I'm buying some 19" rims for my car and came across a post here saying something about air sensors.

Are these built into new rims already (such as M166) or must they be bought and installed separately....?




I did a search but didn't find any good results.

 

Mike what year is your car? This determines whether or not you need the sensors. The sensors are NOT normally included with wheels and must be purchased separately.

EDIT:I see now that your car is an LCI, so yes you need TPM sensors.

 

TPM sensors.... Is that available at most tire shops or must it be a exclusive BMW tire outfit..? Would hate to have to go down to BMW just to put on the tires... heheheh

 

You can buy them at tirerack.com (aftermarket) or buy OEM from a dealer....around $200-$250 for all 4 depending on which you go with. You HAVE to get them or you'll be staring at the flat-tire warning on your dash all day.

 

My dealer just called back.

He told me to not worry about it--just to call him and he'll come over
when they put the tires on (at whatever shop I'm at) and he'll 'reset
the sensors' and that's that.

Eh.... Hmm...

Just occured to me.. Maybe my car is a fake LCI! The body of it is an
LCI... it's a diesel 520d.... and righthand shifter isn't the new PS3 style
though....

Weird.....

 

Resetting the TPMS is the easy part, you still have to make sure someone installs the sensors when they install the tires on the rims. They go inside the tire.

 

Thanks for all the info! I'll definitely need to make sure it's done right.