Pressure Sensors, Are they Interchangable with any wheel/tire combination?

Pressure Sensors, Are they Interchangable with any wheel/tire combination?

I'm getting a new set of wheels and just want to make sure I shouldn't have a problem with the sensors.

I believe I should be able to have the tire guy swap the valve stems-sensors into the new wheels...right?


Thanks in advance for your input...

 

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As i understand it YES... If you have aluminum wheels currently is should be an easy swap.

I was told by my tire shop that going from steel to aluminum might cause an issue. (but since i didn't have steel wheels mine were a direct swap.)

I would call a local shop where you plan to get them installed just to be safe.

 

hmm, ok. I've got the steel wheel setup going to aluminum...will update this link when I finally do the swap, hopefully within the next week...wheels are being shipped...

 

TP sensors for steel wheels have a 20 deg stem and a aluminum TP sensor has a 40 deg stem. You can use a steel TPS on a aluminum wheel but you have to turn it 180 deg from the normal way it is mounted. You have to mount one bead of the tire put in the TP sensor then mount the top bead. Some may disagree but it works, trust me I know.. lol

 

Cool, now as long as I can find a tire place that doesn't have a problem doing this for me I'm ok. I appreciate your help, thanks.

 

If you can find a discount tire go from there thats what i did they fit my mojave's real nice.

 

I went from the steel wheels to alloy wheels with the stock TPMS, don't know if they reversed them to fit or not, but they work. The shop never mentioned them being an issue or anything.

 

I swapped mine over to the new wheels no problem. I made certain I marked my wheel position just in case.

 

What you have to watch for is when you tighten the TP sensor down that it does not touch the rims drop center. What happens is the valve stem part of the TP sensor wont pull strait through the wheel, the bottom plastic part of the TP sensor then gets pushed into the wheels drop center and cracks when it is tightend down. Leaving you with a TPS light on the dash and needing a new sensor. Im not sure what aftermarket wheels work with the factory TP sensors.

 

My local Discount Tire would not use the steel wheel TPMS sensors when I upgraded to aluminum wheels. The angle issue is the reason they cited. Sounds like some have found shops willing to work around this, which is great because new sensor cost a fortune. I found out first-hand. Good luck.

 

Hey guys, I was at the tire shop all day today, actually had to run all over to find a quality one to work with, I ended up at this place called "Merchant Mechanic" in College Park, MD. Good guys.

Anyway, they came to me while I was in the waiting room to tell me the, "bad news."

They said the sensor wouldn't fit; but because I thought this could be an issue I came prepared with a printout of this thread.

I explained that I have a membership at this website and that this situation had come up with other members and that the sensor could still be used, though it had to be turned around 180 degrees.

The actual tire guy told me it wouldn't work and that the light would always stay on, I told him no it wouldn't (even though I wasn't 100% sure of this). I told him I'd buy him lunch if he was right. He quickly agreed to install them according to my request.

In the end, the install took a little longer than normal, but the sensors work great and I see no issues thus far.

Here's a photo of what it will look like when installed 180 degrees off.

 

Awesome, now he should have bought you lunch, you just taught him some valuable info .

 

Now, when you need new tires just tell them to unscrew the TPS and let it drop into the tire before they break the bead on the tire. That way you wont snap off or crack the TPS.

 

well, im getting to this thread a little late, but i was told the same thing but i had the dealer change the wheels and tires. (good friends with a service advisor since i practicly lived at the dealership for a few moths taking care of some issues) but he changed out our tacoma TPMS and replaced them with camry sensors.

The angle is a bit more, which allowed the sensor to clear the lip of the aluminum rim i now have. no issues now, but glad you got them to work!