I am considering purchasing 4 snow tire with wheels for my Mazda 5. Having the snow tires on dedicated wheels will make putting them on and off very easy for me to do. The rims will pay for themselves in 2 years rather than paying to have the snows mounted and unmounted each year. My question is how will the TPMS react to the new wheels as they will not be compatable. Will I just get the warning light or will it make noise every time I drive? I can live with the light but not the noise.
You can get those tpms sensors for your new wheels…tire rack offers exactly this service… But I am sure you could do it yourself some way…its not like the TPMS sensors are made of unobtanium.
Even w/o the tpms…I believe that there is a way to shut off the tpms doo dad in the vehicle…or at least tell it to shut up or relax. No?
Not a major issue either way methinks.
BLACKBIRD
I Don’t Know A Mazda 5 From A Bale Of Hay.
What Is The Model-Year Of This Vehicle ?
Some Systems Have Sensors, Some Don’t. Do You Know For Certain That You Do ?
Most earlier TPMS systems used wheel sensors/ABS sensors to determine low tire pressure (wheel speed difference). These systems usually have only a dashboard warning indicating that a tire is low, not which tire or how low. No sensors are located in the tires.
Later/newer systems that display the actual tire pressure and indicate which tire has that pressure do use sensors inside each tire.
We have cars with each type system out in our driveway.
For most (all ?) earlier systems you don’t need sensors. For the newer systems, you do.
Are you maintaining the original size wheels and tires as were original equipment on the vehicle ?
Does your TPMS display individual tire pressures/locations ?
CSA
Ask whoever you want to mount the tires what will happen if you just mount tires and rims without the pressure sensor/sending unit. You might even be able to just move the ones you have on your summer rims. Maybe the dealer will share the information with you. You might have better luck if you talk to a tech on brake outside the work area. I struck up a conversation with one the last time I was at a dealership, and got some good information for free.
Your car is safer with sensors. Why not just get them?
It is a 2010. The cost of rims that will work with the TPMS is a lot more than I want to spend. The idiot light just warns of low pressure, not which tire is low.
I think you will find that you will have a continuous “TPMS Failure See Dealer” light going on all the time. You are spending all of the extra money for wheels and tires, just add the sensors to it and be done with it. Then all you have to do each time you change tires is to go through the TPMS re-learn process.
Put electrical tape over the TPMS failure light.
Doesnt Tire Rack sell you any wheel you want and install the correct TPMS sensors in them for you? If so then the sensors are available…it is too difficult to simply get them and sticky the things to the inside of the new wheels before tire mounting? I mean it is that simple no? I’m thinking that it is, could be wrong, but doubt it.
" The idiot light just warns of low pressure, not which tire is low."
This type of TPMS ordinarily does not need sensors in the tires. Low pressure is “sensed” by wheel rotation speed. There’s no point for a manufacturer to put sensors in four locations if the locations are not going to be identified.
Are you certain that you’ve got individual sensors in the tires ? Who is telling you that ?
"The cost of rims that will work with the TPMS is a lot more than I want to spend."
Rims that will work ? Why aren’t any rims/tires that give the proper mounting and diameter suitable for use with the TPMS ?
Does this car have ABS and or some sort of traction control ?
CSA
I would tape the light, and use a pressure gauge regularly. I have about as much interest in having my car monitor my tire pressure as I do in having a paper clip tell me how to use a word processor. (Less than zero).
Tire pressure sensors can be expensive, $75 to $150 each, however you can buy a set (4) for this car for on EBAY for $160. From information on Alldata these sensors can be trained/programmed to the car without a scan tool.
CSA, the systems that I have seen that use ABS/tire circumference monitor are pre 2007 vehicles, before TPM systems were required. I don’t know if they are used after 2007, they are poor in my opinion. The vehicles that identify tire location have a receiver in each wheel well (or at least 3), = more expence. Early systems in which sensor locations were trained with a magnet used only one reciever (the module) and displayed tire location.
