Hey guys
my car is XF 2009 and i want to replace my front pads and rotors, but the dealer wants from me a lot of money for the wear sensor for the pads. I want to ask you - i found many sensors on a half price or lower, do they work or i have to buy the sensors from the dealer?
Second question - my car doesnt have tire pressure sensor - if i buy shall it work or not?
And last one - what formats is reading the dvd/nav player at the trunk?

 

The brake pad sensors are generic Ford sensors and I paid $17 US Dollars for them for my old 2010. So get the cheaper ones.


The TPMS is not something you can just ad the wheel sensors and it work. There is a complete in-car system that consists of 4 antennas, wiring, a CPU inside the car, and programming to activate it.


I do not know the answer to the Satnav question.

 

about the pad sensors - thank you couse i see prices from 10 do 60 $ and wondering where is the difference

about the pressure sensors - yup u are right its complicated wiring and etc...

 

Are you someplace other than the USA? I believe that all cars sold here, are required by law, to have a tire pressure monitoring system.

 

Yes, i am from Europe and my car is older - 2009
i think since 2012 every car produced for EU must have pressure monitoring
but thanks anyway
the important question was about the wear sensor for the brake pads
i`ll get some cheaper option

 

I would also totally avoid adding TPMS. It is a pain in the butt, and I wish I could delete it from my car. Nanny state in the US mandates it and it is virtually impossible to remove. Grr.

 

Correct - and we can all thank Ford and Firestone for that from their Explorer rollovers....

 

Only partially.......The buyers of those early SUVs couldn't understand why the "trucks" that they had recently purchased, weren't riding as cushy as the LTDs and Lincolns that they had traded in. So, Ford suggested that they lower the air pressure in the Explorers to 28 lbs.(no lie) This, in combination with a marginal tire, caused that fiasco.


The real call for TPMS was twofold. First was because American drivers, SADLY, are well know for poor vehicle maintenance. This, created the second part of the equation, when LOW profile tires became the norm. In the old days, with tire sidewalls quite high, a low tire became obvious, long before the tire pressure was dangerously low.


Today, with tires barely having any sidewalls at all, a tire that's properly inflated versus a tire that's under inflated, is barely noticeable, by eye. AND, if you have run-flat tires, with their very stiff sidewalls, you'd NEVER perceive a tire being underinflated, just by looking at it.

 

Never thought about run flats being a contributor, but you only have so many miles on a run flat that's internally flat before it's garbage. So makes a lot of sense.

 

i really appreciate my TPMS, i am a victim of having low profile tires and/or run flats. Better safe than sorry

i had a puncture in my BMW and zero pressure in the tire....the car alerted me, but visually you couldnt tell!

i now have a slight bend in my XFR's rim thats leaking air. the tire will drop to 22-26lbs of pressure, but because its low profile, you cant tell.

 

Are you sure it's just a slight bend? That typically doesn't cause a leak. But a small fracture in the rim can - and that can suddenly spread. You may have done this already but if not, then worth checking very thoroughly for a fracture. I had one on the XF in the past. 20 inch wheels...

 

A friend had a fine crack in his 20" Selena which had the same symptoms, so it's reasonable to get it checked with the tire off..

 

I had a crack in my 20" XFR rim that caused air leak. Cost around $125 to repair and THEN I had all 4 rims straightened (from pot holes) and all the curb rash removed (my bad!!!) for another $125 per wheel. But my wheels went from looking crap to looking new.

 

I had a bend on one of my 20" selena rear wheels on the inside edge which was bad enough to cause air leakage, had it fixed up and it has showed no sign of air loss since. Mind you wish I had Mark's guy to fix em, I paid $125 just for one rim straightening, having the curb rash sorted was going to be another $150 per rim....

 

I had mine done at the dealer - but they send them out.