Living with a McLaren 650s Spider as an (almost) daily

Living with a McLaren 650s Spider as an (almost) daily

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Discussion

12pack

1,533 posts

167 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
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davek_964 said:
When I bought the car, I was told by the salesman that when it got to October, I would start getting tyre pressure warnings - particularly when I started the car first thing in the morning - because the temperature has dropped, and hence so has the pressure.
I was told it's very common with these cars, and they have a lot of people phoning up / coming back to say there is a fault with the car - so basically, he was warning me in advance.
And sure enough..........
Ah, well. That's not a problem with the car - that has to do with the laws of our physical Universe. The pressure drops with the temperature. The tyres facing North will drop faster.

I have a V12Vantage as well - never a peep from that TPMS because it just compares each tyre pressure to the others in a relative, imprecise way.

That's two fine Brit automakers for you - one excels in precision perhaps at the cost of emotion, the other vice versa.


Edited by 12pack on Tuesday 22 October 08:38

speedick

138 posts

236 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
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The rule of thumb is 1 psi per 10 degrees C for temp / pressure changes.

This relationship is much more linear with Nitrogen as opposed to compressed air (and particularly damp compressed air).

https://forums.mtbr.com/attachments/wheels-tires/1...

The tpms on Mclarens seems to be particularly sensitive - maybe quite tight upper / lower limits for alarm settings ?.

For what it costs, might be worth getting a nitrogen inflation done ?.

justin220

5,331 posts

203 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
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Tyre pressure warnings are totally normal, at this time of year.

I've had plenty but just accept it will beep at me for a minute or so.

davek_964

Original Poster:

8,796 posts

174 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
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I might up the pressure a tad - won't do anything more dramatic, since the tyres don't have much life left in them anyway and will be ditched for Michelin within the next few months.

Justin - I'd assume you still get low pressure warnings even in the summer up there wink

Obafemi09

155 posts

98 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
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Have had tyre pressure warnings on all my cars at this time of year, including the Aston but also my old Cooper S used to do it and numerous Porsche's etc so I wouldn't see this is a "fault"

TurboRob

309 posts

172 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
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Enjoyed reading the thread, thanks for posting.

My brother has an almost identical 650S. He's had his for 2 years, used regularly but mainly for longer roadtrips/not round the houses so much, and a couple of track days a year. Only issues so far is a slight weep from a cooling pipe clip (upgraded clips fitted under warranty) and the clutch filter housing started leaking after the last trackday (yet to be sorted).



He was at Silverstone last month and visited Thorney for a checkover - very down to earth chaps. I think he is taking the car there for any work from now on.

BoxerF50

1,389 posts

190 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
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davek_964 said:
And when I started the car today, it told me the rear right tyre pressure was low. I guess that's not a fault, since I was warned when I bought it that the car would start doing it as soon as it got to October. Given that it knows the pressure AND temperature of the tyres, it really should be capable of not throwing spurious error messages just because the temperature has dropped.
All our cars do that this time of year. Maserati was the first to go off this time. I just add a couple of psi to each tyre and the message disappears.

davek_964

Original Poster:

8,796 posts

174 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
quotequote all
TurboRob said:
Enjoyed reading the thread, thanks for posting.

My brother has an almost identical 650S. He's had his for 2 years, used regularly but mainly for longer roadtrips/not round the houses so much, and a couple of track days a year. Only issues so far is a slight weep from a cooling pipe clip (upgraded clips fitted under warranty) and the clutch filter housing started leaking after the last trackday (yet to be sorted).



He was at Silverstone last month and visited Thorney for a checkover - very down to earth chaps. I think he is taking the car there for any work from now on.
That pic really makes me want to take mine on track.........

tyrrell

1,670 posts

207 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
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Yes that is a cool pic thanks for posting

Barry Homo

2,552 posts

161 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
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Great thread Dave. Just read it front to back. I'm hoping to get into one eventually as a silly fun daily.
Keep the updates coming biggrin Maybe even use more pictures?

