Continental’s new TPMS tool

Continental’s new Touchscreen Tire Service Tool for TPMS should reduce tire pressures when changing tires.

For many garages, tire servicing can be a very busy job. This means checking, changing and occasionally replacing countless tires and then documenting each step. Added to this is the work with tire pressure monitoring sensors: testing, activation, programming, relearn. To make this grueling seasonal work simpler and easier for workshops, Continental has launched a new generation of tire service tools. It consists of three models: tire self-diagnosis 100, tire self-diagnostic 200 and tire self-diagnostic 300. These tools cover a wide range of everyday needs in workshops – for both passenger cars and commercial vehicles. The Autodiagnos family of tires should be characterized by intuitive operation and a high degree of ease of use. Almost all European vehicles are covered.

Speed, data availability, and ease of use are among the most important factors in tire service. Our new tire service tools provide quick access to important system data, and thanks to touch screens with very simple manual navigation, they are as easy to use as smartphones, says Philip Kevelj, product manager for service tools at Continental Aftermarket.

Tire service tools should ensure quick command acceptance, followed by easy activation, programming, and sensor relearn. In addition, the new units provide seamless support in later production stages such as documentation, warehousing and ordering new tires.

Automatic diagnostics for tires 100, 200 and 300 should also be ideal for installing new sets of wheels. The integrated OBD II relearn procedure should make relearn the new TPMS sensors of the vehicle’s ECUs as easy as activating the sensors during seasonal tire changes. Continental developers should also focus heavily on updated data. Constant software and database updates ensure that the tools can communicate with the latest TPMS sensors and use the latest vehicle protocols. All three service tools can be updated wirelessly via Wi-Fi.

Autodiagnos Tire 300 is the leading brand in the new Continental line of tire service tools. It should contain everything your workshops and fleets need to service tires efficiently. This starts with a large 8-inch screen that displays all relevant TPMS data and frames. New tools are also ready for future applications, such as direct connection of RFID tags into tires via the built-in RFID module, which contains all important information from the tire manufacturer. After mapping to the vehicle, the Autodiagnos 300 transmits the entire TPMS sensor data packet to the onboard electronics. The tool is also suitable for changing TPMS sensors in trucks, buses and trailers. This topic is becoming increasingly important, as from July 2022 tire pressure monitoring systems will be mandatory for trucks, buses and trailers. This applies initially to all types of new vehicles, and from 2024 to all new vehicles.

The Autodiagnostic Tire 200 comes with a 5-inch touch screen. Like all three new tire service tools, it can wirelessly sync and print jobs with the garage’s ordering system over Wi-Fi. It can retrieve TPMS sensor data via the built-in OBD II module and initiate re-learning. A particularly attractive feature should be “identity matching”, which allows workshops to identify individual sensors via the OBD-II interface and then fix the problem.

Autodiagnos Tire 100 is the inexpensive entry model in the series. It is based on the installed system used in all Continental tire service tools for sensor activation, programming and relearn. In addition, it should have a number of easy-to-use applications. It is connected to the vehicle’s OBD II interface via a network cable on an external OBD II module. The 3.5 inch touch screen displays all TPMS data on a single screen for easy control of functions. In terms of functionality and features, the new Autodiagnos Tire 100 is on par with TPMS Pro in the current line of TPMS service tools.