Aftermarket TPMS?

[Carlsbad]

Has anyone added an aftermarket TPMS? I see there are lots of inexpensive options that use bluetooth and can be read on your phone. The easy ones are built into a new valve core (screws into the valve stem). Just looking for something that others have found to be good. Not afraid to pay a bit more for quality. But I don't really want to have somthing that will require special attention from the tire installer or have to replace the valve stem.

I've had 2 tire issues in the last few months with my Q5 and both times I wished I had a real TPMS which reads tire pressure.

First I got a rock through a sidewall on a gravel road in the Sierra's on the way to the trailhead for a hike. I got a "Total loss of pressure" alarm. I stopped immediately, got out, and saw that I had been driving on an uninflated tire for some time. Fortunately I didn't damage the rim. So no harm no foul but the delay in the alarm coming in reduced my confidence in the system. Then I had to drive 300 miles home on the spare and it would have been great to have been able to monitor the air pressure.

So, since I need more rugged performance from my tires, I put a set of 18" wheels and some very durable tires on and have been very happy. Still not totally trusting of the system to give me prompt alarms. So last week I was 300 miles from home again when I got a low pressure alarm. Checked pressure and it was 15 psi low. I was disappointed that it was that low before I got the alarm. I looked for a nail, couldn't find one, aired the tire up and drove home. Got home and it was just a couple of pounds low. but I thought about it the entire way because I couldn't monitor the pressure, just wait for the alarm. Next day I got up and it was a couple of pounds lower. took the tire off, found a nail, and repaired it.

So I'd like to have an easy way to monitor tire pressure, like I have on my cheap Nissan that my son drives.

Jerry

[Hostile]

Why go aftermarket when you can retrofit the OE direct TPMS system for like $150?

[Mark888]

Why go aftermarket when you can retrofit the OE direct TPMS system for like $150?

Because the OE tpms can't report pressures. I've wondered this many times. Not sure why Audi is trying to save a couple bucks here. Just do it right like every other manufacturer out there.

[Smac770]

The indirect system does not read tire pressures. The direct system does. As for enabling the display of the individual pressures in the instrument cluster, not sure how simple that is. But look at the direct TPMS retrofit thread in the B9 A4, B9 S4, or B9 A5/S5 forum, whichever one it is in. $150 might be optimistic though, to get a J502, the four sensors, the four sensors installed, the wiring, etc.

[Carlsbad]

Thanks guys. I didn't realize audi offered a direct reading TPMS. I'll look into it. --Jerry

[Carlsbad]

Ok. I have found the retrofit kit for B9 A4/S4/A5/S5/RS5 sold by Euro Zone Tuning. I remember my friend with a TT says that he has real TPMS. So some models have it and good chance the Q5 CPU supports it. I've sent EZT a note asking if they know if it is available or adaptable to the Q5.

thanks.

[Hostile]

Because the OE tpms can't report pressures. I've wondered this many times. Not sure why Audi is trying to save a couple bucks here. Just do it right like every other manufacturer out there.

Yes it can. That’s the point of retrofitting the direct OE system. It’s from the RS cars.

It’s cheap and fairly simple to do.

got my rs5 tpms kit

Attachment 319750

[nodal]

Current ECUs still support active TPMS. You just need to wire in the sensor to the secondary CAN bus and then code the ECU to disable passive TPMS and look for the controller to enable active TPMS. Did this to my '23 SQ5.

https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...1#post14962683

[Gunnarrrrr]

As mentioned above, you can get the RS5 retrofit kit for cheap. I grabbed the full set in that pic for $100 shipped with a black friday deal. Just need to remove the rear seat bench and mount the antenna there and run a couple wires, or have a shop do it if you don’t want to. The more tech-heavy forums like audi-sport have lots of write ups. It’s as easy as changing a value in vcds/obdeleven and it’s enabled.



https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...PMS-to-your-B9


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[unluky]

As mentioned above, you can get the RS5 retrofit kit for cheap. I grabbed the full set in that pic for $100 shipped with a black friday deal. Just need to remove the rear seat bench and mount the antenna there and run a couple wires, or have a shop do it if you don’t want to. The more tech-heavy forums like audi-sport have lots of write ups. It’s as easy as changing a value in vcds/obdeleven and it’s enabled.



https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...PMS-to-your-B9


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Thank you for this - I've been looking for more Audi forums - specifically ones more "hands on" and this seems right up my alley!

[Gunnarrrrr]

Thank you for this - I've been looking for more Audi forums - specifically ones more "hands on" and this seems right up my alley!

Audizine for the mechanical stuff, audi-sport for the nerdy electronics stuff and retrofits. Those are the only two I use anymore.


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[Local]

I keep going back and forth on doing this.

I mean on one hand I have a tire gauge and can check em any time I want - but on the other hand I had this on my Cadillac CTS-V and I loved being able to see when my tires had warmed up (usually right before I got on my favorite on ramp and threw it around the decreasing radius corner at straight to jail speeds).

On one hand its cool, on the other hand its totally not necessary.

save for retirement? more cool unnecessary shit for my car? buy more stuff for the house?

[Mark888]

I keep going back and forth on doing this.

I mean on one hand I have a tire gauge and can check em any time I want - but on the other hand I had this on my Cadillac CTS-V and I loved being able to see when my tires had warmed up (usually right before I got on my favorite on ramp and threw it around the decreasing radius corner at straight to jail speeds).

On one hand its cool, on the other hand its totally not necessary.

save for retirement? more cool unnecessary shit for my car? buy more stuff for the house?

I thought about this briefly but decided to move on to something else that is less work and or more reward. Curious if the next gen audis will have it? What about Porsche SUVs?

