TPMS and new tires

[sreddos]

So I am finally looking at getting rid of the Duellers on the CX-9. They lasted 35K miles with no problems, but I don't trust them anymore with winter maybe coming to Ohio sometime this year. I'm getting the Yoko Prada's and I down to either Tirerack or Discount Tire. Discount Tire says that the TPMS sensors need to be rebuilt and it costs $10/wheel. If order off of Tirerack, the local shop that would put them on said that the sensors don't need rebuilt, just recalibrated and it costs $3/wheel. So, my question is for folks that have had their tires replaced, what do you do with the TPMS sensors.

Thanks!

 

[ceric]

I ordered mine Yoko Spec-X from tirerack.com.
Shipped to me. I took them to Walmart (yes, I am that cheap.) tire center.
They mounted, balanced and dealt with the TPMS for $15 each + disposal fee.
They did not charge me anything extra for the TPMS sensors.
Everything related has been in working order ever since.

As long as the installer is aware of the TPMS sensors and tries not to damage them,
I don't think any specific works on the sensors are required.

 

[table5511]

TPMS sensors need to be rebuilt and it costs $10/wheelThanks!

That should only be the case when you are putting different wheels on the car and need to transfer the tpms sensors or are buying new tpms sensors.
Sometimes TPMS sensors break when technicians try to remove/pry a sensor off the inside of a wheel, and/or the lock-ring breaks on the inside of the valve.

In my line of work, I deal with TPMS sensors on a weekly basis, and I am only addressing issues with them when wheels are replaced, not when just tires are replaced.... like Ceric says, pretty unusual for any extra charge, just for tires. (unless the tech is just so careless that when he is unmounting/mounting the tires he strikes the sensor or something)..... weird.

 

[sreddos]

That's kind of what I thought as well. I think it's just Discount Tire just trying to make more money. And they don't replace the whole sensor, it's just a "rebuild". Here is a link to the parts that they "rebuild" on the sensor.

 

[table5511]

That's a bunch of bull if I ever saw it. The reason they replace rubber valves on normal cars during a tire change is because there is continuous pressure on that rubber valve for however many years, and the whole thing is rubber. On a majority of cars with TPMS, and on the CX-9, the entire valve assembly is metal, so it is not "susceptible to wear" like cheap rubber valves. FYI rubber valve stems literally cost shops pennies to purchase per unit.

Obviously it is understandable that sometimes they break when a tech tries to remove one and transfer it to another wheel. This is not the case.

 

[ceric]

Businesses find all routes to get money from you.
This is one of those routes.
Spending the $10/tire won't hurt, I suppose, but it is not required.

 

[sreddos]

I don't see a need to replace those components at this time with only 35K miles on the CX9. Maybe the next time I replace the tires I"ll look at doing that, but not now.

 

[nuru]

Go with yours and if the tech happens to damage one taking it off, they will replace it. I just had 4 tires mounted and there was no mention of replacing the TPMS sensors or any issue with remounting them.