UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Andy Beats wrote: Wed May 22, 2019 10:15 am Well, perhaps the Polo system is supposed to tell us which tyre.
But seeing as it was a false alarm and all tyres were fine, it couldn't/wouldn't....
Interested to find out if a proper warning would have shown the affected tyre.
The graphic does suggest it would.
All four tyres were showing as a sort of orange on the graphic, then turned to white (I think) when I confirmed.
Perhaps a proper warning would have shown one red...

Yes, it tells you which tyre - as I goind out when I had a screw in a tyre a while back (£27 for a repair!).

monkeyhanger wrote: Wed May 22, 2019 1:25 pm Yes, it tells you which tyre - as I goind out when I had a screw in a tyre a while back (£27 for a repair!).

Ok, cool, well that just shows it was some weird fault.
The tyre warning light came on in the dash, a loud 'BING' and a message on the dash MFD.
But the multimedia screen didn't show any particular tyre as being soft.

Got the (false) alarm on Day 3.

I understand it’s only measuring wheel rotation differences via ABS ring, but was disappointed that it didn’t show which axle was to blame.

I was doubly annoyed that the car was delivered without the locking wheel bolt key so I wouldn’t have been able to fit the spare anyway.

I was annoyed with myself as I hadn’t loaded all my good lady’s junk into her new car and that would have included a wee tyre pressure gauge.

All 4 tyres looked ok so I reset the alarm, knowing that it would trigger again very quickly if a tyre was losing air.

But all was well for the rest of the day.

When I got home and checked the tyre pressures I was annoyed (again), because they were all running at transit pressures. Nearer 50 PSI than 40!

Salesman never did call as promised after a week “to see how things were going”. Crap PDI.

Boxerboy wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2020 8:55 pm Got the (false) alarm on Day 3.

I understand it’s only measuring wheel rotation differences via ABS ring, but was disappointed that it didn’t show which axle was to blame.

I was doubly annoyed that the car was delivered without the locking wheel bolt key so I wouldn’t have been able to fit the spare anyway.

I was annoyed with myself as I hadn’t loaded all my good lady’s junk into her new car and that would have included a wee tyre pressure gauge.

All 4 tyres looked ok so I reset the alarm, knowing that it would trigger again very quickly if a tyre was losing air.

But all was well for the rest of the day.

When I got home and checked the tyre pressures I was annoyed (again), because they were all running at transit pressures. Nearer 50 PSI than 40!

Salesman never did call as promised after a week “to see how things were going”. Crap PDI.

I’ve found that a sudden drop in ambient temperature at this time of year can trigger false TPMS alerts. I got one this last week (only the second in nearly 4 years though), reset the alarm and it’s been fine since.

It’s poor that the dealer didn’t set the tyre pressures at the correct pressure, and disappointing that the locking wheel bolt adapter was missing. I’ve read on other VW forums of owners collecting their new cars and finding the tyres still set at the transit pressure. It does make you wonder what else might have been missed during PDI if something as simple as adjusting the tyre pressures isn’t done.

I’ve got one of those small compressors that plugs into the 12v socket to add air to my tyres if necessary. It lives in my car, along with my other ‘essentials’ - a tyre pressure gauge, tyre tread depth gauge, top up oil, torch, de-icer and some quick detailer and microfibre cloths to deal with any unwanted bird poo on the paint work. It doesn’t take up much space, and has proved invaluable over the years.

Go on, spill the beans, which dealership was it and which branch?

My older daughter bought a pre-reg Leon Cupra from Uncle Arnie's Seafield Emporium - and it had original factory build faults stored and other faults in a total of 9 controllers, to save her time, I printed them all off and cleared them, though some later but still presale date door lock faults are still being logged, though everything seems to work - a job for its first service I think!

Too many dealerships are manned by muppets, lazy people and conmen if any of that is not true then why is this happening?

I got the false alarm on my first long road trip with the new polo. Was on the motorway and it binged at me saying there was a loss of pressure in the rear passenger wheel. I pulled over to check but couldn't see any sign of loss of pressure. I then worried all the way to the next gas station where I check all the pressures and they were fine. Reset the pressures on the infotainment system and was on my way. Not got a single phantom pressure loss since. I did however buy a pump and pressure gauge and carry them in the boot since this happened to be safe.

It did go off once more but correctly when I got a puncture when parking up at a friends house, it went off shortly after pulling away when it detected that the tyre had lost about 30% of its pressure. Slow leak so I pumped back up and headed a short distance home. Thankfully I had the pump in the boot otherwise I'd have been changing to the spare at the roadside.

