williakz

Just got back (Thurs 11/1/12) from my Lexus dealer looking at 2013 LS460 (for me) and 2013 ES350 (for wife). Wife's current 2010 ES350 has basic TPMS - low tire pressure triggers idiot light, you figure out which tire is low. PITA! The new ES350 shows actual PSI number for each tire AT ITS CURRENT LOCATION on the car! [Question: How do it know? I'm wondering if tire rotations must be done at Lexus dealership for reset/reprogam of pressure sensor IDs and/or position.]

OK, onto the LS460. My current unit, 2007 SWB displays 5 tire pressures (includes full-sized spare) in a random order pile which shuffles after every tire rotation. PITA to keep up with which PSI corresponds to which tire, but it is doable with a bit of care. 2013 LS460? I could not find any tire pressure display at all. No current pressure/location like on the new ES350 or even the "pile of pressures" like my 2007 LS460. The Lexus salesman couldn't find any way to display tire pressures either.

Did Lexus put its best TPMS in the 2013 ES350 and its worst in its flagship, the 2013 LS460? Say it ain't so, ANYONE!

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Actually the 13 GS got it first THEN the ES

Rockville

At the top of the instruments and they show an overview of the car and list the pressures by position. The DISP button on the steering wheel toggles through to this feature. Sometimes you will see little blanks while the sensors are reporting in...

BTW, recommended tire pressure is 33 lbs. cold or first few minutes of use.

Rock

stanatl

I believe that the top reading is always the spare tire.

williakz

Rock,

You have perfectly described the TPMS I found in the 2013 ES350 and that I understand exists as well in the 2013 GS350. The problem is I did NOT find the same functionality in a 2013 LS460 (SWB,RWB) that was on my dealer's lot yesterday. The salesman tried scrolling through the various displays using the DISP button, but no joy. Either the full-function TPMS display was somehow/somewhere set as non-viewable or - horrors! - it has been removed at least in the "stripped down" ($78k sticker!) model I saw. Could you describe more fully the model/trim level of the car you tested? Thanks

williakz

Well, back to the dealership today (Sat 11/3/12). This time, I sat in the 2013 LS460's driver seat and made the salesguy sit shotgun. Fired up the car and sure enough, no tire pressures. Then, I got an idea. Closed the driver's door and voila! TPMS PSIs came up on TFT display. Not only that, but LS had all five PSIs - one at each corner and one for the spare. (ES and GS only have four due to limited service spares) So I saw four at 36PSI and one at 48PSI. Hey, wait a minute - that's not a donut back there is it? Surely they didn't swap out the full-sized spare for a cheap limited service spare, did they? NO, they did not. LS spare was full-sized with a pristine split-seven spoke wheel that matched the rest ($1100 option). It's only sin was being overfilled (unnecessary now that positions are displayed, no?)

The only remaining question was posed (without immediate satisfaction) for the salesguy to birddog: how is the system informed of tire position? Automatically, using 4 wheel well receivers? Deductively, using a standard mounting sequence (ie. LF,RF,RR,LR)? Or interactively, using a special tool to communicate with the TPMS sensors and/or the vehicle ECU (necessitating tire rotations at Lexus dealer only)? Answer will be posted when received or feel free to chip in if you know already.

jmcraney

Thank you for informing us about this.

If they are using some sort of display that implies position then it is probably accomplished through localization antennas, and is likely automatic as there is possible legal liability if the display information is misleading.

Hear is a link to a description of TPMS sensor localization: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_TPMS

Earlier LS460/600 models display five tire pressures but nothing about tire position. I do like to see the pressures but don't get much useful information from the positions so that has worked fine for me. However most people in our discussions don't share my view and will be very pleased if the new models display the positions.

As for the spare being over-inflated, 48 is a little much. I set mine at 40PSI so that I have a permeation margin and that prevents the spare from causing an alarm due to permeation, in extreme seasonal temperature changes for a couple of years.

Please keep us informed if you learn anything new.

CJITTY

My previous 2007 460 and 2008 600 require the doors to be closed for TPMS display but I wish they showed position location like the new setups

rumedic

Thank you for telling me how to bring the tire PSI. T,here is nothing in the manuals to explain this. I have a LS460 I acquired 2 weeks ago. It is a 2012 AWD with all the bells and whistles which I am trying to master. On the voice commands it tells me I have to subscribe to a service to find various places, e.g. hotels, gas etc. Can you advise?

Tee

You should be able to tell the car via voice command by saying Hotel POI, Gas station POI etc and the Nav will display what POI's are around your current location.