Hi everyone,

I am thinking of getting a full set of snow tires for my 2010 Honda Fit Sport. I was also thinking of getting some new wheels for them so I can swap back and forth between all-season and snow on my own. I would like the tire pressure sensors for the new wheels.

TireRack indicated I'd need to bring the car to a dealer to get the sensors synced with the car.

My questions:

1) Is this required? Can any Honda-experienced mechanic do this?
2) Is the sync something I could theoretically do on my own? If so, how?
3) Regardless of which option I choose to have the snow tire tire pressure sensors synced, would my old tires need to be synced if I put them back on myself next Spring? Would the difference sensors some how confused the car at all?

Unrelated question: I've found the Fit doesn't perform all that well in snow. If I get another set of wheels would I be better off with lighter wheels or heavier wheels?

Thanks for your help.

 

1. no u dont need tpms on both sets. u will need to reprogram everytime u swap out our wheel sets. not worth the time/money. personally my winter set has no tpms, my summer set does, but right now i have a 3rd set im using with no tpms.

2. u would need to buy the tpms tool...

3. see #1

Just buy a set of steelies. I found a set cheap. Keep the tire profile skinny same specs as the base uses. The fit greatly benefits from a set of winter tires. It used to be really squirrely on ice, now I can go speed limit when its snowing out if needed.

 

Cheap way is to ignore the system, install standard rubber valve stems, and check tire pressures every so often.....
BUT

On most of the Hondas, if the low tire warning is on or TPMS warning is on, you aren't allowed to disable traction control and/or VSA (where equipped). This can be a problem if you get stuck and need to rock the car to get out.




What I would do (and I wish I had known about this when I got my second set of wheels and tires, I would have done it this way):

Each tire pressure sensor has a unique electronic ID# that is registered to the car during the programming process. The system can only hold 4 unique sensor ID numbers.

The aftermarket has programmable tire pressure sensors available. Your original four sensor IDs are read electronically, then those four ID numbers are programmed into 4 new blank programmable sensors, this process effectively clones the original sensors ........so you can swap winter and summer tires and the system believes it has all 4 of the correct sensors, they match the ID numbers already stored in its memory.


Not all aftermarket sensors are this way, not all people/places have them or even know this is route possible. You may have to do some hunting.

 

I assumed this was like a semi-permanent fixture of the wheel or not easily removed but maybe that assumption is wrong. Are you saying I can buy winter tires/wheels and swap the sensors from my existing all-weather tires/wheels when I make the chnge over for winter (as long as I also get a sync tool and resync it each time)? If I'm understanding you correctly would I need to be concerned about the sensors fitting on the new wheels or is it a universal type of thing (within reason). If I get new wheels that are comparable to the stock Fit Sport wheels would the existing sensors fit on the new wheels? Do you know of any resources I can read up on to understand all of this a bit better? Maybe YouTube has some instructional videos...I didn't check there yet.

If I get an additional set of wheels and put snow tires on them and don't bother with a sensor will I need to do any syncing for the original set of summer wheels when I put them back on in the Spring?

I hope all that made sense. Thanks for the reply.

 

So I basically trick the car into thinking the new tires are the old tires? That sounds like what I want!

I can certainly start poking around online but if you have any suggested items or instructional videos/websites feel free to share them. It would be greatly appreciated.

 

Only if you can break down tires from the wheels, and remount them and balance them. Got your own tire machines?

 

At work we use Hondas sensors and scanners for Hondas, VDO redi-sensors for most other car brands and we have the ATEQ tools for reading and registering them to the cars.

I don't have firsthand experience with the cloneable sensors because we really don't use the cloneable sensors at work, most of our customers don't have a second set of wheels and tires.

I just know it is available and possible to accomplish this. I'm not sure what all it takes to do it though.

You may find a shop that can do this for you, or you may wish to purchase whatever is necessary to DIY this before your new sensors go into the wheels.
OR you could buy whatever it takes to program a set of new sensors to the car.


https://www.redi-sensor.com/dont-con...r-programming/

https://www.schraderinternational.co..._lang=en-us-na

Google has a zillion more.

 

Is the sensor in the stem?

Sorry for being so dumb. I'm trying to figure out if I can reasonably DIY this or if I should just get them changed over at a shop like 99% of the population.

 

The sensor body is attached to the stem, and resides inside the tire area. Not a simple DIY if you don't have shop equipment.
EDIT: IMO there is considerable expense in having someone do this work on 8 tires each season. And if threads get seized, sensor can break.

 

i have one set of rims with snow tires and one set with regular tires. used to just put electrical tape over tpms light because the stealership wanted so much money to program the tpms each fall and spring.

asked the local costco shop manager how much it would cost, they do it for free and it takes about ten seconds, no more electrical tape on the dash

 

Do both sets of tires have TPMS?

 

yes, they do

 

Do you have them do any other work and they just do this for you as a courtesy or did you just drive up and ask them to do you a solid and they did it real quick? Can you give me a little more context?

 

i am a costco member, and just asked him out of curiosity. figured he might charge 10-20 bucks. told him the dealership wanted a small fortune and he said just pull up to the bay and he did it in ten seconds. maybe 13 seconds, but you get the point.
i am not a fan of tpms

 

I'm looking at

http://www.wellsve.com/sft495/ownersmanual_tpms.pdf

and wondering why not have the TPMS be identical between the two sets of wheels. Would overcome some issues with the TPMS being offline and make swapping wheel sets easier.

Also: http://www.denpaul.ca/?page_id=444

OE Clone-able Style sensor

Equipped with Advanced ID “Cloning” technology, Standard OE-matching Clone-able TPMS sensors were a New Product Showcase Winner at AAPEX 2012
Technicians can now bypass complex OE relearn processes by cloning the sensor ID Serial Number – saving time and money while maintaining OE fit, form and function
Standard Clone-able sensors can be used with all OE and aftermarket TPMS programming tools if performing an OE relearn – simple activation.
Clone-able sensors can be ID-cloned manually with the TechSmart® T55000 tool or using RF transmission with our T55001 and T55003 tools.

Sorry, no sources and pricing yet. Looks like $300 in tools and $120 in sensors, plus tire labor to put them in DIY. A decent tire shop SHOULD be able to do this one time setup for you... no??? Or do they want the repeat service each time the season changes at the expense of a happy customer.

Erbid

 

^Yeah, a system like that that uses cloneable sensors.
What's the cost for the whole thing with the tool though?

 

Regarding performance in snow: Wheel weight is pretty much not a concern for snow performance; you aren't trying to accelerate or brake or steer quickly (or at least you shouldn't be), nor drive at very high speeds. Tire size can have a significant impact; narrower tires, within reason, are often better than wider ones because they have less of a tendency to ride up on top of the slippery stuff.

I'd suggest steelies, mainly for cost. Road salt doesn't do anything nice for alloy wheel finishes, either.

My experience with my Fit is that it's about the same in snow as most any smallish front wheel drive car, which is to say not really bad.

 

Had four cloned sensors installed before last winter. I run four snow tires on dedicated steel rims all winter. Sensors are, I believe, made by Orange. Total cost was about $300 ($200 parts, $100 labor). Sensors should outlast the snow tires.

Decided the cost was worth it because two years ago my Fit let me down as I rounded a slushy corner: the VSA kicked in and I found myself sliding towards two lanes of on-coming traffic. VSA had cut most of the power to the engine because it thought my tires were under-inflated. $300 seemed like a fair price to retain control of my car.

So far, I am pleased with the results: spent several hours last winter driving like my teenage self in empty parking lots, yet the car behaved predictably and without VSA interference (after it was deactivated).