New Tire, FTM warning?
 

I had to replace the driver's side front tire due to a small cut in the sidewall. The original 4 tires were a year old, about 10K miles, michelin primacy mxv4. I had one tire replaced with the same Michelin MXV4 primacy. The old tires had 9/32 in of tread left (the tires are 11/32 in tread new). The tire place said it was okay to change if tires had 2/32 in or less variance, and it wouldn't affect the AWD or anything like that.

Well so far I've had two Flat Tire Monitor warnings come up, I've checked the pressures and everything is good there. The tire place told me it's probably due to the variance in tread, and that there's not much to be done. They said maybe I can play around with the pressures in the front left new tire, but besides that no other advice.

For those of you who don't know, FTM is the older way to monitor tires and works by detecting rotational differences in the angular momentum of the tires. If one tire is rotating differently than the others, a warning comes up. So far, it's only come up on long trips and I'm hoping it will just go away with time as the front left tire wears a bit.

Is there anything else I can do to stop the FTM from going off? I haven't played with the pressures yet... the variance is only 2/32 in from the new to old tire.

I would think that small a variance would be OK.

Since you don't mention it, I have to ask. You have reset the tire monitor after setting the pressures correctly, haven't you?

If so, then consider getting the new tire shaved down to the same tread depth as the other three tires. Cheaper than buying three more tires.

I reset it.

When it came on I pulled over, checked pressures, and then turned the car off. I set the ignition to position II (everything on but motor) and held the monitor button until the yellow warning light went off. Then I started the car and drove off. Does this have anything to do with balancing? The car isn't pulsing or driving irregularly, I'm just asking.

That isn't how the manual says to reset the FTM.

Start the car, but remain parked. Push the FTM button until the light is on on the dash. Drive off. It will reset over the next few minutes and go off. It can't do a reset unless the wheels are turning so it can measure relative rotational speed.

How to reset the FTM (flat tire monitor)
 

Well...if the OP (original poster) won't post back to say thanks or that your instructions worked...I will.

Thank you...I just had new winter tires mounted this morning and was a bit confuzzled with if I really had the system or not. The tire store installed rubber valve stems instead of the metal ones that were in the wheels...and I was concerned that they may have removed sensors or something...but since the FTM (flat tire monitor) system uses the car's ABS sensors etc...no sensors are required...but resetting the FTM monitor should still be followed as you outlined.

I wonder why form members don't come back and bring resolution to the questions they ask. It really helps us new members figure out what's going on as we learn the ins & outs of these vehicles. Even it was a simple as the OP not following the proper procedure...at least acknowledge that was the issue...we won't judge you (harshly) and it brings resolution to those of us searching for answers. :)

I suspect the OP was embarrassed at not knowing how to reset the monitor. He wouldn't have been judged, as it was obvious from his posts that he wasn't resetting it correctly, and my post was as polite as I could make it.

Glad it helped. :thumbup:

Sorry, not embarrased and didn't mean to ignore the answers.
I followed the correct procedure for resetting the FTM. It seems like the problem was that the new tire had more tread than the other three, and that was messing with the rotational speeds of the new tire in comparison to the other three. After a few false positives and constant resetting, it no longer acts up.

Hi. My flat tire warning notice came on and I did have a tire low on pressure. I filled it with air but the warning is still on. How do you reset it? I've gone through the menus in drive but I still haunt found it. Can anyone tell me how to do this? I should mention it's a 2007 x5 3.0