Non OEM TPMS

Today I was on an hour long drive in the cold on the freeway. About 1/2 into it my TPMS light started to blink. I’ve had it come on solid when the pressure is low on a tire but never blink. When I stopped at the traffic light on the off-ramp the light went off. I pulled in a parking lot close by and checked the pressure. 35 on each wheel. It never came back on on the ride home. Being 15 years old I’m pretty sure the batteries are tired.

The question is are non-OEM sensors like at Big-O as reliable as OEM?

They are a heck of a lot cheaper to replace than the dealer. Unfortunately I’m running 1 year old defenders and am not in need of tires. They would have to unmount the tires to replace.

 

I had Walmart replace all 4 of mine 8 years ago with their $20 each sensors and they've worked just fine since. It was under $100 to do all 4 instead of $150 each at the dealer.

 

I have 4 vehicles with sensors I bought from Amazon. All have been working fine for years. FWIW, I proactively replace mine with every other set of tires. That means new sensors about every 6-7 years. New sensors usually last 7-10 years, but it's a lot cheaper and easier to replace them at the same time you're buying new tires. If you wait until they die you have to pay for the sensors then pay to have them installed basically doubling the cost.

 

Need to pick up 4 myself. Getting new tires this week. Haven’t priced the dealer yet but if they only want 150$ for 4 I’d gladly pay that.
I refuse to buy anything off Amazon and discount tire wants 248$ for 4. 62$ a piece.

 

Will Discount Tire put on new tires without replacing sensors if they are working fine and you don't really care if they go out anyway?

 

I used Bosch sensors that were on a close out deal at Rock Auto. The biggest hurdle I had was finding a tire shop that had a scanner that could read the Bosch sensors and download it into the Tacos confusor. They have been trouble free so far for the past year.

 

If they are still working yes, no issue.

I haven’t inquired personally but have read a lot of posts on here saying most shops will not if they are dead due to liability.

Mom and pop shops and dedicated OR shops. Probably.
Any tire chain. Probably not.

Again, I haven’t inquired personally, just regurgitating tw claims.

 

I got new tires a few months and went ahead and got new aftermarket TPMS installed. They were about $60 for each and the tire shop installed and programmed them as part of the tire install.

Still had the original TPMS and figured I should go ahead and replace them since I was getting new tires.

 

I ordered some pre-programmed denso sensors from Rock Auto and the tire retailer that installed my new tires couldn't program them to the computer. Dealer wants over $200 to do it.

 

You either bought the ones for gen 3, were shipped the wrong ones or the tire shop is BS-ing you.
If you are in the Tampa area I'll program them NC.

 

I have ACDELCO TPMS172K that I bought on 1/9/2020 and had them installed with 87,546 miles. I now have 127,000 miles on my truck. I purchased the TPMS units from Rock Auto. Knock on wood, they’ve been great with 0 problems.

 

I just did mine on my 2014 last month. 10yrs is good for TPMS and got mine from RockAuto (Denso @ $36ea) and had them installed by Big-O. Working fine. Do them all.

 

Tire shop bs. We can’t program them but we can sell you our brand for 60$ each and program them for free.

 

If you're OK waiting until your next set of tires, you can just remove the TPMS light from the gauge cluster.

 

Quality aftermarket sensors are just as good as the OE Denso/Pacific/Toyota sensors. I have purchased plenty of sets from here and they come programmed and ready to install. A shop should charge about $25 a tire to mount balance and RELEARN the TPMS to the truck. I ordered the Huf Intellisens which is the German made OE sensors in most German cars and other Euro's. $119 a set. At the time they also had a "5%off" code. Not sure if they still do.

https://www.tpmsbargains.com/Toyota-TACOMA-TPMS-Sensor-p/tpms-1204-35-hum-4.htm

Good luck.