I'm putting together a set of winter tires/wheels for my '15 IS350 F Sport (going with 225/40-18 square setup on 18x8 wheels from an SC430) and I'm planning to not use any sensors. I prefer DIY and I'd rather not spend big $$ on a device to program the sensors. My plan is to run the winters w/o sensors, ignore the light, and swap the summers back on in the spring, restoring TPMS functionality. Any issues with doing this? Other than the tire light, will the car do anything else in response to the lack of signal? I've done this on other cars in the past with no issue. Thanks for any feedback!

 

No issues with that...the light will be on, that's all.

 

Thanks much!!

 

I ended up getting TPMS in my winter wheels. They are rather inexpensive. You just have to reprogram them into your car every winter/spring when you swap wheels.

 

I'm not worried about the cost of the sensors themselves. I just don't want to have to go somewhere to have the sensors/car reprogrammed twice a year. Or spend the money on the device to do it myself. Unless there are less expensive devices out there by now. Any DIY folks have one they recommend?

 

The car will remember all 8 sensors, no need to reprogram them when swapping wheels.
On my 2010 IS250 my PSI dropped regularly once the temp dropped below 10c especially on the front passenger side tire (as low as 23 psi on that one on both my winter or all-season wheel, the rest only dropped 2-3 PSI below tollerance) so I highly recommend folk not skip on the sensors for winter.

 

That answer depends upon the car. My 2014 (3IS) only has space for one set. I believe the prior year (2IS) could hold two sets.

 

If you can get somebody to do it correctly they can be cloned and when you swap Wheels it shouldn't even recognize the difference. The new sensors need to be programmed with the same numbers that your current sensors have. 2014 and up can only store 1 set.

 

Wow Lexus really cheaped out, my 2IS stored both sets and had a setting to switch between the two.

 

Forgive my ignorance...what happens when you rotate wheels (i.e. a given sensor is not in the same corner of the car as it once was)? How does the car "know" which sensor is at which corner? I'm assuming a given sensor ID is assigned to a corner?

 

Unless you have the 17" setup? you can't rotate since the front and rear are typically different sized and directional.

 

I have the staggered 18” so I know I can’t rotate front to back but my winter setup will be square. Next year, I’d probably install them in swapped positions.

 

Each corner has one TPS ID, rotate the tires and you have a sensor mismatch. No PSI reading, and a TPMS warning.

 

When you rotate your wheels all you have to do is initialize the tire pressure warning system. There is a reset button under the steering wheel by the pedals. Detailed steps are in the owners manual.

 

I’m gonna have to look that up, I don’t recall interpreting it that way.