2010 M5

Dmax27 · 7th December 2011, 02:19

Is there anymore 2010 M5 out there. I would like to know if the car came with the TPMS or FTM tire pressure monitoring system. I thought all M5 2007 and present came with TPMS, which is sensors sensors in the wheels but mine doesn't. It has the FTM system which uses wheel speed to detect a low or flat tire. I'm not sure if this is a Canada spec or not, just be nice to know.

sproule905 · 9th December 2011, 23:32

Hello fellow Canuck,

I am pretty certain post e39's came with the FTP and e60 should have the toms. It could have been deleted, but I am not positive that can be done. Mine for instance, does have the few - measures the pressure at each wheel spin

Dmax27 · 10th December 2011, 05:18

No the reason I'm asking is that my car came with FTM which was the system used in 2006. I bought OEM wheels from a member which came off a 2008 and they had TPMS. Called the dealer and they said FTM is the system BMW went back to in 2010, but they couldn't explain why they changed back to old technology. The biggest problem I have with the FTM system is if one tire is low you have to check the pressure in all the tire to figure out which one is low as the I-dive shows all four wheels red.

jt2ma71 · 27th December 2011, 04:36

Technically FTM is still TPMS. There are two variationsl Direct TPMS and Indirect. Direct TPMS is the variation that uses an actual sensor in each wheel. Once the tire starts moving it triggers the sensor to send the signal reading to the BCM. In drect relies on ABS wheel speed sensors, when the bcm notices a difference in wheel speed, it will trip a low tire pressure code. Its not very accurate because IIRC there needs to be almost 15psi difference in a tire pressure before the car will detect a low tire.

The problem with direct tpms is obviously cost, the sensors are prone to failure, batteries die in them, corrision eats away, they leak 10x more than traditional valve stems etc. Im sure the reason why BMW went back was due to cost. It costs them too much in the end, switching back to indirect involves no extra equipment, and i guess they figure at the end of the day if the customer sees "check tire pressure" theyre going to drive it to a shop/dealer because 95% either A. do not own a tire pressure gauge B. have zero idea what their tire pressure should be or C. they just dont want to deal with it.