TPMS question

[eflw1029]

Morning Everyone-
Does anyone know if the tire pressure sensor in the spare "donut" tire can be re-installed on a full sized new rim? Reason I ask is I am not too thrilled using a donut (speed limitation, limited miles useable on donut, etc) and am seriously contemplating purchasing a full sized toyota alloy wheel along with real tire to use as my spare. Reasons are obvious...with the new TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) on the 2007 model year you will have to replace the used donut whenever you encounter a flat so why bother to have to perform the tire change twice just to get road worthy again.
Finally I will probably purchase a 4-set of winter tires mounted on steel rims advertised at Tire-Rack/Wire Warehouse leaving the factory mounted alloys for summer use. Can I get away with using the set of Tire-Rack wheels which do not have the TPMS sensors on the Camry w/o triggering the offending warning light on the dash?

[wilfredcruz]

i'm using wheels with no sensor. The light only comes on, every now and then.

[eflw1029]

Define "every now and then" ? All this high tech stuff which is designed more for the normal driver....personally I like to get my hands dirty. Been pricing the normal maintenance services and for the life of me I cannot justify pay $53 for a oil change for Toyota's first 5k maintenance. In a pinch I can drop the oil and replace the oil filter on a Crown Vic in 5 minutes or less so bear with me until I get my first oil change, plug change, coolant change under my belt. My next purchase will be the Russel speed bleeders...I had them on my Crown Vic and it made flush and bleeding the caliper fluids a pure joy. I don't believe in keeping the Toyota coolant unchanged for 100k is good (additives wear out or get contaminated not to mention it never hurts to change fluids as often as possible). The Toyota coolant is pink...can I get by using the Prestone green stuff which is suppose to be safe for aluminum and is silicone/silicate free?

[njerald]

Originally Posted by wilfredcruz

i'm using wheels with no sensor. The light only comes on, every now and then.

+1. It seemed like mine only came on after I went by an occassional new Camry. It would be out the next morning.

I just changed back to my all seasons, no light now.

I don't believe there is a TPMS sensor in the donut spare.........

[FlopShot]

Originally Posted by njerald

I don't believe there is a TPMS sensor in the donut spare.........

There is a TMPS in the donut spare. A full set of sensors is 5. You can look it up in your owners manual. For example, if you remove your donut and leave it at home (some Camry Hybrid people were doing this to save weight), your TMPS light will come on. So if you are replacing the donut with a full-size spare, you need to move the TMPS sensor like any other wheel.

[krouchchocolate]

how does the car know that there are tmps sensors on the tires? Is it wireless or something??

[lammydi]

Originally Posted by krouchchocolate

how does the car know that there are tmps sensors on the tires? Is it wireless or something??

It goes like this.
TMPS sensor on each tires send a signal to a transmitter. A transmitter then send the signal to your ECU (computer control board) If your tire is low in PSI or your tmps is missing then the tmps --> transmitter --> ECU --> an icon "tire" light come on.

[krouchchocolate]

Originally Posted by lammydi

It goes like this.
TMPS sensor on each tires send a signal to a transmitter. A transmitter then send the signal to your ECU (computer control board) If your tire is low in PSI or your tmps is missing then the tmps --> transmitter --> ECU --> an icon "tire" light come on.

ohhh...did you switch out your tmps sensors when you got new rims?

[njerald]

Originally Posted by FlopShot

There is a TMPS in the donut spare. A full set of sensors is 5. You can look it up in your owners manual. For example, if you remove your donut and leave it at home (some Camry Hybrid people were doing this to save weight), your TMPS light will come on. So if you are replacing the donut with a full-size spare, you need to move the TMPS sensor like any other wheel.

BS!!!!!! More uninformed data............

If there was, I and everyone who put winter tires and wheels on would have had the TPMS light on all the time. We did not!!!

and according to the owners manual and service manual there is NO TPMS in the donut spare.

and the donut spare is twice the air pressure (60 psi) of the 4 mounted tires..................

[lammydi]

Originally Posted by krouchchocolate

ohhh...did you switch out your tmps sensors when you got new rims?

I did that for the first set of the rims. It cost me $160 just for that. So on the current set of rims I decided not to do it. I just have the black tape over the "tire" icon. I don't even notice it there anymore!!!