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Tyre pressure sensors and service costs
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 6:01 pm
by Dan-RS4
Hi all,
Firstly, I have recently bought some Michelin pilot super sport's for the RS 4 and was wondering what the deal is with the pressure sensors. Are the sensors part of the valve or are they separate? The valves that are currently on the car appear to be slightly corroded so will need replacing but if the sensors are part of the valves, I can imagine they would be quite costly to replace?
Secondly, I am on a quest to get a service through Audi as cheap as possible, I have been quoted £150 per hour labour so far which is quite simply ludicrous considering the experiences I have had so far with 'trained Audi technicians'. Has anyone managed to get them down on this labour price? And if so, did they budge on price much?
Thanks in advance
Dan
Re: Tyre pressure sensors and service costs
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 6:29 pm
by Silverfox42
Hello,
Possibly some terminology that could confuse here, but I have changed old valves within the valve housing and the TPMS is unaffected. If you mean the thread where the dust cap sits, then that would be the TPMS unit needing replacing - yes, expensive!
Service: Each stealer seems to be a law unto itself, some will come down on price if you show them an independent specialist garage labour quote, others won't. Other way is to provide your own consumables - Audi dealers can charge upto 5x the price of Oil, plugs etc, so perhaps ask if you can source your own. The RS4 takes over 10 litres of oil, but you can source the right stuff (Castrol Edge) for around £25 per 5 litre bottle, rather than pay £100 for Audi to supply it. Only difference is that on my dealer invoice, it was noted that the consumable were note Audi supplied/genuine!
Good luck!
Re: Tyre pressure sensors and service costs
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 6:52 pm
by Sonnyjim
Regarding the Tpms, I was quoted, if I remember right over £100 plus vat for each sensor from trade parts, plus another £15 plus vat for the valve stem. In the end I got 4 sensors and stems from a guy on eBay delivered from Poland for £150. Genuine parts too. Sent a message via eBay and we sorted it out via email and got a PP invoice. On the mobile just now but will post a link when home if you're interested.
Service costs is also a pain I will be feeling soon. Not a lot of choice up in NE Scotland that I would trust or like thief stamp in my book. Unless anyone can advise otherwise.
Sonnyjim
'Their' not "thief", bloody iPhone won't let me change the word.
Re: Tyre pressure sensors and service costs
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 7:01 pm
by The_Coat
I just got 4 TPMS units off ebay for £125 delivered.
Re: Tyre pressure sensors and service costs
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 7:17 pm
by Sonnyjim
The_Coat wrote:I just got 4 TPMS units off ebay for £125 delivered.
Including stems? That's a good deal.
Sonnyjim
Re: Tyre pressure sensors and service costs
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 7:32 pm
by Tacko
I have just dealt with Northampton Audi today. They are happy for me to provide my own oil which will cut the cost of the service from £570 - £385. They wanted £180+ for oil! Crazy!
I'm pretty happy with that.
Tyre pressure sensors and service costs
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 8:24 pm
by The_Coat
Sonnyjim wrote:The_Coat wrote:I just got 4 TPMS units off ebay for £125 delivered.
Including stems? That's a good deal.
Sonnyjim
Yes the whole lot, I'll dig out the seller as he may have more. Was based in the UK also.
Edit:
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vi ... 1578439806
Re: Tyre pressure sensors and service costs
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 9:31 pm
by EddyPee
Mine went in to basingstoke recently for an oil leak which was covered under warranty but my contact told me their labour is £130 an hour so they can do better.
Re: Tyre pressure sensors and service costs
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 10:16 pm
by Dan-RS4
Thanks for the info guys. At £125 a set it might be worth just replacing the whole unit. May have a go at replacing the stems and giving the threads of the valve housings a bit of a clean up and see if it helps.
As for the stealers, I'll see if I can't play them off each other a bit.
Every little helps and all that...
Re: Tyre pressure sensors and service costs
Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 7:52 am
by Bogyoch
Much cheaper and simpler is to have the TPMS disabled via
Vagcom and use standard valves. These will be included in the tyre fitting.
Re: Tyre pressure sensors and service costs
Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 9:18 am
by Surrey Sam
Dan-RS4 wrote:
As for the stealers, I'll see if I can't play them off each other a bit.
Every little helps and all that...
Audi offer a price match facility for servicing work. Worth having a read:
https://www.audi.co.uk/owners-area/serv ... match.html
Re: Tyre pressure sensors and service costs
Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 3:27 pm
by marc1
Good shout Sam. I used the price match recently on a set of four Michelin Super Sport tyres. We're around £570 from memory.

I was happy with the service and spark plug charge at about £420 too.
Re: Tyre pressure sensors and service costs
Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 8:17 pm
by cherub72
Silverfox42 wrote:
Possibly some terminology that could confuse here, but I have changed old valves within the valve housing and the TPMS is unaffected. If you mean the thread where the dust cap sits, then that would be the TPMS unit needing replacing - yes, expensive!
You can replace the valve stem i.e. the bit with the thread on and the valve itself without needing to change the TPMS units. I had all 4 of mine done when I got new tyres a while ago, they were about £15 each fitted
Re: Tyre pressure sensors and service costs
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2015 11:10 am
by Dan-RS4
Marc1 where did you find the super sport's for £570? I paid £710 for mine and thought that was quite cheap.
Has anyone got a picture of the TPMS units? And how they're put together?
Cherub72, where did you go to get the valve stems replaced?
Tyre pressure sensors and service costs
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2015 12:13 pm
by The_Coat

- ImageUploadedByTapatalk1425554001.095705.jpg (20.31 KiB) Viewed 2991 times
How old are the TPMS units you have in the wheels at the moment? If they are the originals they may not have much life left in them anyway, so maybe we'll worth replacing the whole lot.