Tire Pressure Sensors and Autocross

Tire Pressure Monitoring System and Competition Use of a Corvette

2005 Chevrolet Corvette The Corvette is equipped with the latest in tire pressure monitoring hardware and software. Each wheel has a sensor mounted in it that transmits electronic signals through the air to a Tire Pressure Monitor (TPM) Receiver. The system is designed to monitor tire pressure and alert you if conditions warrant your attention or action.

The TPM Receiver looks for the production sensors to check in for each corner. If the production sensors are removed, the receiver will start a counter that adds up time driven above 20 kph without TPM signals. This counter is reset at each key cycle until the time is reached. After a total of 60 minutes* cumulative time (above 20 kph in that key cycle) it will set a TPM fault. You can slow down or stop during this period, but the counter only runs when vehicle is exceeding 20 kph. The DIC will then display "Service Tire Monitor" and the pressures will display XXX for each corner. Once the “TPM fault” has been set, you will be able to continue to disable traction and stability for the lifetime of the car, as long as the original programmed sensors are nowhere near the car. If a master power kill switch is utilized, the system is reset and the driving process must be repeated to set the TPM fault. Some owners install partial kill switches that maintain power to vehicle computers. To maintain the TPM fault, power must be maintained to fuse #11 in the underhood fuse center.

*The 60-minute timer applies to 2005 Corvettes. For 2006 it is reduced to 30 minutes, and for 2007 it will be less than 20 minutes. Be warned that sometimes the sensors can be picked up from as far away as 50 feet. We recommend keeping the TPM sensors far away from the vehicle. Leave them at home.

2007 Corvette Tire Pressure Sensor (TPS) During the time that the counter is accumulating with no sensors checking in, you can still turn off stability and traction control normally. As long as all four corners go invalid at the same time, you can continue to disable stability and traction control as you would normally, even after the timer sets the fault. One minor exception is that if the corners are considered by the TPM Receiver to be "invalid" a few seconds apart, it might turn stability on momentarily when the timer expires, but it can then be manually switched off with the button.

Stability and traction can be switched off as long as either all four programmed sensors are present, or none of the sensors are present. If 1, 2 or 3 sensors are detected at the corner they have been programmed, then the system will go into flat-tire mode. This is an aggressive stability function, cannot be switched off, and Competitive Mode is not available.

Autocrossers should be able to get away with swapping wheels and never reaching the timers. They will want to make sure the stock wheels and sensors are put somewhere far away before keying up, so they don't accidentally pick up 1, 2 or 3 signals. Open track-day participants might reach the timers and set the TPM fault. They can still continue normally but might be surprised by the message. When it's time to go home, as long as the stock wheels go back on in the correct location (corner for corner), the sensors will start working again and all will be well. Road racers probably want to get rid of the sensors and keep them away from the car altogether. As an alternative, a racer could keep the sensors in the race wheels, to help keep an eye on things during a race. Note some sensors may saturate above 50 psi and return to normal as pressures decrease. A second set of sensors could be used as long as they were retrained to function as designed per the owner’s manual.