TPMS question for wheel swapping

Hey Guys, I am finally ready to purchase some new wheels and tires for my truck. I currently have the steel wheels on the truck that came from the factory. My plan is to buy some alloy wheels for the summer and keep the steel wheels for the winter.

I am new to the TPMS stuff and I have been doing research all week about it. My question is, will I need to have them re programmed to the truck computer every time I swap from one wheel set to the next or will the truck work flawless after a swap?

Thanks

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/cloning-2-sets-of-tpms-sensors.760040/#post-27103705

Post 2 by @eurowner

 

Nothing is flawless it seems. I just installed new TRD wheels on my 2022 TRD Sport and had the dealership mount the tires and new TPMS sensors. I had the dealership do the installation and supposedly program the sensors. They haven't worked since the beginning. I was told that the new trucks/wheels have to use aftermarket sensors and they are having a hard time getting the programming straightened out but I suspect that is just an excuse.

My experience from previous Tacoma's is that you only have to have the sensors programmed once and then they function as they should regardless of how many times you swap the wheels and tires.

 

From my experience with my 2021, the ECU stores the unique TPMS sensor ID at each wheel location (even after the sensors are programmed), so you need a TPMS tool to re-upload the TPMS sensor IDs to the ECU every time you swap wheels/tires. I'm using an

$279 Autel MaxiTPMS TS508 WF TPMS Relearn Tool, 2024 WiFi Ver. of TS508 TS501 TS408, Activate/Relearn/Diagnosis All Sensors, Program Autel MX-Sensor (315/433MHz), Read/Clear TPMS DTCs Quick & Advance Mode

Autel MaxiTPMS TS508 to do this, as the ECU can only store 4 sensor IDs at a time.

 

Hmmm. I'll have to look into this. I've switched between winter wheels (no TPMS) and the same stock summer wheels at least 6 times between my previous 2016 and 2018 Taco's, each time rotating the wheels to different corners, and the sensors worked fine. Perhaps I was getting false readings?

 

shouldn't you at least get a constant TPMS malfunctioning lamp light on when you are on your winter wheels with no sensors? It's just odd that if you don't

 

If both sets of tires use their own set of sensors then you will need to have the sensors programed every time you swap the sets out.
The truck is programed to only recognize a specific set of sensors. (This is why it doesn't register the truck parked next to yours.) So you need to have the current sensors programed to your truck.

 

The winter set should have displayed the TPMS issue without the sensors. But it would only do it for a short time and turn itself off. And can intermittently show the TPMS issue. But when you put your summer tires back on with the TPMS or rotate the TPMS, the truck knows where the tires are located. e.g. drivers side passengers side front or rear the truck figures it out.

 

Yes, while on my winter wheels I get the idiot light flashing occasionally to remind me that I have no TPMS.

 

Ok, this makes sense now. Once I get the new wheels programmed in, with the aftermarket sensors, if I want to swap to the stock wheels with the factory sensors I'll have to get them reprogrammed.

 

Yes.

The main reason to get clone sensors is to copy your other wheels' sensors' ID numbers to them, so you do not have to re-program the PCM/ECU!

 

You won't be reprogramming the sensor..you will be loading the sensor id's into the TPMS BCM via the obd2 connector. But you can buy aftermarket sensors that you can load the oem sensor ids into. Then you will never need to do any loading of sensor ids again when changing from summer wheels to winter.

 

There are really 2 ways of solving this problem.

Way 1
Use any sensor compatible with the 3rd Gen Tacoma TPMS system.
When you change wheels, reprogram the truck with the new sensor IDs (basically load the IDs into the ECU).

Way 2
Buy aftermarket, programmable sensors, compatible with the 3rd Gen Tacoma TPMS system. Personally I've used https://www.schradertpms.com/en/our-products/schrader-ez-sensor-familyr
Copy your sensor IDs from your factory wheels to the new sensors using a programming tool. I've used https://www.ateq-tpms.com/en-us/products/vt36-tpms-activation-and-programming-tool/ because it's also compatible with my motorcycle, but there are others that are less expensive.
Swap the wheels whenever, and the TPMS system will just recognize them, as they have the same ID.

 

3rd gen Tacoma sensors are of their own. They will not work with 2nd Gen Tacoma/T4R etc.

 

OP, I'm no expert on this matter but can only speak of my personal experience. I have a 2020 SR5 Access Cab and swapped the stock steel wheels with alloy wheels two weeks ago. They took the TPMS sensors out of the steel wheels and put them in the alloy wheels without any issue. That doesn't answer your question about summer/winter wheels. However, now you know that you can put the sensors from the steel wheels into the alloy ones. Well, at least you know it worked for me.

 

Clarified.

 

I tried and tried and tried to make the 3rd gen truck work with 2nd Gen sensors twice.

 

Yeah, my post was unclear about that, and from everything I know the 2nd gen sensors won't work on a 3rd gen, so it is important.