MP4.2+6.0

So far on W12 have had two tire incidents:

a catastrophic blow out when my wife hit a tumbling bowling ball rock in the Sierras bouncing down the road out of no where in the pre dawn light, where TPMS would make no diff--tire instantly cut and wheel messed up.

lowly nail in tread in the neighborhood. Would have been flat in some hours. TPMS picked up fairly rapid air loss while I was still talking with my neighbor (with the construction project...) and set off the warning light. Got it pumped up and headed straight to tire place for a patch. Uncaught could have been at least an expected late start w/ a full flat, perhaps a ruined tire as pressure dropped, and worst case a dangerous handling situation if unexpected.

On 4.2 A6 w out TPMS but w/ quattro and near the weight of an A8 4.2:

also lost a tire on it due to highway road debris late at night returning from Tahoe. Definitely heard something, but unclear what had happened and drove on. Within 5 minutes it was obvious a rear was going flat fast. By then no where to get off and reduced speed to exit. Tire fully shredded by then and another hour + to clean wheel. That was a couple hundred dollar good Dunlop M3. Would have been really bad had it happened a few hours earlier on I 80 in the Sierras on the long sweeper descent curves at speed, especially in the rear.

Dealer also effectively ruined a tire when near new when they remounted tires due to a balance issue, but left PSI's at well sub 30 PSI, on a car with 40 series that wants 38-40PSI. First sharp railroad track and instant sidewall bubble on a front wheel. TPMS would have caught that error as outside of range, and you would have thought the high volume Bay Area Audi dealer with a decent service dept. could have gotten the pressure right w/ out needing to go over their work with a guage where you can't quite see it visually).

Net on average, even with TPMS replace cost I have probably at least broken even + relative to incremental tire consequences for everyday real world situations. Of course, I also managed to slide the TPMS sensor replace in to the last week of my CPO, so I should be good for another six plus years.

Brozee

Agree to the below comments, let's re-trow the emphasis of this thread back to TPMS sensors and their pricing and findings, I shouldn't have posted that in this thread and only created the other one.

Anyways please resume.

I will post my experience with the sensors I got from oewheelsllc.com and report my findings.

MP4.2+6.0

now you'll never know one of your W12 aux coolers is really working. On mine, the right front tire reads 6 or 8 degrees warmer than the left in the display at speed over long distances--even over time w/ rotations, even pressures, etc. to eliminate sensor questions.

When you get to the first DIY oil change or other time you pull the belly pan, look w/ amazement at all the coolers you have going on, as well as the cool quad into dual exhaust set up with the four cats. You'll also see one of the coolers just behind those punch outs in the front passenger side fender forward plastic liner, hence why the TPMS sensor apparently picks up a tire temp difference side to side. That temp. read feature is a real rarity in TPMS systems, and now gone from Audi's with their revised (read, cheaper) ABS sensor based approach. Similar Beru sensors in the Mini S and the lowly Smart car, but neither has any capacity or info beyond the idiot light.