Talk about a line of crap.......The green valve stem cap indicates a nitrogen fill. That is another scam entirely (air is 78% nitrogen...). They have NOTHING to do with the TPMS system.

The TPMS sensors are inside the tire and the portion visible to the outside is the stem. When a sensor goes bad, the tire will need to be unmounted, the sensor replaced and the tire remounted and balanced. The TPMS sensor must then be programmed into the cars TPMS system. By the way, you are looking at over a $100 for EACH sensor if that happens.

I fill mine to 41 psi COLD inflation (after they sit all night). Take a look at your sidewalls and note the maximum cold inflation pressure. If it is 41 psi, I prefer to run them at 38 to 39. If the maximum is 45 psi and up, I prefer 41 psi.

By the way, find another tire store that doesn't try to rip off customers.

 

Okay, so the guy at the tire store (Discount Tire by the way) was giving me a line. I suspected as much. He also heavily pushed me getting the "extended tire warranty" that covers complete annihilation of any tire under warranty with free replacement. I have yet to destroy a tire after 34 years of driving, although he insisted it happens regularly.
So the green valve stems just indicated that the tires were nitrogen filled? They have no effect whatsoever on the TPMS? Wow. Amazing how some people can just lie to your face for the sake of the almighty dollar.

Scott

 

Yeh, they will feed you a line at times. The "green" cap on the stem indicates that the tire was filled with nitrogen at some time in the past. As long as you check your tire pressure once a month or so, you should not have a problem.

To give you an idea on the sensors, here is one of the cheaper places for them:

Camry OEM TPMS sensor

Note the list price is over $500... In addition to the sensors, you will need to dismount the tire, replace the TPMS sensor (which needs to be torqued with a special little torque wrench) and then remount the tires and have them balanced. Once that is done, they register each sensor with the cars computer and then they will reset the base line pressure (the button in your glove box if you don't have the fancy scanner they have).

Good luck getting that done for the $12 a tire he wanted. All you would have done was bought him and his wife/girlfriend a meal that weekend.

 

Not sure, but I was told that valve stems are, actually, part of the rim and are not touched during tire replacements. The pressure sensing kind.
Also, it might be different on TCH, but son bought 08 Mazdaspeed. It had way over-sized tires on it, so dealer swapped them for proper sized ones - WITH pressure sensors - off another Mazdaspeed they had for sale, and it picked those sensors right away, no resets or whatever.

 

The TPMS sensors are bolted into the wheel and the stem with the shrader valve is on the outside (where you put in air). To access them, you must pull off the tire but you can replace the tire without removing them. Most dealers will replace the shrader valve itself when putting on new tires but they only cost about .15 each in bulk...

When the tech replaced the tires on your Son's car, he reset the TMPS sensors to the car. If a car picked up any nearby sensor, they would read those of a car parked next to them and get confused. They HAVE to be registered to the car.

 

Let me explain again what happened, since I think my brief explanation earlier was not too good.
I bought a used 2007 Camry Hybrid 2 weeks ago. It had very smooth nearly bald tires on it that had green valve stems. I took it to Discount Tire for new tires and they told me the green stems were special "defeaters" for the TPMS system that caused it to read "okay" no matter what the pressure was in the tires. That is what the guy actually literally told me. He told me to replace them they had to do a TPMS Rebuilt for $8 per tire.
Now, I like Discount Tire's prices for tires, and their lifetime balance, and their fast service...etc. But to outright lie to someone to get them to spend more money is just wrong. The green stems indicated that the previous tires on the car (when I purchased it) were nitrogen filled. There is no such thing as a "defeater" for the TPMS system built into tire stems, AFAIK. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Anyway, between that and the insistence that I pay extra for the extended tire warranty ended up costing me an extra $74 (with tax) than what I expected and was quoted.
Now, if the guy had told me my TPMS batteries in the tire sensors were low and needed to be replaced, fine...as long as it were true. I don't mind paying for taking care of my car. I DO mind being scammed with fantastic stories about imaginary electronics so I will spend more money. I feel really sad for the people at Discount Tire - when people discover they are willing to cheat them this way their business will go down. Hopefully it will cause them to be more honest in their dealings from now on if that happens.

 

Thanks for the info. I was thinking I would let them stay as they are for a while to see how they do. I'll take a look after 300 or so miles and consider changing the air pressure a little then perhaps.

Scott

 

I can't find anywhere on google where 'green valve stems' are mentioned. Lots of info on the green valve stem 'caps' indicating the tires are filled with nitrogen. Some are metal and have a green stripe around it with a N78 stamp on top of the metal cap. I'm not sure if that's the exact number.

Be sure to make a note of who you talked to at discount tire. Sounds like this guy was trying to snow you with garbage to sell his replacement sensors. He could get into trouble telling you wrong about the safety of your present sensors being defeated. I would have ask him why isn't my low tire indicator lamp lit.

The workers in the discount tire stores are now 'assistant managers' at slightly more pay. They work their way up from working in the shop mounting and rotating tires. The one you talked to must have just started working inside selling tires and etc.

My advice would be next time try a different discount tire store if you live in a larger city.

 

Just to let you know, the only thing that they could do with the TPMS sensors is replace the shrader valve which they throw away when they get the air out of the tire to replace it. That little valve costs pennies and most stores will not charge for them.

If the battery is dead or "low", you CANNOT replace the battery. The entire sensor must be replaced but you can get aftermarket units that will work for $45 to $50 each off of the internet but they will still need to be programmed for the car. If purchased at most tire stores, they will run $80 to $100 each or more.

 

So the shrader(sp?) valve is the only thing they replace when they change out tires. Why do you suppose Discount Tire then offers "TPMS Sensor Replacement Kits" when you buy tires from them?
You can view this on their web site here:

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/fin...10329&sw=false

Select Get Total Price then pick a store, and you will see this option:

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/bro...RebuildKit.jsp

for an additional $8 per tire. Is this just a ripoff or are they actually providing a valid service and materials for this price?

Scott