Are your winter tires mounted on rims?

If you buy clone TPMS sensors, upload the OEM sensor ID#s to each clone, there is no programming or reprogramming of the truck TPMS system.

 

Oh nice. hadn’t heard of that.

 

The big benefit of mounting and dismounting tires is the mounted tires get balanced every time. You may get caught up with worn winters and summers and in that calendar year buy 8 tires. Storing 4 wheels is the same width and height as four bare tires.

I use the stock oem wheels and sensors on my winter tires and my other wheels have Autel clone TPMS sensors. Clone sensors use the OEM ID#s and the truck never needs to be programmed or reprogrammed as the 4 numbers are still in the truck. I have three sets of wheels and all use the OEM ID#s so I can swap wheels when want to at home and not be stuck out waiting for the tire shop appointment.

You have to program the truck when you add New sensor ID#s.

 

Yes! All my vehicles have two sets of wheels/tires. Much easier to change myself. No TPMS to deal with on any vehicle (the Yaris didn’t have it, the RAV4 was disabled - I think?, the Tacoma doesn’t have it).

Always went with cheap steel wheels, but they rust. So went with better stuff for the Tacoma.

 

I got a set of steelie take-offs from an SR. Taken off when truck was still at the dealership. $85 with lug nuts and center caps. Craigs list.

 

I get my duratracs siped and run them year round. Works best for me because I work in the bush and can have snow ice in the morning and mud in the afternoon. If I was driving pavement, I'd have two sets of wheels and tires with a dedicated winter tire.

 

You can find a lot of people selling their OEM rims for cheap after they upgrade them. I went the opposite route and used the winter rims as an opportunity to upgrade to the TRD pro rims and keep the stock ones for the opposite season.

The biggest reason I have two sets is some shops tend to over torque the lug nuts during changing season because of the rush. I'd rather torque them myself to be sure.

 

I bought some awesome Duratracs with the 3 peak snow designation, and sold off my dedicated winter tire package. It works for me as I do very little Highway driving. The only downfall is driving in icy conditions. Keep in mind, some winter tires aren't ice rated like a Michelin X-Ice.

Now I just rotate my tires instead of owning 2 sets and avoid the switchover twice a year, and no TPMS issues.

 

Don’t mount and unmount tires. Get cheap steelies or takeoffs.

 

I've had 6 sets of wheels across two sets of snow tires because I could never make up my mind what I wanted. I have a problem. However, I basically have had most all of the OEM wheels for the Tacoma and really was able to make an easy assessment of what I would or not do again.

I prefer an alloy wheel compared to a steel wheel personally. I found the center caps for both the SR5 and FJ steel wheels to be an absolute PITA to mount. I was always afraid I'd lose an SR5 steel wheel center because the centers never seemed to fit on particularly tight and that's the type of stuff that would bother me personally. The FJ steel wheels (at least with SR5 lug nuts) were a pain to mount with the OEM style center caps.

Both steel wheel options were noticeably heavier than the alloy wheels to mount. I noticed a small decrease in fuel economy with those wheels compared to alloy. I noticed my Sport alloy wheels plus P-rated snow tires effectively negated the drop in fuel economy of the switch to winter blend which was a pro.

My original winter tires were from Discount Tire and their cheapest wheel option was the MB TKO. It wasn't a bad wheel, but it was a 8.5" wheel with IIRC a -6mm offset and having those nearly stick out with a highway tread tire looked dumb, so don't do that. I think I lasted 2-3 wheels before I was searching for a set of 2G OR wheels for my 2G.

TPMS...I never had TPMS on my first set of wheels, but honestly the dash light started to get annoying. Yes, it only comes on at about 11 miles of travel (came on at the same point every day on the way to work) but it drove me nuts. I also wanted to anticipate a low tire before I drove on a flat and tore up the tire. The 3G has actual pressure measurements which is excellent to show what you're facing, not just a "tire pressure low" idiot light. When I purchased my 3G sport wheels, they came as a complete set with TPMS and OEM tires for $500. I was able to sell the OEM tires for about $150 and then sold my FJ wheels for $400 so it effectively covered the cost of the change. I did have to buy a ATEQ Quickset X that lets me reprogram TPMS on the fly, but if I were to do it again, I'd get the Autel cloneable sensors and not think about it again.

I'm running 3G Sport wheels on my Nokians. While they're not my favorite wheel design, they're an excellent option from an ease of mounting / drivability standpoint. I think once these tires age out in another 5-6 years, I'll switch back to the 3G Off-Road wheels on a set of P-rated Blizzaks. It may be a slight step down from the Nokian, but I don't want an LT tire if I don't have to.

 

Lots of talk about TPMS but OP is in Canada... there is a good chance he doesn't have it. Mine doesn't have TPMS.

 

Canadian M/T models, but otherwise most of ours have it. I haven't seen a M/T trail edition yet.

 

Black tape

 

Good to know

 

I run Blizzaks on FJC Steelies, $90ea from the dealership when I bought my 2nd Gen in 2011 so they’ve more than paid for themselves.

It’s cheaper and easier than dealing with tire shops and easier to do in the garage anyways. I do our two vehicles and neoghbour friend three cars - it’s like a pit crew around here!

TPMS isn’t an issue because I park near my summers, light only goes on 30 minutes into a trip away from home. I just ignore it like it’s 1999..

Look on marketplace for takeoffs, even here in the interior there are several fs for $200- 400.

 

No thanks.

 

Sorry we winter where there us no snow

 

My Sport survived the first winter here in Delaware with the tires it came with.



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