Tpms Problems With New Tires

vegasrob · January 15, 2008

Very strange, indeed. I can't seem to get a straight answer from the dealership on this. We just bought our first set of new tires for our 05 rx330 fwd, at 48000 miles. All of a sudden after getting the tires installed from Costco (the dealership was outrageously priced), the TPMS light came on. I checked the tires and my front right was low. I had Costco add air to that tire (all nitrogen fills at costco) based on what the dealership told me (35 pounds cold), but then the next day the light came on again. It comes on after about 12 to 15 minutes of driving. The wife took the car to the dealer, and the first time they said the monitor system needed to be reset, but didn't do it. The second time, she went in and they reset the system via the underdash button. My question is, do all the rims have a pressure monitor on them, and what type of monitor is it? A band around the rim, or a sensor IN the rim? The factory rims are on the car, and here's where it gets a little screwy for new people as I tell them this: last year the RF tire went flat. I went to costco and had them pull the spare (fullsize with matching rim) out and install it on the RF. No problems with TPMS after that. At the same time, I had them replace that flat tire with a new, different style tire and put it in the spare tire carrier. Before new year's, we took the car back to costco and bought 3 new tires that matched the new spare (that was originally the RF tire), had them install the 3 new tires, pulled the spare and put it back into the spare tire carrier. Now the tire that was replaced is back in its original spot on the car, RF. And now I have a TPMS problem. Help! Costco replaced the valve stems when they did the tires, and I've checked the tires several times to be sure that pressure is correct. Tires are the michelin mxvs8 in stock 18" size.