Second set of wheels for snow tires and TPMS Sensors

How much do you pay to have 4 tires removed and put on different rims 2 times a year? I would think the best price would be $50+ each time, that comes to $100 a year or more.

Since the car was invented people have had to deal with flat tires. We really do not need a TPMS sensor to tell us the tire is low on air or flat. You can see the car is leaning different or feel it while you are driving.

 

Spiderman thanks for link. This is my post in that thread the will help others.

Idea to fool the tire pressure sensors | Page 4 | PriusChat

 

Pretty much same for taking wheels off and on and balancing resetting the TPMS, likely more for the wheels and the TPMS reset.

Free if I buy the tires from them which I do. $50 as you note if I use Les Schwab. Decent new wheels are $400 plus new TPMS $200 plus the same $50 take on/off.

Substantial savings just changing the tires. Tires are much easier to handle vs tires/wheels.

Driving without TPMS is not a good idea. It's a good safety feature. Essential on cars without real spares like Prius.

 

My conclusion is that Toyota doesn't take the use of winter tires very seriously, at least not for vehicles delivered in the US. Things may be different for vehicles delivered in Canada and Europe -- do owners' manuals for those countries provide more detailed information?
Also, there are lots of links explaining how an owner can reset TPMS for new sensors for vehicles like the Chevy Malibu and Ford Fusion. But not for Prius?

 

Cars have been around for over 100 years. In the last 4 years TPMS have become standard. I doubt over that over 100 years people were unsafe not having a light on your dash telling you, your tire is low. Seat belts and air bags make a vehicle safer. This is stricky a dummy light.

I have a hard time believing that if you buy a new set of tires from any store they will take them off a rim and put them on a new rim for free twice a year. Give me there phone number and I will call them. It is common to get free rotations for the life of the tire but not removing and re mounting twice a year. And $50 is a low price to remove and mount 4 tires.

 

Can one put oversized snow tires on just the front of a 2010 Prius? What oversize?

 

The TPMS is there due to a Federal regulation. The regulation stems from the Ford Explorer/Firestone tire debacle, where Ford had incorrect inflation pressures listed on the label inside the driver's door. the underinflated tires made the vehicle more prone to rollover accidents, and Americans needed someone to sue. Ford blamed Firestone, Firestone blamed Ford, and the Government mandated Tire Pressure Monitoring Sensors for all passenger vehicles. I've seen various creative solutions, ranging from black electrical tape over the bulb, removal of the bulb, or placing all 5 sensors (on vehicles with spare tires) inside the spare, and keeping that inflated to the correct pressure.

I would think that Prius owners would be watching tire pressure like a hawk, since it can greatly affect MPG, making the TPMS redundant. I rocked the Supra with no spare and no TPMS for at least 3 years/30k miles, and never had a problem. I carried a can of fix a flat and tire plugs, but never had to use them.

 

There is a hack for the Gen 3 Prius to disable the light.

If you search the forum you will find all the info on how to do it in many threads.

 

^ In case anyone's stumped: I think that's looking at what's in back of the glove box.

Personally, one little unobtrusive light doesn't bother me, for the 5 months with our snows.

 

Yes it is behind the glove box. It takes about 5 min to do this mod. It is covered in many other threads on this subject. That is one thing I do not like about Prius Chat. People refuse to search before they start a new topic.

In the next 6 months there will be 5 new topics started on this same thing. All the info is out there, people need to search for it. If someone does not like how Prius Chat indexes they should go to Google and search for it.

 

Thanks...

I did this mod on my PIP a few weeks ago so I'd be ready to go when I put my snows/rims on.
I'm not a big fan of TPMS anyway, so I'm going to leave this mod in permanently.

 

It is this way on every single forum I have ever been a member of. There are always a few helpful members anwering questions, a bunch of lurkers, several technical people posting modifications and how-tos, and new members who are either unfamiliar with the search function, not good at searching, or lazy, asking the same questions noobs have been asking since the model came out. I don't know what the solution is, or even if there IS one.

 

I have gen II wheels in with no TPMS, the light is on, it doesn't bother me.

Both cars have snows on now and the light is on. Oh well.

 

There's another light in the dash, telling if passenger air bag is on or off. It's more in-your-face, but still doesn't even register after a while.

Also, to ny-rob: I can't see disconnecting TPMS even when you have tires with functional sensors on, I mean: you might as well use it when it's possible.

 

Well, it's a little tricky shunting the small holes on the TPMS module plug because it's recessed near the firewall and it's dark back there. It took me a few tries to make it work properly- so I made it semi-permanent using a paperclip and a fair amount of electrical tape. Monitoring my own tire pressure isn't something I can't do- I usually eyeball the tires anyway when approaching the car anyway.

 

If you take the glove box out it is very easy. 5 min job worse case.

 

I bought a full package from Tire Rack with four snows mounted and balanced on black steel wheels. It was a no-brainer to forego the $300 (or more) for four TPMS sensors, plus the fee to re-initialize them every time I change from one set to the other. The downside is a little yellow light that comes on 15 miles into my commute every day (it "reads" the standard wheels stacked in my garage and clears before I leave every morning). Big whoop.

Get the snows. Get four (always). Change them yourself. And save the $$$ for the TMPS. Your tire pressure gauge still works as good as it always has.

 

Do the 5 min mod to get rid of the lite for life.