So what's the final deal with the tire pressure sensors?
 

Can they be transferred from stock rims to aftermarket rims? How does one go about doing his? How do ytou go about adding them to the new rims? If you don't have them, will the stupid sensor go nuts? :D

I use my OEM wheels/tires for winter here in PA. I left the sensors in them. I don't have any sensors in my 18s that are on the car now. The light came on only once during a long (3+hour) drive. The light never comes on around town.

I also left them in my OEM wheels for winter use. The TPS light comes on just about everytime I'm in the car for more than 2 hours. It's not really a big deal for me, I have learned to ignore it. If you plan on using your aftermarket wheels year round you can have them switched over. They fit on most aftermarket wheels.

They are part of the valve stem, so if you get new rims, you absolutely should have them swap the stock valvestems with sensors to your new rims. They tell me that they are very delicate, so care needs to be taken by the installer.

If you are not swapping rims/tires permanently, then it's your call (risk of damaging/breaking one during the "swap" vs. having low pressure/a flat on your other tires without knowing it).

My $0.02

I wouldn't even bother swapping them out. I've had my aftermarket tires on my car for over a month now and the low tire pressure light has only come on twice.

I moved the TPS units over to my Volk CE28N's, and they work fine with my rims. However, I can see that it will depend upon where the valve stem hole is located on the new rim. The TPS units are meant to lie flat on the inside of the tire. This is so they won't get "caught" / snapped off when someone is unmounting the tire. So with your new rim, it may not really be feasible to move the TPS units over if the valve stem mounting hole causes the TPS to "stand up".

Tgenius (hope I can get to the meet Sat.),

The short answer is "yes", depending on the aftermarket rim's design. The tire pressure monitors are part of the valve stem system. They are manufactured by Schraeder. You can see what these look like by doing a little searching on Tirerack.com. Once you pick out a rim, call the manufacturer directly and tell them what kind of car and that we have Schraeder monitors, and they can tell you if it will work or not. I believe Volks and 5Zigens are not compatible.

Transferring them is a simple matter of unbolting the old ones and moving them to the new rim. The tire shop I used was able to do this no problem.
I put 18 x 7.5 aftermarket rims on my sedan: ALT Racing AT-298 X Factor 18 x 7.5; 40mm offset, and they fit perfectly. They have a 73mm hub, so you have get hubcentric rings to bring the hub down to our stock 66.06mm. These rims weight 20 lbs. each vs. 24 lbs. for the stock rims.

In my opinion, you will want the sensors so you don't have the TPS light going off. I also did EXTENSIVE research and there's no way to disable the TPS system/light, so if you don't have the sensors, you are going to get the light.

Ok.. that means we got conflicting reports about them being necessary.. Argh.... I'm getting my rims with the tires already mounted/balanced/etc... so how would that affect it?

If your getting your rims already mounted and balanced your going to have to take it to a tire shop (ie. discount tire co. or firestone) and have then put the sensors in, in place of the rubber stems. If they tell you that you have to pay for the balance again, tell them thats B.S. All they have to do is break the bead and pull it down with a bar and slip your sensors in, assuming that the stock sensors work with your new rims. good luck oh yea and the sensor isnt meant to sit flat on the inside of the tire, its meant to sit flat on the inside lip of the rim.

Bottom line: if you do NOT have the sensors, your TPS warning light in the instrument panel will intermittently come on.

Not a big deal if you don't have them. Your light will come on the odd time (not too often) and when you shut your car down it resets so it isn't on all the time. A lot of people drive all winter without them and it's not a problem. If it was me I would just leave it, and if it bothers you later on , then install them.
Wayne
This is what the TPS sensor looks like:

Can we use those flat fix in a can if we have TPS?

No, should not.

Have a local shop do the mounting, and switch out the sensors. I have 20s with 245/35s and they were concerned that they would not clear, but the did, and mounted up perfectly.

PUT THE SENSORS IN THE NEW WHEELS! Why would you not want them? Having alight on the dash tell you that your tires are low is awesome. I cannot imagine why you would not want that feature, especially on your new (and most likely more expensive) wheels and tires.

Because that would mean I need to buy the rims and tires seperately and then after that pay to have them mounted and balanced..