Dirty Little Secret -- will install TPMS later???

i have never used tpms, but i do check my pressures regularly.

i say go for it, is it required in orgon?

 

not according to tire rack, but i don't know how old the google hit is.

 

what i can find is: professional shops cannot disable tpms, according to federal law.

 

yeah, it's not cheap, and it's not very effective imo. at least for toyota, the tire has to be like 10 pounds under before it goes off.

 

Based on past threads, it seems that there is no legal problem with you putting non-TPMS wheel assemblies on your car. The only legal problem is for others to do so.

TireRack's statement that you are expected to go have "local shop" install the TPMS, covers their legal CYA obligations. You are under no legal obligation to follow through with that.

So this isn't like rum running. As best we know, it is legal for you to make use of the wheels as is. It is your choice, hopefully you know what warning protections you are giving up.

 

Many here have winter tire mounted without TPMS.
So in winter they just have the warning light.
However, some states might require operational TPMS for inspection...Virginia does not.
As per bisco, it is illegal for shops to disable TPMS on tires which have TPMS.

In summary, you have to consider Federal law and State Laws, but to my recollection, no one on Prius Chat has ever mentioned that they were forced to put TPMS on snows. A few states definitely want the TPMS operational at inspection.

 

…guaranteed to be fixed by the application of a small piece of black Gaffer'sTape (…about ½"x½" should do nicely!)

Here's my solution:

 

I'm thinking that you have two choices:

1. Buy and clone a set of sensors for the snows, and have a local shop install them.
You would indeed be looking at 100-200 bucks for the additional sensors and labor - but then when you do the tire swaps twice a year you won't have that annoying little warning indicator.....or the sticky residue from the tape that you used to cover up the annoying little warning indicator.
Subaru TPMS cloning - Orange Electronics sensors - Subaru Outback - Subaru Outback Forums

2. Run the snows sans TPMS.
This would probably be my approach BUT I live in the deep South, so the only time I have to deal with something snow-related is when all of the Snow-cone trailers start popping up like wildflowers on roadsides and intersections.
I don't know a lot about Subies, but your annoying little warning indicator may not be a little round icon on your dash, but rather some kind of repeating message on a status screen.
Also, as mentioned above your state and local government may also have inspections that will incentivize you to put working TPMS sensors on your car, year round.

The good news is that a separate set of snow tires is a very Subaru thing, and so somebody has already noodled out how to do it for cheap....or whether in the far reaches of the American nor'west...you have to at all.

Good Luck!

 

The op is getting scammed by anyone insisting that tpms work, the jobber only has to release the tire or car with tpms if it had it when it entered the shop, the shop can't remove tpms, but if the tire car didn't have it, it doesn't have to have it.

But, Tpms are 20$, the device to program them is 100$, the device will work for years, not a bad investment.

 

Agree with fuzzy1 above. I have a set of snow tires for each of my two Prii, and they do not have TPMS. I took the rims to Costco and just told them to mount the new snow tires on the rims, which they did. I can deal with the TPMS light on during the winter months. I don't want the hassle of reprogramming the TPMS system twice a year on two cars.

 

Over eight years back but I still remember, getting snow tires (on Corolla rims) from a local dealership: the guy asks me if I want tpms sensors, while emphatically shaking his head no...

 

Here in NH, my Gen II gets inspected in June (when the summer wheels (…plus TPMS)) are on. In the winter, the car is wearing its winter wheels (no TPMS) but as I mentioned earlier, I have a set of wireless pressure/temp transducers which go on each set of wheels (see earlier post). I've used them for the past four years and have found them to be very accurate (to within a pound or so of my digital gauge when I check the pressures).

 

That fits with our understanding. By putting them in the trunk, they have no legal notice what car you will put them on. It is quite reasonable for them to presume, without asking, that you will put them on your other older non-TPMS car. And you are not under any similar legal constraints on your own car fleet.

Otherwise, you could just head north to a tire shop in Vancouver. The big one farther away, not the little closer one.

 

when did tire guys become lawyers?