Piston Slap: A Reader Suffers From TPMS
John R writes:
My car has TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System). I have a set of wheels with fresh summer Sumitomos from a previous car that will fit my Sonata, but they don’t have the radio doodad in the rim. These tires barely have 500 miles on them and they are just sitting around. I want to wear them out and be done with them. Is it okay to mount them if they fit?
Sajeev replies:
Ideally, the tires should go on the OEM wheels, or the OEM pressure sensors on the other wheels. I’m guessing the first isn’t an option, but the second is worth trying. Many aftermarket wheels have provisions for a wide variety of sensors, and there are only a handful of TPMS vendors on the planet anyway. Usually a car runs fine with zero input from the sensors, except for the warning message on the dash.
But that might burn a code in the engine computer. Which might make you fail your annual state inspection. The worst case scenario? The system might activate traction control/active handling after receiving radio silence from the TPMS for a few miles. Even if it does, you may never notice because of the Sonata’s “anti-hoonage” suspension tuning. I think it’s worth a shot.
If the Sonata throws a code and makes life hell, put the stock stuff back on, disconnect the battery overnight, hold both (positive and negative) cables together and reconnect the cables in the morning. And with that, I ask the B&B for their educated guesses to this quandary.
[Send your technical queries to sajeev.mehta@thetruthaboutcars.com]
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Thanks for the input, guys. I tried putting them on this past weekend and they don't fit so I'm just going to sell them. Wheel and all. This Hyundai is as constant as the northern star, but it doesn't take kindly to being messed with...at least so far.
My wife has a 2008 Sonata. We had winter wheels and tires on it all this past winter. The TPMS light was on all winter on the dash, but as soon as I put the OEM wheels back on this spring the light went out after a few miles.
Glad to know you do need the government looking after you carperson. We obviously have a philosophical difference with regards to the government's place in our lives.
The only reason the government had to get involved is because the auto manufacturer's refused to offer it on a large portion of their product line. If it is related to vehicle safety or economy, the auto manufacturers have a long and soiled history of cage fighting any improvements. Nothing tried so far except government involvement has been successful getting this to change. Even huge lawsuit payouts continue to be one-off successes. In my view, that we have had to legislate so much to get meaningful improvements is far more an indictment of the car companies attitudes than the results of an over-eager government in a desperate search of something, anything, to regulate. We are going through a period of horrible corporate accountability to their suppliers, employees, stockholders, and customers. I look forward to the day when companies step it up so the government can step back.