TPMS Basics

Been reading and learning what I can on here but still a little confused, nothing new for me

The stock wheels on my truck have studded tires mounted on them and they will stay there. In the coming spring I'll be buying after market rims and new tires for summer use. Realize we can skip on new TPSM sensors and the light on the dash will come on and stay on as long as the summer wheels are in use.

Now the confusing part. If I buy extra TPMS sensors for the summer tires will they require a trip to the dealer to be calibrated? Or is this something tire shops can do?

Once they are calibrated and the reset button is hit on the truck everything should be fine, correct?

When the winter tires/wheels go back on does that require another trip back to the dealer each time or just hit the reset under the dash?

 

If you are local to discount tire, they can reprogram your truck to accept the new sensors. It will have to be done each swap, so twice a year. It takes about 10 minutes to do.

 

I just did this with my truck and went to Alyeska Tire. They set it all up and I didn't have to drive to Anchorage to the dealer. I am not sure if there is an Alyeska shop in Anchorage or Eagle River though.

 

I ran two sets of tires/rims for spring & summer for 4 yrs.
Only one set (the winter) had the oem tpms sensors & codes programmed into the tpms ecu.
In the summer set, no sensors in my rims & no light was ever triggered unless the truck went out of range of tires in storage.
I could travel pretty far, spend the night 20 miles away & not trigger a light.
This was on a 2006 w/ sensor in the spare.
Others have done it this way as well.
When it did trigger, the light reset itself overnight once again close to the tires/sensors in storage.

There is only 5 spots for sensor codes (including spare they use to have it).
As mentioned above, you will have to get your codes re-entered every time you swap either by the shop, dealer, or buy the device from tire rack do it yourself.

 

another possibility would be to pull the TPMS out of your current tires and make a little pressurized capsule out of ABS pipe and caps and keep that in the cab somewhere. You won't have any actual use of the pressure monitoring system, but you can swap wheels/tires without any problems at all.

personally, i wouldn't go this route with such a nice truck, but it's something to consider...

 

Currently running my "non-nice" truck with pressure capsule. Regardless the OP is asking if he will be spending more time/money with 2 sets of TMPS and each time he swaps. The answer is simply, yes.

 

sorry, no offense intended to anyone running that system! it definitely works, but i always try to find an oem solution where practical.

again, no offense intended whatsoever!

 

Lol not what I meant. It's a hack let's face it, so you're right. Pretty useless system when you start adding new tires and wheels though. Even more useless when the batteries run out in a few years and you have to replace them. It should be interesting when the light malfunctions and someone's tire blows out and they sue car companies again......all for not checking their tire pressure directly.

My tire shop didn't flinch when I told them not to move the sensors over to new wheels, they actually recommended I don't as long as I understood about the light.

Edit: I do like the other option above where you just ignore them and light comes on after a certain time away from the sensors. This happened when I had the sensors out for a few days.

 

Me too.
I would have gladly put sensors in the other set of rims/tires if there was space to enter the codes.
Why Toyota couldn't spring for 5 more lines for the sake of safety.
Spot on with the batteries dying not to mention now every tire swap out not using different rims gets a tire pressure rebuild charge
so say you try to keep everything on the up and up mucho $$$ out the waszoo....guess it stimulates the economy.

I opted for just sensors in the winter set for my truck came with the steelies that had the different angled sensors too (just to make it more of a pita).
Winter tires stayed on longer than the summer set plus probably more crucial to know tire pressure in the inclement weather.
Good Luck to the OP whatever you decide to do......pipe bomb, wheel barrow tires, ground the system out, black electrical tape, one set of sensors, two sets of sensors the list goes on and on and on...

 

Thanks for the input. I was hoping not to have to reprogram the TPMS sensors twice a year but guess that is not going to happen.

How difficult is it to reprogram the sensors? Can most tire shops do it or does it require a trip to the dealer? What does the tool cost to do it yourself?

 

It isn't difficult just time consuming and expensive. Added reassurance isn't free I suppose. Most larger shops can reprogram if they have tool, but some can't and have to use dealer. They charge you a fee each time. Some people actually have them swap sensors twice a season, so two reprograms and two kit rebuilds which at my shop works out to $66 each swap and about 2 hours of your day. There is always the chance the sensors can break during dismount/mount, so it can add up.

