zen

Early corvettes about 1989 had the sensors strapped to the wheel with long stainless steel hose clamps.

kchan

Thanks for all the suggestions.
I got a list of Beru distributors in the states, so need to call them and see if they make a smaller diameter valve stem.
Drilling the wheels could be possible, but prefer not to do that...
strap it on the wheel maybe feasible, i need to take off 1 sensor and do a little more study to see if strapping could work, the shop also says lots of old corvette use straps but not sure how the sensor looks compare to the bmw ones.

just have to live with the TPM warning for now, hopefully i find an easy/inexpensive solution soon.

monacobmw

You will need both a smaller stem and probably a matching sensor. There is a screw that attaches the two together. The screw may not fit with two different parts. If a smaller stem works with the BWM sensor part, you may be in luck.
Just a thought... Maybe BMW sells a smaller valve stem for another vehicle. They do sell the two pieces separately, so there is probably a reason for that division (any maybe the mismatched size does not affect the fit between valve stem and sensor). Beru is the manufacturer. There are many models of cars that rely on the sensors, so Beru should be able to identify a possible match with BMW from another model.

Finally, I know that you do not want to redrill the holes, but if done professionally, you will not notice any difference. The original hole was simply drilled as well. In a worse case scenario, your wheel will simply match BMW specs. I can understand though that you may have reservations messing with such a beautiful item. Hope everything works for you.
Best,

h22wgn

my sensors are strapped to the inside of my wheels on my 07 530. I've also glued them inside for corvette applications. The sensors on the corvettes are very similiar to the bmw's accept the sensors on the vettes are one piece. As far as coming apart and blowing through the tire--not likely.

kchan

What kind of wheels do you have on your 07 530i? Your valve stem diameter on the wheel is too small also? How is the sensor attached to the straps? Is that something easy to do?

h22wgn

I have 20'' Iforged wheels. The valve stem is on the inside(barrel) of the wheel. I used nylon tie straps used for ducting work at Home Depot. I put the big/long straps around the inside of the wheel then strap the sensors to the long straps with smaller straps. Installed the tires onto the wheels and performed the sensor relearn through the I-drive. No problems since.

aR.

My question is regaring the TPM sensors installation also. My 07: 550 came with style 124/ 18 inch wheels. I am planning to change with OEM 19 inch style 166 ( M5 wheels). I was thinkning about removing the sensors from the current 124s and putting them in the new 166s.

First of all is it possible to do?..& how are the BMW sensors/ stems mountedin the wheels..Is it a screwed assembly or a glued assembly..& also can a sensor assembly for 18 inch wheels work correctly with a 19 inch assembly?...I know these are a bunch of wierd questions but will really appreciate your insight in itso I can ove along with this project in an efficient manner.

Thanks

monacobmw

I sent you an email to reply to your personal email.
All should be good using the old sensors. It should take just a few minutes. It is a two piece assembly (sensor and stem) attached by a screw.
The old tire can be pushed to the side so it does not have to be taken off.
I used new sensors, but the total expected time to do the job should be less than 40 minutes (most of which should be in the balancing of the new tires). Do not forget: Hunter 9700 machine for the balancing. Look for a place that has one!