New Winter shoes for the Cruze + what's up, TPMS?

3612 Views 7 Replies 5 Participants Last post by Robby, Dec 2, 2015

Drew's Cruze

Discussion Starter · Dec 2, 2015 (Edited)

Although I drove relatively safely for 20 years on typical all-seasons, I converted quite a while ago to dedicated winters for my cars. The vastly improved traction, and thus confidence and safety, has been well-worth it. Our 2015 LT/RS Cruze would be no exception to that tradition, so I wandered down to a Chicago-area (none in the city, :angry

Discount Tire for their Black Friday sale. I did my homework beforehand, so they were ready for me when I got there, despite the usual madhouse of customers at that place.

What I got was 4 new Konig Solution wheels in 16"x7.5" (17 lbs. each) with chrome "security" lugs wrapped in 215-60r16 Bridgestone Blizzak WS80 rubber. The pricing was decent, I thought, considering the rebates anyway.

$ 396 = $99 x 4 - wheels
$ 408 = $102 x4 - tires
$ 080 = $20 x 4 - TPMS (yes, that's $20 each)

$-100 = rebate for buying 4 wheels
$-100 = rebate for buying 4 "best" tires
$-120 = rebate for using Discount Tire card (9 months no interest)

I don't remember the installation, tax, BS gov't fees, but I think it was just over a grand total, before rebates.

Land vehicle Alloy wheel Vehicle Wheel Tire

Land vehicle Vehicle Chevrolet cruze Car Mid-size car

Now here is what has got me scratching my head. The car was busy doing kid-taxi duties at the time, so I picked up the wheels in my truck, and therefore they were not able to pair the new TPMS sensors to the car. No biggie, I could just get them paired later, either at a DT or my Chevy dealer. I installed the wheels late last night, and did not take it for a ride. This morning I expected a TPMS warning or something, but when I took the kids to school - excellent grip in the wet slushy stuff we got, by the way - there was no warning light. And even more puzzling, the DIC shows a pressure reading at all 4 corners. What? I haven't dug into the owner's manual yet, so I'm not sure what the deal is here, but my first assumption is either that: 1) the DIC is still reporting the old TPMS readings (which sort of defeats the whole purpose of having TPMS) or the new wheels have "automatically paired" with the car already.

Now I haven't had my morning cup o' joe yet, so the brain might not be in gear, but what other possibility is there?

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jmlo96

· #2 · Dec 2, 2015

When I switch to my winter wheels (without TPMS), it takes the car some driving to figure out there is no TPMS. I think it took mine almost 100 miles before the warning came on. It may be worth buying the GM tire learning tool (its like 90 bucks on Amazon) to save yourself the troubles.

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Robby

· #3 · Dec 2, 2015

Fear not......it'll figure out something is amiss in a hundred miles or so.......just hasn't asked the sensors to 'wake up' yet.

Rob

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ChevyGuy

· #4 · Dec 2, 2015

I don't remember how often the TPMS has to "report it" while on the road. You will have had to drive fast enough, far enough for it to figure out something's wrong and it's not just a glitch that it's not getting a report.

Of course, the other possibility is that they DID reset it when mounting the tires and the reset of the gang though it hadn't been done - perhaps lack of communication. Call me superstitious, but I after a lifetime of fixing things, I like to test things before "putting it all together". If it was up to me, I'd probably have paired the TPMS to the car just to make sure the sensors worked and were compatible before mounting the tires. Otherwise I'd have to take thing apart again to replace them. (Always time to do it over and never time it do it right?)

So, it's possible that the sensors have been paired with the car - but perhaps not in the right positions.

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Drew's Cruze

Discussion Starter · #5 · Dec 2, 2015

Thanks for the replies. I guess I can accept the idea that it will take more time, mileage, and speed to "wake up" or whatever, but it's still odd to me. Every other car I've ever put a winter set on would alert me almost instantly that something was different. Maybe I'll try the "rotate" procedure of letting a few psi out of each tire just to see what it does.

I really doubt that the sensors were somehow already synced though. The guys at DT made sure to tell me numerous times to bring it back in once I put the wheels on the car and they (or any other DT store) would get it all in order.

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brian v

· #6 · Dec 2, 2015

The guy or gal mounting those wheels and tyres paired the TPMS sensors ..part of the procedure when your a professional installer ....shoot when I swapped out the summer wheels and tyres out last month on me Mustang the OEM sensors paired up instantaneously ..FORD does it right the first time ..............

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ChevyGuy

· #7 · Dec 2, 2015

Drew's Cruze said:
Maybe I'll try the "rotate" procedure of letting a few psi out of each tire just to see what it does.

That will tell if you the TPMS is working or not, but I don't think you can use it to learn the rotation. You could in prior years. But later years requires the tool. But letting enough air out should trigger some indication.

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Robby

· #8 · Dec 2, 2015

ChevyGuy said:
That will tell if you the TPMS is working or not, but I don't think you can use it to learn the rotation. You could in prior years. But later years requires the tool. But letting enough air out should trigger some indication.

I doubt that letting air out will do a thing.....those new sensors have new id#'s and the receiver will ignore any information they send.
If this was not the case, your car would read other car sensors sitting next to you.

Rob

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