I need new tires and I'm reading that the batteries in the tire pressure sensors last up to ten years. I bought my Mini new about eight and a half years ago and I have not had any problems with the sensors. I expect the tires to last three to four years.

ECS Tuning has them for about $14 each so a set is about $56 plus tax. Since they are incorporated in the valve stem, the tires need to be unmounted to replace them.

I have about 123K miles on the car and it runs great. I don't intend to get rid of it anytime soon and it's my daily driver, which I use for my daily commute to work which is about 50 miles round trip. Thoughts or experiences?

Thanks in advance, Greg

 

The $14 on ECS website is for the stem not the sensor, the aftermarket stem/sensor is $63 each. There is no need to replace them unless they are giving you problems.

 

I guess the shop can use a scan tool to tell you the battery condition. I don't know if you can get that done in advance so you can go order the sensors before the tire replacement.

 

Thanks for your reply! I wonder why the sensor isn't shown on realoem.com when I check the wheels? I did a Google search and see that you're correct!

 

at a minimum, you definitely want the rebuild kits if you're not replacing the sensors - you can keep the sensors but there's a chance the other parts of the valve stem will leak. That said, I did transfer them on my car and got lucky that they didn't leak.

 

I agree with at least getting the rebuild kits....I've never replaced a sensor, but I've had slow leaks when I didn't do the kits....