Question Regarding Aftermarket Wheels, Shop Recommendations
 

Hello All,

My new wheels will be arriving in a little over a month. This is my first time purchasing aftermarket wheels, and being the bit of a noob that I am with this sort of thing - I have a few questions.

First, I would really appreciate shop recommendations for getting the tires mounted once the wheels arrive (I will be purchasing the tires separately, so the shop's purpose would simply be to mount the tires).

I have had a negative experience (eg incurred damage) with just about every shop I've taken my car to for an installation, so I could really use some help in this regard - I'm looking for a shop in the greater Portland area, but I don't mind driving out a little bit if the shop has a great reputation.

Next up, I would really like to keep my TPMSs installed - I have done some research, but haven't found much other than brief, anecdotal information. Is it possible to simply purchase new TPMSs from the dealership, and have them reprogram the car to recognize the new TPMSs? or is my only real option to remove my stock wheels and have the tires dismounted (extra money, can't sell the wheels as easily unless I want to pay to get them re-mounted, and most importantly I will now have to have the shop install my new wheels instead of doing it myself - wherein there is an increase chance of the new wheels being damaged)?

I understand that the simplest option would be to forget about re-installing the TPMS. However, I would like to keep them installed and will only do this as a last resort - I don't like to balk at something just because it's going to be the more difficult option to work out.

So, any input on shop recommendations for tire mounting that will not damage my new wheels - and what my best option for getting the TPMS installed on the new wheels would be very much appreciated.

Thank you!

Got mine mounted and balanced at Schwab and they sold the TPMS sensors too. Can't remember exactly how much it ended up being but somewhere around $200 I think before buying the TPMS sensors. Had no issues with any damage to the wheels or anything.

Would probably want to check and make sure that any shop you end up going to that they have the TPMS sensors, that was the issue I kept running into and why I just ended up going to Schwab.

When I lived in Beaverton and then Portland, I would go to Jim Bacon's Tire Factory on Canyon and got a bunch of tire/wheels related things taken care of there. Never had wheels mounted but they were always easy to work with and really nice. The only reason I no longer go there is that I live in Vancouver now.

Not entirely sure what the best option for TPMS is as I elect to run without them entirely. But Trackside Motorsports mounts and balances tires relatively cheaply and does a great job.

http://tracksideracetires.com/services/

I got my tires done at Americas tire. They swapped the tire sensors to the new wheels for cheap and reinstalled the oem tires to the wheels for no charge. I'm running my oem setup right now without sensors and no lights have popped on. They took really good careful of my car, had one tech instead of 2-3 and they used the bay that they jack all four sides up with jacks instead of the lifts they usually use. No damage incurred at all. They even sprayed the balance magnets black to match the wheels.

Thanks for the information - did you end up needing to take your car into a dealership to have the new TPMSs reprogrammed with the car?

Any reputable tire place should be able to handle linking the TPMS.

When I moved to aftermarket wheels the shop just moved the whole TPMS which attaches to the valve stems to the new wheels.

Nope, Schwab was able to take care of everything there.

This might be a singular occurrence, but Schwab refused to mount my wheels/tires as I didn't purchase tires from them. Then again, I think the dude was just being lazy, as I had been in there 3 days before and explained everything--even printed me out a quote. Suffice it to say, they wasted my time and won't be earning my future business.

Yikes, I would send a tweet to them describing your experience.

I've had bad experiences with Schwab too. They look for any excuse to up charge. I would never go back to them personally.

I took a previous car in for an alignment when I first lowered it. I told them I didn't have camber bolts because it was a mild drop. They said to not worry about it, they will be able to align it anyways. When picking up the car, they shared that it did need bolts after all. They then said if I got bolts they wouldn't charge again to align because it was their fault and gave me an estimate for bolts. It was an outrageous amount. So I took the car home and ordered bolts online and installed them. Took the car back a week later, and they said they wouldn't honor aligning it again because I didn't have it in writing. Even though I was dealing with the same guy. It took me calling corporate for them to honor what they said.

I use these TPMS:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Toyota-Lexus...399742?vxp=mtr

On my enkei rpf1 & summer tires. They work flawlessly. Just make sure when you get them installed, to have the reset tool scan the tires and update your obd2 ports.

Thanks everyone for chiming in - I think I'll definitely be purchasing new TPMSs, or have my current ones transferred as it doesn't seem to be as big an issue as searching around the forum had lead me to believe.

I'll try calling around to a few of the places that you guys recommended - still lots of time before I need to worry about anything, but I'd like to have this all planned out so my new wheels don't end up sitting in my crammed garage for a month or so.

I got my stock tpms sensors transferred over to my aftermarket wheels for a reasonable price at Firestone. They did an excellent job and I love the customer service so check it out!