I think the tool is several hundred dollars, but don't quote me on it. Save that for the second set of sensors if/when you need them. I hope that by having my sensors in the canister they are in a sleep mode more often hopefully extending the battery lifetime. I too will get a light when juice runs out canister or not.

 

The tools that shops use to reprogram are generally >$1000.00. Even the TPMS add-on for most professional scanners run over $500.00.

ATEQ produces a hobbyist version TPMS programming tool that is offered through Revolution Supply. I read a few mixed reviews on the product in the past, and someone here wrote about his experience with one. With the ability to store four vehicles and eight sets of tires, the tool seems reasonably priced at $150.00. I have access to a professional scan tool, otherwise I'd buy the ATEQ and give it a try.

 

Finally,

My winter tires/wheels with the TPMS sensors intact. Say I run summer tires and wheels with no sensors and leave the light on all summer.
Winter comes and I reinstall the winter tires/wheels with the original sensors. Do I need to do any reprogramming or will the truck identify the sensors and then the light will go out on its own?

I am starting to hate TPMS sensors.

 

If you put on summer rims & tires w/ no sensors you more than likely will not get a light until you exceed the range/time sequence of the system.
4 years I ran only one set of sensors (like you winter set) on my tacoma no light unless I exceeded the range/time.
I did have a sensor in my spare. My truck was an 06.
When the light did trigger, I would put a business card (TW cards worked great they are black props to Neontrail) to cover the flashing light.
Once back home near the sensors, the light would reset itself in about 8 hours.
For example, get home from trip, park truck in driveway near stored tires/wheels, light resets on its own.
It was great!
Now once it did trigger during the summer only to let me know one of the tires in storage was low. That was pretty cool.
I do not know if later Model years without a sensor in the spare work differently or if the TPMS ecu sequence has changed. The service manual has a pretty in-depth chapter on it.
You can find it online via ncttora.
I need to do this now for my Tundra. I am in the same boat. Sold my 16" winter set, need a 18" winter set.

 

Not to thread jack but have any of you did the "blue wire mod" to disable the TPMS? I am debating doing it but am wanting some feedback from others first. Seems to be the cleanest solution to the problem.

 

ok guys, been reading through your threads and THINK my question may have been answered. But, here goes...I have a 2009 Taco/RWD/standard cab. I just bought bought some new wheels I love and had 3 dealers refuse to put them on for me without me buying new TPMS. I just need a little reasurrance that if I find someone to put these wheels on for me...that my running without the sensors will not hurt my truck at all. I personally don't care about the blinking light etc....I'll deal with that. But, It just seems stupid for me to go thru all the non-sense of swapping them out or buying new ones for wheels that will only be on for 3-4 months a year. Is the light blinking in my face the only issue here?...or could it affect other things with any computerized stuff in the truck?

 

Here's a question on the tpms, does the computer know which tire is on which corner? I had a tire dealer tell me that every time I rotate the tires they have to reprogram. Now I had my first rotation done per Toyota Care. So I don't know if they reprogram them? Didn't even think of this. The reason I'm asking is once I put my new wheels on, unless the tire shop offers free rotation and even then I may rotate them myself. So if this is the case then I guess they still work but just wont be accurate to which tire is where. Anyone?

 

Don't need new sensors. If anything a new fit kit on occasion.
won't hurt any other systems. The only issue is the tpms mount angle once fitted in the rim

SCAM.... No reprogram for rotates. ECU does not know which tire is where. It's all about radio signal sent and received for pressure sensing.

 

That's what I figured. I thought even if that were the case oh well, It still will tell me I had a low tire, I think I can figure out which one from there if I hadn't already.

 

Nothing else will be hurt. I'm surprised you've had people tell you they can't mount them up. It is technically illegal to disable the sensors, but if they just aren't installing them, there shouldn't be any liability.

On Toyota, they do not read the sensor location, but other manufacturers do. Chevy, Ford, Nissan all have sensors on their higher end models that read location. Maybe that's what he was talking about...