Hi everyone,

I would like to apologize in advance if this was already asked, but I had no luck finding any info when searched, only found a "general" info that does not apply to this model Lexus.

for our 2011 Rx450h, I am looking to obtain a spare set of winter wheels and tires to be able to do a quick swap at home. As you know there are TPMS sensors in the stock wheels.

Is there a way I can put other Lexus/Toyota compatible TPMS in the winter wheels and have the car read it without throwing a blinking low pressure light or similar?

Anyone has done this?

Thank you,

 

You'll have to register the new set of TPMS into your ECU using Tech Stream or TPMS tool. Car can remember only one set of TPMS. Meaning every time you swap tires repeat the procedure.
Easiest thing to do is by something like TPMS trigger/scanner by Autel. Using tool like this it is ~15 mins. job max.

 

It's called black tape. 2x2 piece placed over TPMS light in the dash. Checking on tires ever so often. People did just fine without them for LONG time.
If you just got to have them, Discount Tire has the best pricing on install and mating them.

 

 

Some handheld tools that can register sensor codes run around $100. My ATEQ Quickset was around $125, is easy to use and paid for itself the first time I used it doing the winter/summer tire changeover on our vehicles. After plugging the Quickset into a vehicle diagnostic port, upload of the sensor codes is instantaneous after pressing the appropriate Winter or Summer button on it.

Regarding the "black tape" method, low tire pressures on SUV's have been found to be particularly dangerous: https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/...rash/index.htm

 

Are there any safety system interactions with the TPMS? I do not have sensors on my winter tires and wonder if the only issue is the dashboard light being on all the time and my having to watch tire pressure the old fashioned way. 2014 RX450h

 

As far as I know, there are no interactions. It is a stand alone system.

 

Thanks very much

 

Also, you need piece of black tape. Cut a suitable square to place over annoying light in the dash. Done.

 

I usually check tire pressures Sundays when I do fluid level checks but that didn't help two weeks ago when I apparently got a nail in a left rear tire on the way home from work on a Friday afternoon. I didn't think of checking the tires before I pulled out of my garage early the next morning. If the low pressure warning in the instrument cluster hadn't alerted me, I would have been driving on the Interstate highway only three blocks from my house at 65 mph a couple of minutes later on a tire that was at only 14 psi. TPMS prevented ruining a perfectly good $200+ tire or perhaps worse if it had blown at highway speeds.

It's surprising how normally a FWD vehicle or an AWD vehicle with on-demand RWD handles when a rear tire is dangerously low. It's far easier to tell when a tire on a RWD vehicle or a vehicle with full-time AWD is low on pressure by the way the vehicle handles.

TPMS sensors are cheap - as little as $10 each on eBay. We have dedicated snow tires on extra wheels for all our vehicles and all have TPMS. I do the TPMS programming myself when I do winter/summer tire changeovers using a $125 ATEQ programming tool - upload of the codes to the vehicle ECU is instantaneous after plugging the ATEQ into the diagnostic port and pressing a button on the tool.

 

True that!!!!

The TPMS systems are relatively reasonable these days. There are even STAND ALONE ones you can buy online or at shops for cars without the feature for about $89 for all four wheels and and "command center console display" you can stick anywhere on the dash.

Way back more than some 15 years ago on our old prior gen LX470 SUV one of the rear tires had a nail and the TPMS was not even a feature. I usually check tire pressures when I fill up. So I was going at highway speeds if around 65+ mph and all if the sudden I felt the rear end wobbling and squirrelly. There were beeps and warnings from the dash as the full time 4 wheel drive system of the LX470 was struggling to keep the vehicle in a straight line......I slowly applied the brake and got on to the shoulder and discovered my passenger rear tire was almost flat!!! That was dangerous!!! I got to the gas station off the next exit ramp and saw a nail in the tire and got it repaired so I can go on.

One example:



​​​​​​There is another type where you screw into the valve stem versus having the sensor installed inside the tire.

 

Wow - Thanks for the input. But would I have to get one of these programmers and use it at every season's tire change? (and a set of transmitters and put them on my winter rims). I think I'll stick with the old fashioned way until I next buy winter tires and then let the installer put on the sensors and program them. But will I have to re-program every time I change the tires seasonally? If so I might have to get one of those gizmos so I can do that myself, rather than a trip to the dealer just because I changed the tires..

 

Yes, unless you get TPMS for your Winter wheels and have them "cloned" to have the same ID's as your summer wheels, you would have to reprogram the vehicle ECU with a tool every time you do the changeover. Some tire shops where I live will do the programming for about $15/wheel. Car dealers I've checked charge around $25/wheel. If you have multiple vehicles a TPMS programming tool pays for itself quickly. Mine paid for itself the first day when I used it on multiple vehicles.

A event similar to the one I mentioned also occurred in 2016. I assume it was while driving the unpaved "back way" out of Mr. K's Farmhouse Restaurant outside Abilene Kansas that I picked up a nail in the right rear tire. The low pressure warning light came on about halfway through the 150 mile drive home while driving at the 75 mph speed limit of the Kansas Turnpike. (The low pressure warning comes on when a tire's pressure drops to about 8 psi below specification if I remember correctly.) I pulled off the highway and pumped up the tire to a few psi above the recommendation using the the Kobalt AC/DC air compressor I carry with me. I made it all the way home without the warning coming on again but the tire couldn't be repaired due to the nail being too close to the tire shoulder.

I don't mean to be a shill for Lowes (we are shareholders) but the little Kobalt AC/DC air compressors sold there are very high quality and a bargain at $45: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-12-V...tor/1000092575
I have the previous version and use it on AC current in our garage when I adjust tire pressures based on ambient temperature changes. Tire pressures increase/decrease about 1 psi for each 10 degrees of ambient temperature change. It can easily drop 50 degrees in 24 hours as Winter comes on where I live. When that happens tire pressures drop by about 5 psi which, if not dangerous, would cause premature tire wear.

Some people think I'm obsessive about this. You think?

 

Yes you are really into this tire pressure thing.

I think I have learned from you that when I get new tires I will check whether the installer can 'clone' the sensors on the other set of rims. If not I will have to go to the dealer.

Thanks for the coaching

 

Costco will register the TPMS codes to the ECU free of charge. Of course, lineups are going to be long this time of the year but you can always go anytime it's convenient for you.