Wozza

203 posts

283 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
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Gotta love an Airbrake pic!

jtremlett

1,369 posts

221 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
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davek_964 said:
...And when I started the car today, it told me the rear right tyre pressure was low. I guess that's not a fault, since I was warned when I bought it that the car would start doing it as soon as it got to October. Given that it knows the pressure AND temperature of the tyres, it really should be capable of not throwing spurious error messages just because the temperature has dropped...
That's still a fault. It may be design fault and can't be fixed but it is still a fault. It is all very well having the technology but it needs to be applied with some common sense. If they have lots of customers ringing them up about it then they'd save everyone a lot of hassle if it didn't go off needlessly in the first place. Plus, if you learn to ignore a warning like that it defeats the object of having it all because you may well ignore it when you need to pay attention to it. I do think car manufacturers in general often seem to lack someone in their design process to come in and say, hold on a minute, you need to take into account that it is people who will own and drive these at the end of the day.

LotusJas

1,322 posts

230 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
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davek_964 said:
They need to start pretending they have some faults - might make me feel better wink
If it helps, my low fuel warning keeps coming on whenever I go for a long/hard drive wink

btw, about tyre pressures, remember that the true pressure in your tyres does drop in winter so you need to fill the tyres a bit. So the car could be giving you a true low pressure warning.



Seriously though, I've still not had any errors at all. Never.

LotusJas

1,322 posts

230 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
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Wozza said:
Gotta love an Airbrake pic!
Agreed smile Here's mine:


LotusJas

1,322 posts

230 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
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jtremlett said:
hat's still a fault. It may be design fault and can't be fixed but it is still a fault.
I don't agree.

I find the tps to be very precise indeed. And there is no need to ignore it, as the dash will also show the exact pressures of each tyre, along with temperature info.

What isn't precise is the fuel gauge though frown

supersport

4,040 posts

226 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
quotequote all
LotusJas said:
Wozza said:
Gotta love an Airbrake pic!
Agreed smile Here's mine:

Phoar!

davek_964

Original Poster:

8,796 posts

174 months

Wednesday 23rd October 2019
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LotusJas said:
What isn't precise is the fuel gauge though frown
My low fuel warning came on last week - by a genius bit of design, once that happens the "miles remaining" disappears from the display and is replaced by a petrol pump icon! Not helpful.

Had a great drive home last night - really enjoyed it. I am having to force myself to not use the car every day, because I find too many excuses to take it out at the weekends - and although I don't really care what the mileage is, the McLaren warranty does. Whatever its faults / niggles - it's a long time since I've had a car that I want to drive all the time, and make excuses to drive somewhere.
I'm very proud that this morning, I used my Cayenne!

355spiderguy

1,476 posts

170 months

Wednesday 23rd October 2019
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LotusJas said:
Agreed smile Here's mine:

Thats a great pic...love that colour.

justin220

5,331 posts

203 months

Wednesday 23rd October 2019
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jtremlett said:
hat's still a fault. It may be design fault and can't be fixed but it is still a fault. It is all very well having the technology but it needs to be applied with some common sense. If they have lots of customers ringing them up about it then they'd save everyone a lot of hassle if it didn't go off needlessly in the first place. Plus, if you learn to ignore a warning like that it defeats the object of having it all because you may well ignore it when you need to pay attention to it. I do think car manufacturers in general often seem to lack someone in their design process to come in and say, hold on a minute, you need to take into account that it is people who will own and drive these at the end of the day.
Agree on the 'understand your customer' bit. But I also try and remember that these are not mass built like a VW golf, I sometimes think people expect too much.

TPMS - I think of them as part of the character biggrin

davek_964

Original Poster:

8,796 posts

174 months

Wednesday 23rd October 2019
quotequote all
justin220 said:
But I also try and remember that these are not mass built like a VW golf, I sometimes think people expect too much.
The problem is - and the reason that I find the faults on the 650 so frustrating - my point of reference isn't a mass produced VW. It's an 18 year old Ferrari 360.
In the 6 years I've owned it, I'm pretty sure it's had less faults than my 650 has thrown in 6 weeks of ownership. I'm aware that it's far less technical compared to modern stuff - but equally, it's an old Ferrari and if anything was going to have electrical glitches, you'd think it would be the Italian electrics.
(It did have one major engine problem this year, which was a rather big negative - but overall it's been almost entirely problem free).