I know that this has been covered ad nauseum in other posts, but I thought I'd share some new information with everyone.

It has been established that the tire pressure warning light will illuminate because the tires are either a.) grossly under inflated or b.) one (or more) of the tires is significantly less inflated than the rest. By 'significantly less', several people have hypothesized that it would require a difference in pressure of at least 5+ psi. Apparently, this is not the case.

While recently ripping some SWEET donuts in the local ski area parking lot, I had the tire pressure light illuminate. Because I was throwing up tons of gravel in the process (did I mention how SWEET the donuts were??), I figured, "Great, a rock flew up and somehow damaged the sensor. There's no way I could have lost a ton of air doing that."

Upon returning home a couple days later (with the warning light still illuminated), I checked the tires with a digital gauge, and it would seem to backup my theory - 3 of the tires were at 35 PSI, but the drivers' side front tire was 32.5 PSI. A 2.5 PSI difference hardly seemed like enough to trigger the warning light. I topped off the slightly low tire anyway and planned to call the dealership about getting the light checked out.

Lo and behold, after squirting in the 2.5 PSI and driving for a mile or two, the light turned off!

Moral of the story: Apparently, that tire pressure warning system is REALLY sensative. Even a 2.5 PSI difference can trigger it!

FYI,

John P.

Side note: not sure how the hell I lost any pressure at all whipping donuts. I guess they were even sweeter than I thought! :-)