TPMS Sucks

At my first track weekend, I learned the hard way that the Tire Pressure Monitoring System in my M2 sucks.

I started the day at the recommended PSI in my OEM tires and by the end of my first session I was getting a warning from my car about the pressure being too high. This was a minor distraction while on the track as is any warning your car throws at you while driving hard.

For the next session, I reduced the pressure before heading out on the track and things went from bad to worse. Now I was getting the low pressure warning which also forced the car back into comfort mode, not something you want when mid-corner on a race track!

Why a M car doesn’t have a track mode that disables all the electronic nanny’s is beyond me. BMW does let you reset the TPMS system pretty easily:

After a reset you can get the car back into sport or sport+ mode, but if you haven’t built up enough pressure by the end of the reset it will put you back into “limp mode.” Or if you keep the pressure up enough not to throw a warning for low pressure then you will get the high pressure warning by the end of a session.

The sweet spot for starting PSI is a moving target as altitude, track temperature and driving conditions all impact how much pressure builds up during a session. I decided I didn’t want to deal with this again for my next track weekend so I had the TPMS coded out of my car.

For a couple hundred dollars I got Code My Car to remove the TPMS feature from my BMW M2 and code in a few other features that I couldn’t do myself with BimmerCode. One of the upgrades I got coded in while removing the TPMS was the European programming for the traction control system. This makes Sport & Sport+ modes a bit more aggressive than the US version.

I am looking forward to my next track session and not having to fight the TPMS warnings all weekend.