nichos

Hi all, if this has been answered, please point me to the right direction.

I changed my 17's for 18's on my truck. I bought the 18's off craigslist, they're off another 07 ford so I thought it wouldn't be a problem. Well, the pressure light came on.

I took it to the dealership and they said that they don't see any sensors in any of the tires. I have the old tires still, is there something I can do? The dealership wanted $80 per "clamp" and that's if I brought the old tires back in to take the sensor out.

Are there any guides on doing this myself? Thanks in advance!

Mod (Ret.)

The "clamps" you refer to need to be on the new rims you purchased in order for the low tire pressure system to work. You will need to have the tires removed, the clamps installed in the inside, then re-install and balance the tires. I can only hope for you that the clamps will be ling enough to wrap around the inside of your new 18 inch rims (assuming your sensors are like the ones I've seen on other vehicle types; My old Corvette used a large clamp that resembled that of a hose style clamp).

You'll be good to go.

nichos

Thanks for the quick reply. Is that's all that's involved? These "clamps"? The dealer made it sound like there was a clamp AND a sensor - or are they the same thing?

Thanks!

rplatt56

the tires have a clamp and sensor in them. The CLAMP is a long narrow strap then encircles the inside of the rim and has the sensor in the middle.

Mod (Ret.)

As stated, the clamp/sensor are one in the same. You only need to be concerned that they will be long enough to wrap around the 18 inch rims, since they were originally on the 17 inch ones.

Let us know, as this will be a good search for those that perform the same rim/tire swap in the future.

tatiri

the assembly consists of a strap, a cradle, and a sensor. the strap goes through the cradle and around the inside of the rim. the sensor is held by the cradle along with a retaining clip. from factory, the straps are crimped on, so they can not be swapped to another rim. they must be broken off in order to remove them. the sensors however can be taken out and swapped. the replacement strap is a hose clamp style that can be reused. the replacement clamp comes with a new cradle and retaining clip. basically you are going to need 4 new straps and you will need to swap the sensors out of the old wheels. you may also need to retrain the sensors after the swap. tool for this is on ebay $24 free shipping.

Mod (Ret.)

Excellent information. Thanks for this update. On an older BMW my wife drove, it used a large "hose clamp" style setup to hold the sensor to the rim. She had curb rash on one of the rims, so we had to buy a new one (ouch on it's price). Transferring the sensor from the old rim to new was an easy one; thank god, as I was still removing the corn cob from my butt after having to buy the replacement rim from BMW.

Triton v8

My TPMS light came on also when I switched from my stock 17's the the OEM 20's. I've just ignore it and check the tire pressure.

tatiri

i've been seeing guys make "pipe bombs" as a quick cheap fix for this. basically what you do is get a small length of pvc pipe, 2 end caps, some pvc cement, and a valve stem. drill a hole in one cap and install the valve stem. throw all the sensors in the tube. wrap them in something to keep them from rattling around. glue it all together and pressure it up to 35psi. secure it under a seat or anywhere and you're set. seen people paint them and everything. heres an example....

nichos

Great info guys! I'm not going to tackle this until probably about christmas in case there are large costs associated with it. When I do, I'll be sure to take photos.
Cheers!