Does TPMS need to be removed to repair tire? (and a bad NTB experience)

Hey guys, I had a nail in my tire and went to NTB to have it repaired. I went the cheap route and went for the "$19.99 with TPMS" deal. I have a squeak somewhere in my driveline, not sure if it's coming from a u-joint or center support bearing so I asked for that to be checked. They do free alignment checks, so asked for that, and I also have a flashing TPMS and was hoping for that to be a bad battery in the wheel I was having the repair done on, but no such luck, they diagnosed it to be a different wheel. He suggested I buy a replacement sensor and bring it back for them to install it. I'm not sure why they didn't offer to sell me the part and replace it then and I didn't ask.

Like many of you, I have had issues getting my wheels balanced so that's one thing I always have done at the dealer. You can imagine my surprise when the service guy told me that they balanced the wheels for me, at $20 a pop. When I was in the waiting room, I heard the "mechanic" come in and ask how to use the alignment machine and after waiting for my truck for close to 2 hours, I just wanted to get out of there. They patched my tire, scratched up my wheel in the process, didn't give me any information about my alignment or diagnose the driveline squeak, charged me an extra $10 to patch the tire for the TPMS kit, and now I have a vibration in my steering wheel from them doing the balance.

I did buy a replacement TPMS, should I give them a chance to make this right or do you think I should just let this be a learning experience and go somewhere else? I shouldn't have paid for the balance but at that point, I really just wanted to get out of there!

 

generally no, the sensor does not need to come off to do a tire repair.

But...I've learned to remove the sensor before taking the tire off of the rims when the tire is bigger than the OEM size, simply because the tire bead can grab the sensor and damaging it when the tire machine is spinning the rim. This applies to a sensor mounted on the valve stem

here you can see plastic epoxy that I used to repair my own sensor years ago when I installed my first set of 35's back in late 2008. That sensor lasted up until a few weeks ago when the battery finally died..



I very recently replaced that and another sensor with ones purchased from Amazon. Ironicly I made a post about it just a few hours ago https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/monkeyproofs-misadventures.697489/page-5#post-26680565

 

Thank you for responding. Tires are 265 KO2's on 5th gen 4runner wheels. Glad to have a little more understanding before going back to talk to them tomorrow. I'm still unsure if I should let them touch my truck again. I am hoping the mechanic was just out that day, since the person working on my truck had no idea how to use the alignment machine!

 

Monkeyproof, is this the sensor you ordered?

 

that is the very same sensor that I ordered

 

If it was me, just for self satisfaction, I would go back and scream bloody hell at them and then leave. Find a good local mom n pop garage, they will appreciate your business. good luck.