TPMS kit replacement
 

Can anyone tell me when it is we need to replace our TPMS kits? I had gotten the impression that TMPS kits do NOT need to be replaced every time I have tires mounted, and that it depends on how long it had been since I last had a tire mounted.

I'm having Discount Tire unmount/remount my tires left-to-right to mitigate the inner wear issues I have thanks to our cars' excessive negative camber. I plan on doing this every 5K miles. I'm doing it for the first time on a brand new set of tires (meaning there is only 5K miles on these tires and on my current TPMS kit), and the shop is insisting that I need to replace my TMPS kit when they do the remount now.

What's strange is that if I place an order for tires online at Discount Tire's site, a new TPMS kit is only a "recommended option". And as I mentioned earlier, I thought I had read around here that it's not necessary to do all the time. The guy I talked to said something about how they can crack something when they mount new tires, so they have to replace the kit every time (honestly I wasn't paying enough attention because I was already thinking about asking this question here).

Thanks in advance for your advice.

The tmps sensors can be reused. They are quite expensive and they are made to be used for the life of the car. They reccommend when you get a second set of wheels to get sensors installed in those too - that is all.

I think by TPMS kit, it's just new mounting components. The sensor themselves should be fine unless battery is dead. The new mounting kits are only a few bucks per wheel, and that's to ensure a good seal.

They are lying to you. TPMS sensors have a battery life of ~10 years and they are meant to be reused until they run out of juice. The adapters used to mount the sensors inside your wheel are also reusable. Your shop is either trying to rip you off, or they're too stupid to unmount tires without damaging TPMS sensors.

JDKane527: What do you meaning by "mounting kit?" The metal bracket that holds the sensors in place?

In your post you say "I'm having Discount Tire unmount/remount my tires left-to-right to mitigate the inner wear issues I have thanks to our cars' excessive negative camber. I plan on doing this every 5K miles."

I am assuming you are not actually taking the tires off the rims every 5K and you are just rotating the tires - right? In which case the shop should not even have to touch the sensors (maybe check pressure) and therefore there should be no risk of damage or a need to replace the kit.

On the other hand if you mean the tires will actually be taken off the rims every 5K then I have to ask is this necessary? I have never heard of doing this this often. It will be expensive, hard on the tire beads, and, unless there is something special about the IS setup, I think overkill.

Just my two cents.

^ Sounds like he has excessive camber wear from being dropped, in which case he would have to unmount and remount the tires to even out the wear. It's the price you pay for being really low.

Thanks for the insight.

Yep, this. I've been wondering whether 5K might be a bit much, but I definitely need to do this at some interval, especially for my front tires. I'm thinking maybe 7.5K might be more reasonable.

And yeah, they're not replacing the sensors -- just the "TPMS kit". Honestly, I wasn't sure what they meant by that, but based on what you guys are telling me, I guess it sounds reasonable for them to replace it.

It's not an expensive "extra" ($15 for two tires), but it's enough for me to not want to spend it if I don't have to (which is basically anything over $.07 :D).

TPMS rebuild kit is just the fittings, and that would only be necessary if they take the sensors off, which sounds like they won't. Just do the tire swap.


http://www.townfair.com/images/tpms_rebuild_kit.jpg

Recently had my tires swapped left to right at ~20k when I got new wheels, inside was pretty much bald. I'm only dropped on H&R Springs. I'm waiting for the FIGS front arms.

haha never heard of that crap before....sounds like they're trying to rip you off.
as far as the rotation of the tires, how low are you that you have such serious issues? can u show us some pics

^ Okay, they must be talking about the adapters/brackets that connect to the valve stem so you can mount the sensors without drilling into your wheels. They are definitely reusable but I guess it couldn't hurt to replace them every once in a while. I actually had a bracket fail recently. However, every 5k miles still seems excessive.

Make sure you get a really good alignment with 0 toe to minimize your tire wear.

^^^
She's lowered about 1.5" up front. It's bad enough that the front tires are worn to the metal in 20-25K miles. But only the innermost sliver of the tire. The other 90% of the tread looks just fine. I've been told by some members of this board that I could probably fix the problem by adding some toe-in up front (and toe-out in the back), but all the people I've tried who do alignments think that it's just the camber, and there's nothing I can do about it. It's not something I can do myself, so I'm just gonna have to work with it for now...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...350_front2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2..._frontend1.jpg


Hmm... So they shouldn't need that kit just for unmounting/remounting the tires? Might have to debate with them about this then.

^ What's your degree of negative camber? That doesn't look too bad at all.

About -1.5 degrees.

For reference, here's the thread where I was asking about this tire wear problem:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sus...ve-camber.html

EDIT: Upon looking up more information, it's becoming clear to me that these guys are screwing with me. I do not need that rebuild kit.

yea find a shop that deals with lowered custom cars....dont go to tire rack firestone and the like...