itsLoonie

For those of you who have got aftermarket wheels. Do the OE TPMS just go on or would I have to buy aftermarket ones as well? Just bought a set of wheels in 18 which should come in Tuesday. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

ginkgo

lol your in the same boat i am,, my 18's are coming on tuesday also.. the tpms should fit fine..

dewydang

The TPMS fit right in.

itsLoonie

Good looking out. Now where would I be able to buy some TPMS for a good price? I don't want to use them off my old 17s because technically the tires are like brand new plus I just want to keep them as winter/spare tires.

vpdfan

I bought mine from tirerack.com. Since I also bought the rim, snow tires at the same time, they came mounted. I think they are around $70 each ($280 for 4).

amazer98

I'm planning to pick up four 17x7.5" wheels with mounted Pilot Alpins from Tirerack.com, since they have by far the best prices (with free mounting and balancing), but didn't really want to spring for the TPMS on all wheels for $248.

If I don't install the tire pressure system will I have a blinking red alarm display on my dash all winter long? If so, would there be any way to turn it off? I really don't want to have to shell out more $$$ for this electronic nanny!

The irony is that I just mounted 4 new street tires on my OEM staggered wheels. One of the TPMS sensors needed to be replaced because someone installed a metal cap on the valve stem, which fused to the aluminum threads. The dealer hit me up for $202 for the TPMS stem and transmitter-- ouch! That's all I want to invest in this system this year.

At least the tirerack system is only one-third the MB price. I assume that it works, though tirerack says it operates at 433MHz and on one of these forums I read that MB cars use a different frequency... but I assume tirerack knows its stuff on these matters.

Bottom line-- do I need TPMS on my mounted snows?

Help!

vpdfan

The short answer is no. You will, however, have that annoying alarm all winter. (I do not know if you can stop it). By the way, you may want to look at a more dedicated snow tire rather than a performance snow tire...just my $.02. It seems that the performance snow tires do not do either thing very well (performance or snow). I purchased the Blizzaks WS70 on 17" rims (I have 18" AMG and summer tires on currently). If you like Mich, take a look at thier X-Ice (I think that is the name) or any of the Studless Ice and Snow.

amazer98

So you's recommend the Blizzaks over the Michelins? I've heard good things about the WS60S and WS70s... not sure what the difference is.

Here in New England, we get a lot of days that are clear, dry and devoid of snow... then a blizzard hits and we're inundated with snow and/or ice for a few days. So there are moments when you want a great snow tire, with lots of times when you want something that's not obnoxious on the highway.

i spoke with a Michelin rep, and he suggested the pilot alpins over the x-ice... but i didn't ask him about the blizzaks.

jimmythegreek

Ive got 5 sets of wheels including my stocks and I have 2 sets with the 2008 433mhz my 08 c350 had in them, i returned the car with no sensors and never got billed for it. The new 2011 I got has a diff part # but my old sensors work no prob in them, and the extra set I got off ebay for 140 a few months back. I do know tire rack ones work, but check ebay first. I have two spares, I can take a pic so u know which ones to look out for. Dealer is a rip, even w my autobody shop discount its 134 each sensor complete, total rip. And make sure u guys use anti seize on the stems and caps, I lost the other 2 from the spare I have that used to make up a whole set cause of seizing

Sincity

Stock ones fit Kleemann wheels.

amazer98

Jimmy, when you say that I need "to look out for" some types of sensors, what do you mean? Are aftermarket sensors sub-par? Anyway, if you think of it take a pic and email it to me at amazer98@yahoo.com... Just let me know if it's the version to seek out or avoid! ..and thanks!

itsLoonie

Good to know. Thanks for the reply guys. Wheels come tomorrow so I will probably order them at the end of the week.

jimmythegreek

I meant if you wanna use MB sensors just get them off ebay. Thats what I did. I like the fact they are OEM, and they swivel a bit, so they can fit a number of wheels and lip shapes, also helps w lo profile tires too. When I switch wheels it takes a while for the car to pick them up, Ive had to wait days sometimes to have them register, or a long drive usually does the trick. I never cared for aftermarket, the ones Ive seen arent much cheaper than OEM, theres tons of them used for sale. I dont know what years u guys have, but my 08 didnt show individual tire PSI values, just set all of them and if it dipped it would let u know. My moms 2010 and my 2011 both show individual tires and their PSI in the cluster, I thought a different sensor was used in 2010 and 2011, it has a different part # at my MB dealer. I threw my 08 wheels on a while back and they worked just fine after car recognized them. So what Im saying is any of the C class sensors will work in all the years based on my experience. I have 2 sets of 08 sensors and 2 sets of 2011 sensors all work fine. My stock 18s are emergency set of wheels and have no sensors, If I had to use them I would ignore the warning, its a pain in the **** everytime u start the car tho.......

jimmythegreek

Also note guys, you DONT need to use the stems MB gives you. A highend shop here in NJ mounted my BRABUS VIs and they have a pin hole stem hole, no way to fit normal stem in there, sensor or not. They have these tiny screw in types, because they are 3 piece wheels I guess. Anyway what they did is put regular rubber/metal stems in that were kinda specific to 3 piece wheels (12 bucks a stem ouch) and they took the MB stem off and just used the pigtail TPMS sensor and put it on a band and stretched it around rim before mounting the tire, and it works perfectly. They said ford pickups/SUVs have this kinda setup OEM and thats where they got the idea from for all their super high end wheels, they do asantis like this too. In case u guys end up with complex wheels and TPMS wont fit thats what u do.......

amazer98

I read on another MB forum that the aftermarket TPMS sensors were made by the same company that manufactures them for MB. Don't know if this is true or not, but certainly paying less than one-third the dealer price at tirerack is tempting. I'd never pay MB $800 for a set of four.

jimmythegreek

that is true, the one set of wheels I got I bought tpms off ebay for them and they showed up in red color, but were EXACTLY the same stamps and maker of the stock ones except the color was red not black and no MB part #. They are cheap on ebay, I wouldnt bother w 300 for aftermarkets, less than 100 used

amazer98

...but these TPMS sensors only lat 5-6 years, according to the scuttlebutt on this site. So if you buy four of them used on eBay, how do you know how much life is left in them, especially since you can't replace the batteries (whoever thought up that brilliant design?)?

Doesn't it make more sense to buy fresh aftermarket sensors and have them installed with the new snow tires on the wheels by tire rack.com?

Sportstick

Your logic is spot on. If one is going to mount dedicated winter tires, the compromise of "performance winter" provides neither excellent performance nor excellent snow/ice traction. The Blizzak WS series (the 70 replaced the 60) is excellent, although I've also heard positive comments about Nokian and Michelin winter tires. "Studless" is the right winter tire category to consider.