TPMS Sensors..
 

Has anyone here had to deal with TPMS sensors on new wheels with a Subaru? To avoid the light coming on after switching wheels...

You mean without putting back in the federally mandated sensor ?

TPMS are federally mandated now? Interesting...

They are required by law hence the reason all new cars have them

http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/ruli...nalrule.6.html

Kinda. Having some sort of TPMS system is. This means ABS/wheel speed delta calculation or in-wheel sensors.

Unfortunately, Toyota decided to waste money and install expensive in-wheel sensors. This decision is decidedly NOT tuner friendly. Hopefully there's a saving grace and they at least display the actual individual tire pressures in the IP. Otherwise, if they "do a BMW", the sensors will be pretty much a waste of money, effort, and resources.

How are the BMW sensors useless? All 4 of mine are displayed on my I-drive .....

By waste of money do you mean you basically get a warning light whenever one of the tires is low on pressure without telling you the pressure or which tire?

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...iuuiXaIJ-r2jyg

Here is an example of what mine do if they are low

The pressures aren't displayed on MINI, or any non i-drive cars to my knowledge.



Exactly. Just as useless as ABS wheel speed sensor deduced TPMS, but much more expensive and hassle-prone when swapping wheels for winter/summer/track.

I am sure that this is all that is seen

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...QVfnRPEMfzVGMg


Same w/ my wife's forester and various other systems

There are aftermarket replacement sensors available (or will be very soon). Continental (the parent company that owns Continental Tire, General Tire, Uniroyal, and VDO gauges) has been developing a universal type of component. My BIL is part of the team developing the product..

I've gotten a few competitor type products to play with over the last year or so...one was really cool and allowed a mini-dash display that showed actual pressures in each tire...was cool for track days to monitor tires.

I had the TPMS sensors installed on my winter wheels on my STi. The only thing they don't tell you that every time you switch wheels they have to be calibrated. Most dealerships charge for this service so I just learned to live with the red light.

calibrated how?

I have swapped mine from my OEM wheels to my 19" wheels and now back to my OEM wheels (winter/selling) and I didn't have to calibrate anything

Not all TPMS receivers can ID multiple sets. This means every time you swap wheels, you [or the dealership] have to reset the car computer. An inconvenience for sure. Removing the dummy dash light and just forgetting about the whole thing is much easier and cheaper...and still doesn't change the fact you have to check your tires regularly anyway with most cars that don't show individual tire pressures in the dash.