I have a 2012 Fit Sport with 16" wheels and would like to get higher profile snow tires mounted on 14" wheels for better snow traction and clearance. I'm wondering whether to spend the extra on TPM sensors or not. What have others experienced? If I get new sensors will the system automatically recognize them or will I still have to take it to the dealer to reprogram the ECU twice a year?

 

yup pretty much

 

If you don't buy a programer yourself you will have to take it to the dealer or somewhere else to be programed for the other sensors.

I elected to ditch the sensors all together (on both my summer and winter tires). BTW! 14" steelies are a very very close fit on the Fit, make sure the rims will fit first! I had a set left over from my previous car (97 civic) so it didn't cost me anything to try them on the fit and I got lucky.

As a side note, if you get rid of the sensors you will no longer be able to turn the traction and stability control off. (the normal way). If you do decide to do that and get in a situation where you really need to turn them off, you can pull the ABS fuse (also disables power steering) or pull the connector off the ABS pump temporarily. The ABS system takes care of front to rear break balance though, so do not run like this all the time!

 

in my case im running tpms on aftermarket 16x7's with continental DWS as my winter set. i have snow here and this is the first time in 5-6yrs that i will be running all seasons. but the DWS is not your typical all season tire in snow. check out tirerack for the reviews and youtube.

so, i might suggest (if you dont mind the '12 wheels) just swap tires to the DWS 205/50/16 and use that all year round.

for my summer set im running 17's, no tpms, and grippier tires than stock (RE760). ive not had issues with vsa interrupting my driving.

 

Thanks X_25, very helpful. The wheels/tires I was planning to buy would be from Tire Rack, and I would hope that they know if they'll work on the Fit! This is my first car with traction control/vehicle stability, so I must admit that I'm not real sure how it works or what the advantage/disadvantage of turning it off would be?? I'll have to do some research, and call around to local tire shops to get price on programming TPMS 2x/year.

One more follow-up question that comes to mind is, if I elect to run the winter tires without TPMS, will it automatically work fine once I put the summer wheels back on? Is there any chance that the sensors will not recognize the original TPMs even if they are not reprogrammed, or that the batteries will wear out due to constantly searching for the TPMs? In VT, we have to have TPMS working in order to pass the annual vehicle inspection.

 

Around here, low profile tires really suck in winter. A lot of snow and dirt roads, so snow and mud gets caked inside the wheels. The added height of a 70 or 75 aspect sidewall is really key for better winter driving. I'd be more likely to sell the 16" wheels and run 14" alloys year-round.

 

At this point you might as well get a seperate set of sensors for your winter wheels and not have to worry about it ever. Sounds like a huge PITA especially if you have to have TPMS functioning to pass inspection.

 

The TPMS in the wheels only activate when the wheel is spinning, so the batteries should be fine (or rather last just as long or maybe longer than if they stayed on the car). As far as I know it won't forget the codes of the sensors it has stored. So it should pick back up on them within a few miles of putting all four back on. And that really sucks about having to have the system working to pass inspection. In NJ (surprisingly!) you don't need it.

VSA and traction control have their uses, and other times they can get in the way. The only way to know will to find some snow (shouldn't be long now for you guys!).

 

The car can only be programmed for one set of sensors, so getting a second set of sensors is what makes the reprogramming necessary.

 

OHHH I thought you could program the sensors to be the same

Someone should make that possible.

 

There are cloneable ones, but last time I looked (about a year and a half ago) they were a lot more expensive.

 

the total diameter or circumference stays about the same regardless of wheel size or tires you use. and 205/50 isn't really that low of a profile.

but yah, if you're in deep snow, best to run snow tires. ive had good luck with WS60's and LM60's from bridgestone.

 

VSA should be disabled in the snow. It doesnt allow wheel spin so if you get stuck you cant rock your car or do anything in the snow that will induce spin or the VSA will cut power to the wheels.

 

I'm running 14 inch steelies with General Artic Altimax and have been happy with them. Yes, I do have the TPMS and it has to be reprogrammed every time I switch tires at $50 a shot. I prefer having as much sidewall as I can during the winter, especially when the potholes start showing. I have dented a steel wheel once, much cheaper to replace than an alloy.

 

I run the same tires with studs (steep driveway up to the road that gets icy). They have been awesome on both my civic and my fit.

 

i agree completely. honda f-ked it up when the tied vsa and tpms imho on the '12's.


now that i can understand.

 

I bought a winter tire/wheel package from Tire Rack about 2 years ago -- at the time, they were offering the ATEQ TPMS Quickset which allows you to reprogram the TPMS in the car when switching the wheels around. It was around $130 at the time, if i remember correctly, so it's already paid for itself. (I've got a 2009 with VSA.)

The reason I suspect Tire Rack isn't selling it anymore is because it's the sort of thing where, if you don't follow the directions EXACTLY, it won't work. And on top of that, sometimes the TPMS sensors need to be activated and they don't tell you that (my case), or they give you the wrong sensor ids... etc. Basically, I'm sure they got a ton of returns on these guys.

Disabling traction control is helpful when you get stuck in snow because sometimes you just need to let the wheels spin until they can grab onto something, but truthfully, I've only gotten myself stuck once, and disabling traction control didn't help .

 

Good discussion everyone, thanks.

Clicq, good info. The ATEQ tool is still available for $150, just not through Tire Rack, as you said. How do you activate TPMS sensors if they come inactivated? Did you have to buy another tool or did you have the dealer or tire store do it? I just talked to a local tire store who charges $8/wheel to reprogram the sensors. At $32/ tire swap ($64/year), I'm leaning toward letting them do it, rather then shell out the cash on a high-tech tool that I may have trouble with.

 

Activating the sensors (from what I have read) usually involves some seqence of letting air in and out of the tires by x amount within a certain amount of time. It may bossibly include a voodoo ritual, some dancing and other things as well (sort of like programing a car :P )

 

Micven, are you running the 14" steelies on a Fit Sport that had 16" OE or on a base model that had 15" wheels? I was told by a tire salesman that the 14" may fit, but the Sport has larger brakes then the base model so there is little room for the brake caliper and the rotors will overheat. Sounds unlikely to me, but I'm no enginenerd. I could go with 15" steelies, but I'm trying to maximize the sidewall height and save some money (14" tire/wheel package is quite a bit cheaper).