TPMS and Winter Wheels/Tires

I wish my car sellers would consider my car purchase as having established such a relationship.

 

TPMS hacking is very seductive. Still, the OP's question was: what will happen if I install snow tires without TPMS.

 

Odds are, he'll save a bunch of money.

 

The Chevy Sonic; still called an Aveo in most of the world.
From what @fuzzy1 described, it sounds like you have to manually enter the sensor id codes into the car's computer for Toyotas.

The TPMS light will just come on. Like the gen2's "it's cold out" light, some will find it annoying, but most will get use to it. You should check the tire pressures more often if you go without them.

The only real concern to have I see is that having the light on during a required inspection will fail the car.

 

And if that is what TPMS does, I would agree with you it's a bargain. It doesn't prevent me from dealing with a flat tire in slush and ice. Unfortunately, all it does is tell me I have to deal with a flat tire in slush and snow. I can do a similar job with a manual inspection.

I'll deal with the blinking light.

 

Lots of pros and cons. And the elephant in the room: the blinking regulations...

 

On some models, there is a display for all the tires actual pressure readings. With them, TPMS on the winter set might be worth it.

 

...as I mentioned previously, my car's inspection occurs on my birthday which is at the end of June, at which time the OEM summer shoes are on (complete with OEM TPMS) so all is kosher! I haven't asked my tyre guy about the CACAGOO Monitoring system yet, but I've a sneaking suspicion that he'll say "...all OEM safety features have to be fitted and working in order to pass inspection!"

 

Many just go with leaving TPMS warning light on.
Northern Virginia does not require TPMS warning light to be off at inspection, but each state is different.
Normally you get steady light, but if you have your orig wheels (TPMS) near the car it could see those and reset, as someone said.

The TPMS tends to be fast at seeing low pressure (1-min or so) but slow at seeing that the TPMS reading is totally missing (20-min or so). So if you only take 15 minute trips, you can go a long time before the you see the steady light, at which point it should stay on unless (1) it sees the orig wheels and TPMS and resets itself, or (2) you can reset the TPMS light with a tool such as Techstream, and then it takes another 20-minute trip to realize no data is coming in.

 

I can't even buy winter tire sets from Tirerack anymore. Regulations don't allow them to sell wheel and tire sets without TPMS. You can buy wheels or tires and it would be fine. RIDICULOUS!

 

I think you missed my point. TPMS can help avoid dealing with a flat tire in nasty weather by providing an warning that allows getting to a better/safer (and warmer, LOL) place for handling a flat tire.

For TPMS to provide benefit, a low tire pressure warning light must be regarded as a potential emergency and not something that can be put off until later.

 

Our temps have been on a roller coaster lately. Last week had a cold snap, added 3-4 PSI to 3 vehicles. Weather warmed back up. Last night was near freezing again and bang, needed to add a few PSI again this morning again. I don't think most have any idea just how much their tires are fluctuating.

 

Is that actually regulation, or just their procedure to avoid liability or make more profit?
Costco will only install OEM sized tires and set pressure to the car's label because of liability.

 

I frequently remind people - particularly at this time of the year - that tire pressures fluctuate about 1 psi for each 10 degrees of temperature change. A guy I work with mentioned last week that the tire pressure warning light in his RAV4 had been on for a few days. I reminded him as I have many times over the past 8 years that tire pressure fluctuates with temperature and that one or more of his tires are significantly low if warning light has comes on. I offered for several days in a row to use the electric air pump I carry with me to correct his tire pressure - he declined. I don't know about other Toyota models but I know that the warning light on our Sienna doesn't come on until the tire pressure is nearly 9 psi below the minimum required - enough to significantly reduce tire life if driven very long like that.

This guy seems to be scraping by financially so I would think he would care enough to stop shooting himself in the foot on things like this. I guess as Ron White semi-famously said "You can't fix stupid."

 

I've bought all our tires for the past 15+ years at Costco except for one set of winter tires on steel wheels that I bought at Tire Rack.

I've found that Costco will do anything non-standard I want as long as I sign a release such as the times I have bought H-rated 130 mph tires for cars that are electronically limited to 149 mph and originally came with V-rated tires.

 

Parked outside Panera Bread for a Blueberry muffin yesterday and a 20 something guy comes out to take a smoke break. Climbs into a real POS beater next to me. I glance at his tires and both on my side we so low they were running on the sidewall lettering. Looked like they had been for some time. I called his attention to them and gave me a real snippy, "YES, I know." I just smiled and left.

We've had temps drop almost 40° in two days and I've noticed a ton of low tires around town.

 

Do you lose their warranty when signing that release form?

 

Assume he doesn't have a pressure gauge. It's a parallel universe and sadly, a lot of folks live there.

I got a family member a quality gauge for a present a few years back; might as well just chucked it, it's long gone, buried in their clutter...

 

No, the tire maker's warranty still applies. Signing the release is my agreeing that it is not Costco's fault if I crash while going over 130 mph on tires rated for 130 mph. Requiring me to sign a release seems a little odd since they never asked me to sign a release when buying T-rated (118 mph) winter tires for the same cars. I suppose their "out" is that the owners manuals that came with those cars state that the cars should not be driven at over 75 mph on winter tires - but how would Costco know that.

 

Sorry, wasn't clear there. Costco includes road hazard protection on the tires they install. Did you still get that?