[Hostile]

I thought about this briefly but decided to move on to something else that is less work and or more reward. Curious if the next gen audis will have it? What about Porsche SUVs?

Audi was supposed to add the direct TPMS system to the B9.5 cars but then COVID happened and they pulled the plug on it due to the microchip shortage. I imagine they still haven’t followed through with it because they’re pinching pennies.

[Smac770]

AoA added direct TPMS as standard to all A/S 6/7 and Q/SQ 7/8 vehicles starting MY22. That of course requires Audi to have the option available on the applicable model. There's no reference to the control module or the wheel sensors in the B9 parts catalogs, except the RS4 and RS5 ones.

Audi wasn't about to incur that kind of cost for no reason. The direct to indirect change across the product lines for MY10 saved money and let them market no cost of ownership tpms. Even with things like https://www.consumerreports.org/cars...m-a6644749463/ , the cost of all that hardware across the product lines would be much more expensive. Maybe AoA was starting to get too much flak for why modern Audis still couldn't do something baseline GMs had been doing for over a decade.

Maybe it was too much volume for the parts availability, or maybe there was no intention of doing it in the lower cost B segment. Who knows. Will we see it standard when B10 comes? Who knows.

[Hostile]

Yea I mis-remembered, it was supposed to start in MY22 and all C and D segment cars.

IMG_8477.jpg

D segment is the A4/5 Q5 cars. C segment is the A3.

[Smac770]

They delivered on that. D segment is the A8, thus why it's generations are referred to as D3, D4, D5. C segment is the A6, now also the A7 (current gen is C8). B segment is the A4, now also the A5 and the Q5 (e.g, the B9 Q5 aka the Mk2 Q5 aka the type FY). Q7 is kind of it's own thing, but no one decided to refer to it as E1 (type 4L Q7) and E2 (type 4M Q7 and Q8).

[terrspin11]

Thank you for the info above, i ended up buying the tpms kit. However, I don't trust my skill set to tear the car apart. What kind of shop should I go to have it installed?

[Hostile]

They delivered on that. D segment is the A8, thus why it's generations are referred to as D3, D4, D5. C segment is the A6, now also the A7 (current gen is C8). B segment is the A4, now also the A5 and the Q5 (e.g, the B9 Q5 aka the Mk2 Q5 aka the type FY). Q7 is kind of it's own thing, but no one decided to refer to it as E1 (type 4L Q7) and E2 (type 4M Q7 and Q8).

You’re confusing Audi’s internal chassis codes with the industry term “segment” which is an ISO 3833-1977 classification for vehicle types/sizes.

D-segment cars are mid-size sedans in the US. The A8 is not a mid-size sedan. The A4 is.

A3 is C-segment
A4 is D-segment
A6 is E-segment
A8 is F-segment

[Smac770]

You’re confusing Audi’s internal chassis codes with the industry term “segment” which is an ISO 3833-1977 classification for vehicle types/sizes.

D-segment cars are mid-size sedans in the US. The A8 is not a mid-size sedan. The A4 is.

A3 is C-segment
A4 is D-segment
A6 is E-segment
A8 is F-segment

If you're using that classification system. Whoever wrote the Audi document is clearly using their own platform designations, not some ISO document designations. They were not adding direct TPMS to the A4/A5 (the B vehicles). They were adding, and did add, direct TPMS to the A6/A7/A8 (the C and D vehicles).

[Gunnarrrrr]

Thank you for the info above, i ended up buying the tpms kit. However, I don't trust my skill set to tear the car apart. What kind of shop should I go to have it installed?

I'll have a detailed write-up in a couple days. believe it or not, no tearing the car apart was necessary whatsoever. anything I needed to access was accessible by the removable cubby in the back, and lifting the rear seat bench. 100% plug and play, I honestly didn't even need my wiring pin tools.

[terrspin11]

Oh, wow, great! The video i saw above seemed to tear the car apart, so glad to hear I don't! And I have the obd11 to get it coded. thank you!

[Gunnarrrrr]

Oh, wow, great! The video i saw above seemed to tear the car apart, so glad to hear I don't! And I have the obd11 to get it coded. thank you!

some people opted to grab power and can+- from the front of the car, which is a total waste of time. After staring at the wiring diagrams in the service manual until I went crosseyed, I determined that can hi and lo from the comfort module under the rear seat is the way to go, and the fuse panel in the back has the C6 location empty for all q/sq5’s.

That is the exact same fuse location listed for the b9 a/s/rs 4/5 as power for the rear pdc. for the RS, it powers the pdc and the tpms (which is mounted above the rear subframe in the RS). So IF audi were to have offered tpms with the Q, this is where they would have put it to be consistent with the other b9’s. It’s already powered, all that’s needed is to plug the wire from the antenna harness into the back of it, and throw in a 5A fuse.


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[Mark888]

I'll have a detailed write-up in a couple days. believe it or not, no tearing the car apart was necessary whatsoever. anything I needed to access was accessible by the removable cubby in the back, and lifting the rear seat bench. 100% plug and play, I honestly didn't even need my wiring pin tools.

Stoked to read this once posted.

[Local]

I'll have a detailed write-up in a couple days. believe it or not, no tearing the car apart was necessary whatsoever. anything I needed to access was accessible by the removable cubby in the back, and lifting the rear seat bench. 100% plug and play, I honestly didn't even need my wiring pin tools.

If its really this easy maybe I'll just order the parts ... you know to be safe.

[Gunnarrrrr]

If its really this easy maybe I'll just order the parts ... you know to be safe.

let me get my sensors installed and make sure it works before i give u my link, I paid 108 shipped in black friday, think it’s like $135 now.

I’ve got the DIY typed out in a text file just need to take more pics and test it after coding


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