Thinking about changing to all season tyres in our 1.4 Vitara. It’s done 26k miles and fronts are about 3mm. Current tyres are summer so I’d do all four. Halfords offer the best compromise on costs and convenience.
However I am not sure what to do about the TPMS valves.
Suzuki say the batteries are good for 5-10 years and are sealed inside the valve. As it’s 5 years old I am inclined to leave them alone. They are not cheap as genuine valves (without fitting costs) are £53 each for OEM and about half that for Bosch. But is it good preventative maintenance to bite the bullet? On the other hand is it really much dearer to replace them later if they fail, rather than with a tyre change?
Halfords do offer a TPMS “service” at about £6 per wheel as part of a tyre fitting. It’s just replacing the rubber seals, not the battery. Is that worth doing as a half-way measure?
I did find something online a few months back that said the Vitara had a self-charging valve battery but I can’t find that now, everything points to them being conventional.
Views welcome please.
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I replaced mine on the Smart with a tyre change at 7+ years. (But low mileage)
I managed to get a set of aftermarket pre-coded ones at a relatively low cost, asked the tyre fitters in advance if they'd fit them (free) if I supplied, and they agreed. It saved them the new valves in the fitted price, and the only difference was that they bolt in.
Drove out after fitting, immediately got an alert, reset the tpms system, and all ok since.
My unverified research at the time was that the batteries were put in circuit via the wheel rotation, and switched off when stationary.
The relatively low additional cost drove my decision. The only additional cost of in-service failure would be 4xwheel fitting and balancing cost. You pays your money ....
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When I run the diags on my car, one sensor has posted its whining about low voltage. Its been like that for a year. Still working fine.
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Thanks, as a child of the 50’s I overlooked the battery would be testable via diags.
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Suzuki - TPMS valves - tyrednemotional
