I have a question regarding TPMS and some new steel wheels.

The short of it:
I plan on replacing my stock TRD OR wheels with these. However, I'd like to reuse my old TPMS sensors from the stock wheels if possible. I'm not sure what to look out for with the TPMS sensors, or if it's a straight swap. I don't see why they wouldn't be compatible. Has anybody done this swap before?

 

The angle of the TPMS sensors are different for alloy wheels and steel wheels. I've heard you can still use them, but they won't be seated correctly.

 

That's worrying.

I'm tempted to buy one and swap my spare on to experiment with my current wheels, there's no better way to guarantee it'll work than by doing it I guess.

 

Good question, I'd like to know, too, since I'm considering swapping my TRD alloys for OEM steel (in my case spare tire types, which might be different than regular steels). This is on a 2nd gen but I think the principles are the same.

There are two versions of TPMS sensors and the difference is the angle of the body relative to the stem, 20 degree and 40 degree. Which you have depends on the the wheel's construction, I think the regular OEM stylized steel wheels use 40 degree and OEM alloy 20 degree.

So as near as I can work out if you have OEM alloy 20 degree TPMS they would work with OEM steel but going the other way would mean the 40 degree sensors would not work (easily at least) in OEM alloy wheels.

Whether they will work with those aftermarket wheels, I dunno. I think most of the time aftermarket assume you're starting with cheap wheels so I'd think they would accommodate 40 degree sensor. So I assume the 20 degree would also work but just not sit flat on the inside of the wheel.

 

Thanks for the numbers and explanation, that's really helpful.

I think I'll just call and ask, maybe report back when I've figured it out. I'd like to do the swap soonish, before winter so I'm interested in moving quickly.

 

Yeah, I have not actually done this yet so it's just research. Actually this is my first vehicle with TPMS at all so it's all new to me. I also seem to think that the single best answer is it depends and you can't say for sure until you get your actual TPMS into your actual wheel.

It does seem to me that having 20 degree sensors would be the lower common denominator. My worry is if the body doesn't sit flat on the wheel that might it more prone to damage (however unlikely) from vibration and bouncing around.

It wouldn't be as bad as how they use 40 degree sensors in OEM wheels by rotating them 180 degree around. That seems like asking for damage while mounting tires or if you get a flat.

 

Actually today I was about to install new after market rims and tires and the guys at the shop said that my original tacoma sensors was not compatible with my new rims ( fuel lethal 17x9 ) it was hard to install them as there was little space in the rim. Weird...

 

So i have an SR5 that came with steel wheels. I got a set of the SEMA TRD wheels and just flipped the sensors. They worked..ish. I dont have the annoying yellow light on, but i also have the " --" on all 4 tires. How am i able to fix this? If i get new sensors, which ones do i even get?