Are TPMS' Beneficial OR Simply A Waste Of $?

The ones that simply tell you that a tire(s) is under pressure without telling you which tire are kinda useless! The systems that tell you individual tire pressures or at least tell you which wheel has the issue are pretty good.

As for most people not knowing what the indicator light means, you can't be surprised by this. Most drivers don't know how to properly use ABS brakes!

I agree with you.

Also, I like checking my car out manually, but this day in age, I just want to sit back and enjoy driving the car. There's nothing wrong with a useful, little gadget.

It doesn't matter if it tells wich tire or not or actual pressure, in my experience most people just bring the car to the dealer when the light is on, as in there must be something wrong with the car, not the tires.

At least the new systems use existing ABS components so not a waste of $$

@aarononymous
So True.

I'm not really a fan of TPMS. More expense and complexity, especially if you have two sets of wheels for your car. I prefer getting my hands dirty adjusting the air pressure and inspecting the ties. Tires are the most important safety feature on your car since avoiding an accident in the first place is more satisfying than just surviving one.
On the other hand, I do support KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid)

What's the point if the effer's never on because I maintain my pressure manually? The only time it makes sense is in the winter. And a quick fill will turn it right back off. Seems like more of a gimmick for idiots than anything.

If done right - TPMS should be great - I have a 06 330i and the TPMS is BS - Doesn't tell you which tire is low and doesn't tell you what the air pressure is - Stupid

I drive a 08 STS the tpm is excellent it tells the current psi of all for tires and chimes in if one gets lower than 30 psi, very handy if you hit something in the road and get a slow leak it gives you time to get somewhere before the tire is completely gone and lets you know exactly the tire that's low.

I am split on this. It is an initial pain in the ass for winter/summer tire combos, but it is nifty to see your individual tire pressures on the fly.

Really sad the Nanny State has to mandate this because most Americans are too lazy to regularly check the pressure of their tires.

No way! I would love this feature especially in sports cars with low profile tires and tramlining...an unfamiliar highway, crosswind conditions, etc. can make you doubt if you might be starting to flat.

Definitely want PSI numbers for each wheel, though.

I personally HATE mine. I have it on my 2005 Matrix XR AWD and it goes off on a daily basis. The tire pressures are fine and my system is based off the ABS system instead of the individual tires. So I can't see what the actual pressure or which tire it is referring to. I ignore it since I check my pressures regularly and they are fine. If I brake hard or exit a highway, the light will pop on because of suspension forces on the brakes causing it to freak out.

The next time I thingk of it, I'm pulling off the dash cover and ripping the bulb out. For Christmas sakes, Toyota even put a Reset button right on the dash, they must've known it was a sucky system.

My fiance's Jeep is a nice system, it even tells you when the spare is low which is a nice feature.

I have 08' Commander and it tells the psi for each individual tire. The only time its a pain is the winter time when the pressure drops on a tire or two and it trips the dash light. Its a small nuisance but I think its more useful for those that don't check their tires before they drive off every time, they just see the light and know something is not right.

I have the same car. It is a good system, even tells you when the spare is low. However, if you traveling at high speeds and hit a good bump in the road the sensors can sometimes be jarred and will not read causing the TPS lite and tone to go off.The first couple of times it scared the $#(^ out of me and I pulled over to see what had happened. Everything was fine.

I have pretty strong feelings about this. For one, it's a must on any car with run flats, otherwise you could have complete pressure loss while driving an hardly know it. I've had 4 vehicles with TPMS and can say that the American and Japanese systems are far superior to the German. The older style indirect monitoring (my '02 E46 M3), which does not have a sensor in the tire, but uses ABS hardware to measure changes in tire revolutions/time is much less sensitive and only told you A tire was low, now which one-- clearly pretty useless. My '07 Caddy CTS-V and my '08 Acura MDX had/have direct monitoring with a nice little pictogram of each tire and the actual pressure. They are very accurate, update rapidly, and make it simple to know that 1 tire is a few pounds low. With winter/summer tire swaps, you do need to reassign each sensor to each corner when you change the tires. Having come from the '07 CTS-V, I'm now driving an '09 335i with run flats. AND I HATE the BMW system. Can someone please inform me why, if each tire has an independent sensor (direct monitoring) and the pressure is registered somewhere, why it can't be displayed...? You get a nice pictogram with green light at each corner, but no pressure number. Here's an example of why it's a problem.. Spent the weekend away 100mi from home, no problems until valet pulls car around for trip back-- TPMS flashing R rear tire is LOW. But no idea how low it is. Had to go buy a gauge to figure out the tire was at 30lb, and just needed some air to boost it to 42 where it should be. Don't understand why it doesn't tell you sooner-- say 3-4lb below set pressure. 12lb is way to much. You do have to calibrate the system to know your desired pressures. If I were closer to home, wouldn't have been as much of a problem, since the car is on run flats, but conceivably, knowing the pressure would help you decide between leaving on the 100mi trip or replacing the tire.

I weather check and put my tires at what I want them at if I want to run them lower then factory I don want no stuped ligt on in my dash tell me my tires are low, if I every get a car with one of the tpms I will probley try to see if I can remove it.