TPMS failure

[stujelly]

So I had a chance to hit 3 great track days in April. The last track day I have had was at Fontana, Cal Festival of Speed. What made it great is I had just put on my new 18 inch GMG wheels with the hoosier R6. What a difference, a totally new car.

Anyway, I noticed the left rear wheel was growling while I was driving in the paddock area. While I was on the track I also had a high speed wobble like a tire out of balance and my driving coach thought that maybe a front tire slipped and rolled on the wheel after hard braking.

So I come home and jump on rennlist to see what up. Sorry guys this forum wasnt up yet. Anyway I found a thread on loose centerlock wheels and I had all the same symptoms. Fearing the worst, I immediately went to work on the car.

I popped the wheel off and when I rolled the wheel I heard what sounded like rocks in the wheel. When we removed the tire we found the TPMS sensor in 2 pieces. See pictures below.

So here is the question. Anyone experience this issue, and if so, any idea what may have gone wrong?

A couple of good points to make here. I did not hit a pothole, the tire pressure was fine, there are no cuts on the tire nor any marks on the wheel indicating impact. Oh ya, the TPMS was obviously not working on that wheel before I removed it, but I just contributed that towards the recent wheel swap, thinking it was a programing glitch.

Thanks guys