“CSA, the systems that I have seen that use ABS/tire circumference monitor are pre 2007 vehicles, before TPM systems were required. I don’t know if they are used after 2007, they are poor in my opinion.”
This was my exact point, except for the comment about being poor. This system on my car and my son’s car (The Impala is 2001), Pontiac and chevrolet, have worked perfectly, alerting both of us to nails in tires. The beauty is that there are no tire sensors.
How is this poor ?
The system on my wife’s Impala has sensors, gives tire locations (L/F, R/F, L/R, R/R) and pressure. My understanding is that one has to reteach the system even when just rotating tires, which I don’t do. I don’t feel that this newer system is an improvement.
Why would this Mazda have sensors at each tire, but not give location ? How is that a good thing ?
CSA
"I have about as much interest in having my car monitor my tire pressure as I do in having a paper clip tell me how to use a word processor. "
Cigroller–Like you, I use my dial-type tire pressure gauge–and, if needed, an electric inflation pump–on a regular basis. Any responsible driver should do the same.
However, what you are not taking into consideration is the possibility of a puncture taking place on the highway. It is far better to find out promptly about a sudden drop in tire pressure via a warning light than it is to find out several minutes later–via erratic handling or, even worse, from the dreaded thump, thump, thump sound–when the tire has been damaged beyond repair as a result of running it for too many miles with low pressure.
I don’t rely on the TPMS to let me know about tire inflation from day to day, but if I am on a long highway drive, far from home, a TPMS can potentially save me from having to replace a tire, and can potentially keep me and my passengers safer.
What VDCdriver Said.
Having both types of systems (sensors in tires and no sensors in tires) in our family fleet, I much prefer the simplicty, conevenience, and economy of the “no sensor” type. It utilizes the ABS that is standard on our cars.
Who cares which tire is going flat while you’re cruising the road ? I don’t. The importatnt thing is that one tire is. After stopping where air and/or repairs are available, all tires should be checked and inflated, anyhow. That’s how I roll.
Having to buy sensors when buying winter tires/rims, doing without the monitor, when buying tires/rims, but no sensors, and reteaching locations of tires after rotations are not a good trade-off. Government does not always know best.
I too, have my old German made MotoMeter dial gauge that I’ve had for decades and use it regularly. It is/has been the most accurate and durable gauge I’ve seen to date.
CSA
“However, what you are not taking into consideration is the possibility of a puncture taking place on the highway. It is far better to find out promptly about a sudden drop in tire pressure via a warning light than it is to find out several minutes later–via erratic handling or, even worse, from the dreaded thump, thump, thump sound”
In probably a million miles of highway driving I’ve had this happen to me once. And it was obvious long before I had any serious handling difficulties and certainly before any thump thump. We are trying to “safety” ourselves to death (and into the poor house) on “problems” that only become defined as “problems” after someone develops a solution they can sell.
Now, you might get farther on this point by saying that too many people pay no attention to what their cars are doing while they drive down the road - so idiots should have idiot lights. That I might consider.
On my '08 Accord, I chose not to spend the $100 per wheel for the sensors for my winter tires. My TPMS light is on all winter–it is easy to ignore. As already stated, if you check tire pressure regularly, the light is not an issue.
“We are trying to “safety” ourselves to death (and into the poor house) on “problems” that only become defined as “problems” after someone develops a solution they can sell.”
“Now, you might get farther on this point by saying that too many people pay no attention to what their cars are doing while they drive down the road - so idiots should have idiot lights. That I might consider.”
Cigroller, your points are well taken, here. To me it’s more about government regulations. Along those lines, whenever I drive by my local sherriff’s department and see all those Crown Vics, I wonder . . . do the officers really view these cars as safety hazards the same way the government has ? I’d bet not. Are they dangerous in a rollover ? Probably. However, I can’t remember antytime in the past several decades that any of our local law enforcement men were killed or badly injured in a rollover. Are they going to replace these vehicles with ones that are safer in rollovers, but are more likely to be involved in accidents ? I don’t know.
CSA