It must be said that it is a handy system to have on any car, which is probably why it has been required by EU for some time now, but when it does "go off" it does or should, force you to take some immediate(ish) action, and if that means you end up pulling onto the hard shoulder of a motorway or the side of a busy "other" road, and there is no identifiable issue with the tyres or their pressures, then you have ended up putting yourself into a dangerous situation due to this "safety improving" system - proper design work should have ensured that "ghost" warnings are not being given, ie the same as for any other "safety improving" systems.
I don't mind my parking sensors giving "ghost" warnings due to the known issues with some other manufacturer's parking sensors, even though that is a slight distraction, but I'd hope to trust TPMS to be correct 99.99% of the time, I know that I headed for a safe area off the motorway when I got the first "ghost" warning from my wife's Polo - and as usual that took too long and involved needing to drive quite a bit further than I'd like to with a puncture to get clear of other cars, but that is life I suppose, sometimes the world turns against you it seems, very annoying! At least with my S4, it has only ever happened once and we were close to home on a downhill narrow bending bit of road with high banking on both sides where the first "safe" area to stop was back in my driveway!

Does anyone know what the transit tyre pressures are? My car (new) feels a bit too uncomfortable over rough roads which makes me wonder if the tyre pressures were missed on the PDI

My steering was out and also a mark on the door sill that was missed on the PDI

What do other people run in terms of front/rear pressures for the 18" GTi wheels?

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk

monty831 wrote: Sat Jan 11, 2020 3:58 pm Does anyone know what the transit tyre pressures are? My car (new) feels a bit too uncomfortable over rough roads which makes me wonder if the tyre pressures were missed on the PDI

Boxerboy’s post in this discussion thread - five posts above your post - suggests the transit tyre pressure is around 50psi. What are your pressures set at? Is your suspension in ‘Sport’ or ‘Normal’ mode?

monty831 wrote: Sat Jan 11, 2020 3:58 pm What do other people run in terms of front/rear pressures for the 18" GTi wheels?

Check out the ‘Tyre Pressure GTI 2.0’ discussion thread.

SRGTD wrote: Sat Jan 11, 2020 4:50 pm Check out the ‘Tyre Pressure GTI 2.0’ discussion thread.

viewtopic.php?f=71&t=72984

Further to my previous post about a spurious alarm - without an indication as to which wheel was the problem .......


Today my wife calls to say the tyre alarm has activated. Front RH has a problem.

She checked the pressure and found it had lost about 8psi.

I trundled over to her location - complete with full wheel change tool kit - to find that there was no visible leak or puncture.

Found a garage airline a mile away (£1 a pop) and inflated the tyre to 40psi.

She got home ok, so I’ll check it all over again tomorrow when all are cool.

My biggest surprise after the previous alarm, was the fact that the alarm detail identified the front RH wheel, which didn’t happen first time. ps - new winter wheel / tyre set has only been on for 13 days and a few hundred miles. Grrrrrrrrr.

Boxerboy wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2020 7:39 pm Further to my previous post about a spurious alarm - without an indication as to which wheel was the problem .......


Today my wife calls to say the tyre alarm has activated. Front RH has a problem.

She checked the pressure and found it had lost about 8psi.

I trundled over to her location - complete with full wheel change tool kit - to find that there was no visible leak or puncture.

Found a garage airline a mile away (£1 a pop) and inflated the tyre to 40psi.

She got home ok, so I’ll check it all over again tomorrow when all are cool.

My biggest surprise after the previous alarm, was the fact that the alarm detail identified the front RH wheel, which didn’t happen first time.
E57CE45B-622E-4D96-AF92-6FC1071C7491.jpeg

ps - new winter wheel / tyre set has only been on for 13 days and a few hundred miles. Grrrrrrrrr.

With an 8 psi pressure loss in one tyre over a relatively short period, it does sound as if you’ve picked up a nail, screw or some other sharp object in the tread or the inner sidewall, so isn’t visible when the wheel / tyre is on the car. Is it possible the tyre has been damaged as a result of hitting a pothole? Alternatively, you may have a faulty valve, or the tyre isn’t sealing perfectly around the rim of your wheel, but that’s probably less likely than a puncture.

I’d suggest removing the wheel and inspecting the inner sidewall and tread thoroughly for damage.

B***ar!

One to keep an eye on then!