How Hard Is It To Move TPMS From One Wheel To Another?

I keep hearing that working with these tire pressure sensors is difficult at best, and that they often break when a tire place (I typically use Discount Tires) unmounts/remounts a tire. I'm buying new wheels for my 4Runner, but I don't really want to pay an additional $360 for a new set of sensors. What should my expectations be on this?

 

Hope for the best and expect the worse, typically they can be reused if not mangled during tire removal and majority of damage is by rough installers. A good tire shop should have years of experience with working on TPMS and should be aware of the costs if damaged/need to be replaced.

 

My OEM TPMS Denso sensors lasted through numerous tire mounts. I never had a problem. They lasted 19 years and 4/5 were still reading when I paid a tire dealer to replace them with new Denso sensors I bought on Amazon. I also bought the device to activate and insert them into the ECU. Now with the TPMS light comes on I can walk around the T4R and check each tire's pressure, temp and battery status.

I don't use Discount Tires for a number of reasons. I prefer local, recommended tire stores.

 

If the tire shop knows wtf they are doing no issues.

 

Clarification - you're buying wheels or tires? New wheels and they have to remove and install the sensors on the new wheels. The ECU should be happy with that. If you're buying new tires then the sensors just stay in the wheel. I've kept the OEM wheels on my T4R.

 

I'm buying new wheels. I want them to take he tires off and mount them on the new wheels, and move the sensors over to the new wheels. I've not had good luck with sensor survivability when I had my two Tundras. Hoping it goes a little smoother on the 4Runner.

 

Excellent point.

 

I had Discount Tire replace my tires the same day I bought my truck. The one I went to broke 2 of them and never remounted a third properly. I ignored it for a year. Finally, about 2 weeks ago, I went to a different Discount Tire and bought aftermarket TPMS sensors, for $258 (tax included).

The guys told me the break A LOT, even when they're careful. Like it was said earlier, expect the worst and hope for the best.

 

When I went back and read your initial post it occurred to me that you were getting new wheels and not tires. I've not changed wheels so I don't have experience with shops damaging the sensors. If the sensors are more than 5 years old I would replace them and not trust the shop, especially Tire Discounters or even some of the major tire stores. An independent shop, with excellent reviews, would be a better choice. It's not the wheel, it's the shop. It's also the sensor. After being in the wheel for 5+ years it's pretty well seated and trying to move it is risky. I'm surprised that a shop would even consider doing that.

Before making a decision, talk to them and get a price. If they are high, see if they will install new Denso sensors (from Amazon) and update the ECU with the new IDs. A local tire store here said if I bought my tires from them he would install new sensors for free, but not update the ECU. (Denso requires the Toyota Techstream software, which is very expensive unless you buy a pirated/hacked copy. The MaxiTPMS I bought will do it, however.) The MaxiTPMS was a $200 investment but I still came out ahead of a dealership price. Now I have the device and have used it multiple times to check pressure before a trip.