New Tyres for Renault Laguna and a Tyre Pressure Light Reset

We were called out to a customer to fit a full set of brand new 205/55R16 94W XL Nexen N Fera Tyres to a 2012 Renault Laguna. Upon breaking the bead of the tyre, we discovered the Renault was fitted with tyre pressure sensors.

The Satire Sensors the Laguna were fitted with from production are no longer manufactured, causing an immediate issue for the customer! The sensors hadn't been working for a while due to a dead battery but the customer hadn't got around to addressing the issue.

Now the tyres were being changed, we discussed the options going forwards for the customer. We could either program blank sensors and create 4 new tyre pressure sensors for the Renault Laguna or the valves could be changed from TPMS valves to Standard Rubber Valves (with no sensors or tyre pressure feedback).

The customer opted to have brand new sensors programmed to their Laguna. The TPMS is an extremely useful safety feature which alerts the driver of a significant deviation from the recommended tyre pressures.

Due to the nature of the customer's daily driving, they wanted to keep this feature so if they had any issues with the tyre pressure at high speed they were alerted and could pull over as quickly as possible to check their pressures.

Another option for this customer, as mentioned, would have been to take out the original sensors and replace the valves with Standard Rubber Valves. This would render the TPMS inoperative, but may be a more realistic solution for some customers on an 11 year old Laguna.

Sadly, the problems on this car didn't begin and end with the valves, as when we went to remove the nearside front wheel we discovered only 4 of the 5 wheel-bolts were intact. The remnants of the 5th bolt was sat inside the wheel hub. Upon refitting the offside rear wheel and tightening the wheel-bolts to the manufacturer's specified torque another wheel-bolt snapped, suggesting this car has possibly spent a lot of time in and out of tyre fitting bays. It's possible the previous owner had fitted part worn tyres to the vehicle, which of course last only a fraction of the life of a new tyre, necessitating many more visits.

We used the best wheel bolts remaining to ensure the car was safe and suggested the customer has brand new bolts fitted to the wheels asap. Whilst on site, we also adjusted the wheel alignment so the customer's brand new tyres would last as long as possible!

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