crewzer

I will not buy TPMS sensors for my winter wheels.

My 2006 E61 was built in September, 2005. As best as I can tell, it is equipped with a flat tire monitor system (FTM), but not a TPMS system. The FTM system uses the ABS system's tone rings and tire revs/mile to determine low/no tire pressure (reduced pressure = smaller tire = higher revs/mile), so there's no point in me buying TPMS sensors for any wheels on my car.

If my car did include a TPMS system, I probably would buy sensors for each wheel, especially, since the BMW system appears to be able to self-register additional sensors. My previous car brand requires a trip to the dealer to change the TPMS sensor registration from the 3-season tire set to the winter tire set and back.

So, the key message here might be to verify that your car has a TPMS system before ordering sensors for the winter wheels and tires.

HTH,
Jim / crewzer

DD_545i

So, on my 2004 E60 545i, which has the TPMS option and alerted me yesterday (correctly) that I had a flat on one of my summers, is it the type that doesn't need sensors embedded into the wheels because it uses the ABS sensors?

Lotus99

If it uses ABS sensors, then that's how it knows you have a flat. That wheel spins at a different speed than others. It isn't using TPMS, which is an actual sensor attached inside the wheel. You should be able to tell by looking at the valve stem and if it's all metal, then it's TPMS. The other system BMW here calls it FTM, which is flat tire monitoring. That's because there is no actual "tire" sensor, which is what TPMS stands for.