miles at the time. I had 2 tires not giving me any reading. I can see why people are annoyed by it, but IMO it was just as easy to get it fixed as it was to circumvent. I bought 2 replacement OEM sensor/valvestem pairs off Amazon and had them installed at Discount Tire. Very cheap, and definitely worth it. I enjoy knowing how much air is in each tire with the press of a button.

It turned out that the reason my TPMS wasn't working was that the dealer i bought my truck from had replaced all the tires and lost 2 of the OEM stems so they just used generic ones without the sensors. They also didn't properly seal any of the valve stems so I had constant leaks from all 4 tires for the first month.

 

Hopefully my bad luck isn't contagious!

 

Your tire luck is contagious... I got a flat on the highway 3 days after your post... First time that's happened to me since I was 22 (in a Ford Explorer with FIrestone tires...) I noticed my TPMS warning on my display and I was losing 1-2 PSI per mile. I pulled over and got some air which allowed me to get off at my exit 4 miles up and avoid being on the side of a crazy busy highway. I ended up pulling over in a pretty deserted area on the way to the beach when I hit 15 PSI and waited 45 min for AAA to arrive. I'm glad it was day time - I was supposed to do that drive late the night before but changed my mind.

 

Its contagious!

My flat 20 years ago was in my Ford Explorer too, no Firestones though!

 

Problem is you're not driving around on 33 year old tires that's the secret. This is a joke please don't do this.

Here's the 33 year old original spare I mentioned it looks perfect I'd have no problems driving on it when needed. Would I use it daily? No.
https://i.imgur.com/VxlNfJf.jpg

 

that tire is probably as hard as a hockey puck with just as much grip as one

 

No the rubber is fine.

 

A spare won't go bad as quickly(but it will still go bad eventually) because it's usually not exposed to the sunlight.

 

Isn't a "poster child" simply an "example," good or bad? Regardless, perhaps it would have been better to have stated it in the positive, rather than the negative. Such as...Steve is a poster child for keeping his TPMS in good working order and protecting lives from danger and his wallet from the additional costs involved in a high speed flat!

A friend of mine was having problems with the TPMS in his Subaru Legacy, and he ignored it. Then he had a flat on the freeway that cost him a tow, a replacement wheel and four new tires. Luckily, he didn't crash as well!

BTW...A Ford Explorer riding on Firestone tires, had a blowout due to under inflation, and it rolled and killed the entire family. This accident, the impending lawsuits, and host of similar accidents, brought about the law requiring TPMS in all vehicles (starting in 2007). Vehicles are much safer today based on what we have learned from the past.

 

I could have sworn the TPMS started way earlier, but perhaps that was voluntary on the part of certain manufacturers(my dad's 99 Toyota Sienna has it)