Our shop charges $25.00 per wheel to mount and balance tires so if you are doing the spare as well then $125.00 is an average price. If you are replacing your tires then we would not charge to install the sensors since the tires would need to be off anyway. Be sure to have the tires rebalanced if you did not replace them as the stems and sensors will alter the balance.
If you are wanting to monitor your spare tire as well be sure the spare wheel will accept a sensor. Most temporary spare tires (donuts) are not meant to be dismounted and might not have room for the sensor.



Be sure the shop uses a torque wrench to mount the sensors correctly.


2. What is an ideal mounting location for the USB TPMS receiver, for both aesthetics and reception?
The instructions tell you to install the receiver in a central location such as the base of the windshield. I found a central location in my truck to be the center console, which just happens to have a USB hub installed in it. In testing the sensors I spread them around my house and even put one in the freezer and refrigerator to monitor temps and to test reception distance and I was very pleased with how far away I could still communicate with all the sensors. 2 of the sensors were 25 feet away from the receiver and I still saw no issues, so I think just about anywhere you do not have excessive RF interference should work. When you first set up the system you are instructed to unplug the receiver several times so be sure to set it up completely before you tuck it away permanently.

3. How do you install and use the software? (Both plug-in and standalone)





I followed the directions that came with the kit to check the system before I mounted the sensors.
RRTMS (from MP3Car.com forums) comes with the plug-in for RideRunner and a tool to configure the sensors and messages that are displayed and spoken (there is a typo in the dialog that speaks when the tire pressure is too high, it says "hight" instead of "high", so check that while you are installing the software). Download the file and extract it to your RideRunner plug-in folder. Be sure to register the .dll file after you copy it to its final location. You will need to add or modify a button in your skin to launch the TPMS screen. The button command is "TMS" and it launches TMS.skin. You can build your own screen to match the skin you are using or there is a test skin included in the RRTMS folder.




CFTPMS (from the Centrafuse downloads section on http://forums.fluxmedia.net/) installs the plug-in for Centrafuse 2.0. It is a simple install. It is an exe file that puts everything where it needs to be. When prompted be sure to install the tools also. The tools folder in your Fluxmedia>centrafuse>plugins>tpms will have a program called TPMS doctor that is used to test communication. Once you install the CFTPMS.exe be sure to go download the update 2.1.9.0. Now that CFTPMS is updated you can set one of your buttons to launch tpms by clicking and holding the button you want it assigned to and selecting it from the list; Then go to settings and select advanced settings and you can enter the tpms section and set your preferences (PSI vs. Bar and such).


4. How do I re-learn the sensors?
I was able to set up my software before I even mounted the sensors in the wheels because the kit is prelearned by the manufacturer. I installed the software as listed above and was able to monitor the temperatures and battery levels to check communication. The manufacturer includes a sheet with the locations the sensors should be mounted.

The instructions say not to use Centrafuse to set up the sensors because it is buggy, but I used both Riderunner and Centrafuse with no issues.

When you rotate your tires you simply change the location of the sensor.





5. How do I add a spare sensor?
Using RRTMS I erased all sensors from the receiver and relearned them following the instructions that came with the kit. Once you select the sensor, you change the tire pressure until the receiver "sees" the change and it registers the sensor.

What is great about this monitor is that it's now extra versatile. They left the pigtail plug on the monitor and just added the extra DVI and component cables. That means you have the option to output to 5 different video sources, DVI, VGA, composite, component and s-video.

The connectors for DVI came out of the bottom of the unit, whereas the pigtail connector came out of the side. So this may affect some installations but just be aware that it *may* be changed.

The digital output was, in our opinion, more defined in terms of the colors. More specifically the blacks were blacker and the whites were whiter.

The only down side we noticed is that the DVI output seemed to have off colors. The ocean in the video seemed very green, even though on VGA it was blue.

All the settings for the test were brightness 50% Green 50% blue 50% and red 50% with a resolution of 800x600. They ran from the same ATI graphics card playing BBC's blue ocean on VLC player.

This product should be coming soon to the mp3Car store, so look out for it.

Some common techniques are:
Don't drive aggressively
Don't go over the speed limit
Avoid traffic
Avoid coming to a complete stop
Try to accelerate as slowly as possible
Using neutral when going down hills

Some uncommon techniques are"
Drafting behind trucks
Using centripetal force to go around turns fast
Over-inflating your tires to reduce friction

We took a look at how what kind of MPG we got out of our Toyota Matrix when doing basic hypermiling around town. We averaged 61 MPG when hypermiling and 27 MPG when driving normal. At some points on the trip going down hill in neutral we got up to 247 MPG.

If you have any of your own techniques or stories of your own hypermiling let's hear it.