TPMS system

JSH said:
I agree, but when you have OCD, like me LOL, if everything is not working as it should it drives me nuts, but money does talk.
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That makes two of us since I'm also OCD. I didn't find the OEM sensors to be overly expensive but am also fortunate to live 15 minutes from a US border town, have a mailing address there and also hold a Nexus Pass. I purchased the OEM Schrader sensors from an online specialty TPMS store for $43 US each with free shipping. Due to high volume sales the sensors that I bought were also fairly fresh since they were less than a year from date of manufacture. The batteries deplete over time even if they aren't installed and I've read of cases where someone bought some that didn't last long after they were installed only to find out that they purchased some that were already 8 years old by the the date of manufacture code moulded into the plastic housing.
 
I got the original GM TPM through GM parts warehouse very reasonable any tire shop will program for no charge. My Honda Pilot put them on my snow tires program themselves if you buy the original. Once again I bought through Honda online very cheap. I love my TPMs so easy to check.
 
JSH said:
Where would you guys suggest I go to get a decent deal on a fresh set.
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1999 Chevrolet Corvette C5 TPMS (Coupe, Convertible)

1999 Chevrolet Corvette C5 TPMS (Coupe, Convertible)
www.tpms.com

Above is a link to the specialty high volume supplier where I sourced mine. This probably wouldn't be practical for you due to ridiculous shipping costs and customs brokerage fees shipping it to Canada unless you wanted to investigate the feasibility.

I just checked NAPA auto parts and the OEM sensors are priced at $113 ea and their programmable ones are about $75 ea. The programmable ones have been proven to be problematic since they are electronically set with a specialty tool to the required parameters of whatever vehicle they are installed on. I've read of too many instances of Corvette owners that had nothing but grief when these were installed.

The ones that I bought from the above supplier were one year from date of manufacture so they were fairly fresh and not old stock which is another potential issue depending on your source. I purchased the reset tool from Amazon for about $20 took the tires off the car using it as an opportunity to remove the old balance weights, the adhesive that held them on, cleaned and detailed the wheels. A tire shop wouldn't have done that since I still had the unsightly adhesive from a previous balance stuck on the wheels.

I took the wheels to a tire store and had them install the new sensors and balance the wheels. The TPMS relearn procedure went perfectly using the tool from Amazon and now 2 years after the fact have worked perfectly ever since. The OEM sensors in our car were already 9 years old when the previous owner replaced the tires and the tire store advised them that they don't need to be replaced, Duh! In the first year of our ownership we started to get erroneous tire pressure warnings.

www.corvettedepot.ca

Wheels | Wheel Accessories | Tire Pressure Sensors | Corvette Depot

Shop Wheels, Wheel Accessories, Tire Pressure Sensors at Corvette Depot
www.corvettedepot.ca www.corvettedepot.ca

Here is another potential source in your region and the price is about right. You could contact them and get them to check date of manufacture code embossed in the plastic housing before ordering.

Good luck sourcing your sensors.
 
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Icecap said:
Our C6 requires this tool to reset the TPMS and for the system to adapt new sensors and their position on the vehicle. The tool itself is cheap and cost about $20 on Amazon. Don't know whether the C5 is done the same way.
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I bought a programmer similar to this one shown. Once you have programmed a new valve stem unit to the car, you can do the rest in minutes. Our car was about seven years old when we bought it. A year later, we bought a set of polished rims with good tires on them. That was when I bought the programmer to programme the sensors in the new wheels. A simple process. if you still have your old wheels, get them far away from the car or the computer will pick up the signal from them and you might think that the new wheel set up is working. Not.
 
As I mentioned earlier, with the vette being 20 years old, you would think some where along the line they must have been changed, or the batteries in them are exceptionally good, but putting new ones in at the time of installing new tires makes sense, and would give me piece of mind, which doesn't happen often LOL.
 
theboss said:
The easy solution if you replace your sensors before they stop working is to get ''easy sensors'' from shrader. The part # 33500 is a universal model that fits about 80% of the cars on the road. With the tool, you can duplicate the identity of your working sensors and the car will recognize them. You can also use these sensor for your winter wheels. This is what I use on my customers cars.

The 33500 can be programe with the proper tool but it's an expensive tool, many tireshop and autoparts stores have it, buy the sensors from them and they , in most case, will clone your old ones for free.

Many tpms tool can read the status of the battery.

Most American cars (except chrysler product) wont relearn the position of the wheels after rotation by themself, you have to do the relearn procedure everytime unless the car only have the tpms indicator light and no message display that can tell you the individual tire pressure.

Tpms is a good thing to have, before you notice the feeling of driving the car with a flat tire, specially whit run flat tires, it is often already to late and the tire is already have to much edammage inside, that's why you should always have your tires fix whit a patch so the tech, can remove the tire and look if it is still ok. So if your system is in good working order, you will know if there is a problem .

Have a great day.
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Unfortunately the 33500 only works on 01 and up. I will check what kind of sensor I used on my car at my shop, I think they are called MX sensors. My cost on them are around $29 each but most shops will sell programmed and installed for the $85-$100 range. Autel is the scanner tool if I’m not mistaken.
 

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