Speaking of cheap, I may be able to pick up a set of used rims for $80! I also just found out about perhaps getting an older Techstream for cheaper than new. We'll see.
I may be way off, but from what I've heard, that button is for after you put air in a low tire. It resets the light.
I've always had the dealer rotate the tires, so I have never seen a warning light in that way, but I let one tire get a bit low, light came on, and I pumped the tire back up and the light went out. I did not have to push a button, it was magic. So I only have one example in 44k miles.
I know the button resets the warning to the current tire pressures. Nice if you set over recommended. When you rotate tires, the TPMS will still give the warning, but the display won't match up with the actual location(ex. left front pressure display is for right rear). Only an issue if you have a system that tells witch specific tire is low. I'm not sure if the button makes the sensors relearn positions or not Dame for when new sensors are installed. Other makes require a 'tool' for doing those things.
I rotated my own tires and didn't get a warning. Maybe because I have an XLE instead of a higher end moddle I may not have a low pressure warning???
You only get a warning when the pressure is out of range. The sensors are read by wifi. So you can rotate them, and the car still gets the signals, but it doesn't know that you rotated them.
Although my car is 5 years old, I'm extremely disappointed that the "Chrome" surrounds in the interior are delaminating and they can.t be replaced individually, I can replace the whole dash surround for $775 not including labor, but cmon Toyota, that is just shabby. I could understand it if the car was 25 years old and sitting in a junk yard but this is to me a big slam on Toyota's perceived quality. I guess I should have bought a Lexus......sigh...
I've noticed a little bit of delamination of that "chrome" stuff. But on the other hand, I find that stuff to be too shiny. This is really the only complaint I have about the car so far, that as I'm driving during the day I get blinded from time to time from the silly "chrome" moldings on the dash. I've thought about scraping it all off and painting them with something not-so-shiny.
As far as I know: 1. The car doesn't care where the tires are, front or rear, left or right. You could even stack them all in the hatch and be driving around on wheels/tires with regular valves, it'd still be jake. 2. The TPMS reset button under the dash is only needed if you want to reestablish a new "base" pressure. From what I've heard, pressures need to drop roughly 25% below that base pressure to trigger a warning. Accordingly, even if you raise pressures a few pounds, the system will be pretty much as effective without a reset, just a bit more hair-trigger.
Well, I did have to travel some 1,500 miles to the Toyota dealer to get my Avalon. So I'm not sure if I'm going back there anytime soon. Anyhow, the snow is officially flying, so as soon as I get my next check I'm buying some used rims and some brand new studded snow tires. It looks like the non-hybrid rims are cheaper, so if still for sale I'm getting 4 of those for about $65 each.
I talked to Toyota corporate, very nice people (they are paid to be that way,) why not call them and complain, if it is a common problem and everyone who has it calls, maybe something will happen, it couldn't hurt.
Right now my main complaint is TPMS sensors. On all my cars I always get an extra set of snow tires on their own rims. It's just so handy to be able to take the wheels off myself and change them as the weather changes. I hate driving on the wrong set of tires. It hurts traction and can wear out the winter tires a lot quicker if you use the wrong tire for the job. So I ended up getting some used Avalon rims with TPMS sensors and all with studded snow tires mounted and balanced. Then I got a Techstream cable and program and set it up on an older XP laptop I had lying around and started finding out how to be able to register the TPMS sensors on the winter rims. Well this is something I've never done before nor ever had to worry about in my 1951 Plymouth Cranbrook, nor my 1971 VW Beetle, nor my 1985 VW Golf. So of course I had to make a mistake. I didn't know you had to get the written codes from off the sensors. Now I have to take the tires back to the shop and get the tires removed so I can write down all the sensors and test them out to make sure they work, and then take the wheels and tires back and have them mounted and balanced again! What a pain! Well, either that or just have someone else get the codes and put them into the ECU for me. Maybe they got a tool that will read them without taking the tires off. I can see the codes of the TPMS sensors that are already in the ECU and have them written down. That way I can read the codes on the winter rim TPMS sensors when I get the car back and have both lists and be able to do it myself. Oh well. Live and learn.
TPMS sensors on snow tires, especially Toyota's implementation of TPMs, will have you tearing your hair out, the "solution" eclipsing the problem. Just forget about the sensors, live with the light, chalk the TPMS purchase price up to experience. And if you get another set of snowtires down the road, just get regular valves.
