Those with Aftermarket Wheels, are you having TPMS problems???

I put some 20" wheels with 255/45/20's on my wife's '13 CX-5 GT. All was well for the first week, no lights, etc. Got the oil changed, I'm guessing the tire pressure was checked and adjusted slightly. Immediately after (< 3 miles down the road) the TPMS light comes on. I check the pressure and attempt to adjust to 36lbs (per door placard), and reset the light. TPMS comes on again in less than 1 mile. I assume it is due to the slightly larger than stock rolling diameter. Proceed to put another 800 miles on the car. A few days ago, my wife was pulling away from a stoplight when the TPMS light and DSC lights start flashing, and the car won't go over 15-20mph, all the while the engine is @ 4000rpms. She pulls into a parking lot, turns the car off. Lights gone, car drives normal. I recheck Tire Pressure, and one tire is indeed +3lbs from the other 3 tires (rest were @ 34lbs cold). I reset the TPMS button, and no more TPMS light. We put another 50 miles on the car with no issue.

I took the car to the dealership for diagnosis (I work there in Sales, and have for 7 years, so I don't get the typically get any flack), and the codes basically stated that the car was registering a speedo error, or error in the speed sensors. They were suspicious of the wheels. I tried to say that the car has no idea what size the tires are, it doesn't know that the speedo is off by approx. 2%. It just sees the axle moving at a certain speed, and in this case, the car is going slightly faster than indicated. Anyways, they reset the whole TPMS system, and no drama on the way home.

The car does lug a little more with the new wheel/tire combo, even though they are slightly lighter than the stock 19's. Fuel economy has suffered approx. 2+ mpgs, but otherwise the car was driving totally normal.

Has anyone with aftermarket wheels had a freakout like this, or trouble getting the TPMS system to behave??? Any help would be appreciated.

(I also know there have been bone stock cars that have had complete freakouts of the TPMS, DSC, and Check Engine and/or AT light. Apparently that is a different code, and requires a reflash, then possible a new valve body in the tranny, and finally a new tranny. We have replaced several on Mazda3's and a few CX-5s at work.)

I'm basically trying to rule out the wheels, as I am absolutely confident that they are not the issue, but that the tire pressure being off could have been.

TPMS light and DSC lights start flashing, and the car won't go over 15-20mph, all the while the engine is @ 4000rpms. She pulls into a parking lot, turns the car off. Lights gone, car drives normal
This sounds like the transmission valve issue that has been discussed many times here. The engine went into limp-home mode; nothing to do with tire size or TPMS.

About a month ago I got my first service at the dealer, and on the way home the TPMS light came on. I pulled over and reset the system, and a few miles later it came on again. I pulled over, reset the system, and a few miles later the BMS Off light came on and started blinking like crazy. That light went off after a few more miles, but the TPMS light came on yet again during the ride home (around 35 miles).

After I got home, I let the tires cool down for a few hours and then reset the TPMS again, and it has been fine ever since. I guess my question is why does all this stuff happen only after going to the dealer? It doesn't exactly inspire confidence when the car goes in fine and comes out with the dash looking like Times Square at Christmastime.

...On a related note, I just dropped off my new Blizzaks and a set of Mazda 6 wheels to be picked up tomorrow. The guy at the tire shop said "Just so you know, those wheels will cause the TPMS light to go on and the car won't pass inspection like that in VT"

I informed him that the sensor is not in the wheels on this car and he literally started stuttering and saying "Oh, ah, um, as far as I know only VW has been able to pull that off, where did you hear that?" (rolleyes)

Ive never had issues with my wheels. Even aftef swapping with oem multiple times. Each time you reset the tpms it relearns whatever data it collects from your new wheel/tire and bases changes off of those parameters.

Update. Tire pressure was off on one tire. But the codes were registering something about an output shaft mismatch. I can't really remember, as it was almost a month ago. The dealer reset the codes. We put another 1500 miles on the car, and all was well until yesterday when it happened again. It's now registering a code with the abs system (I suspect wheel speed sensor). They are recommending that I swap the factory wheels/tires back on so to see if it happens again. Then they can send someone out from the district to take a look at it and not have them worry about blaming it on the aftermarket wheels.

Either way, I was just curious if there was anyone else with aftermarket wheels that were having any issues like this... or how long those of you that have aftermarket wheels have had them on (miles, etc.). Because I do have to say, that it does seem awfully suspicous, that no more than 1000 miles after putting the wheels on, we had an issue, and then another 1500 miles we have it again... I'm bummed. and pissed at the same time. I think I'm starting to miss the TPMS sensors in the wheels...

Are you sure a wheel isn't bent? Maybe needs balance? Those can cause tpms to come on too.

no, wheels are perfectly straight. no shimmy, shake, wobble, weirdness of any sort there. The car drives totally fine. One thing I noticed, was that two days ago, it was downshifting very hard into first gear when approaching stops (in Drive). It was approximately 20* and it the car was cold. Once warm it shifts normal.

In reference to the BSM light coming on and blinking - this happened to me the other day as well. I went to the manual and it said the BSM system will "pause" if it isn't used for a while. It indicates it has paused by flashing. This makes a lot of sense since it came on when I was visiting family in NY and they live in a very rural area. I live in a city and the BSM system is used all the time, so no time for it to pause from not being used in a while. Once we passed another car, it came back on and was fine. The manual also said it can be affected by ice buildup or stickers that block the rear radar sensors.

No issues on my end. Two weeks ago I got my CX-5 and right away I installed winter tires combo (minus 2 - 17" Ksei K4R and Blizzaks) and no problems whatsoever. Costco tech reset TPMS and the light has never come ON.

Anyone knows how the TPMS works ? Is that trough a sensor-unit in the tyre ? Is that so ? Then there are 4 tyre-sensors in the 17 x 7 OEM wheels ! Don`t forget to replace them if you upgrade from 17 to 18 or 19 or 20".......

The CX-5 TPMS does not have a sensor in the wheels. You can switch wheels with no issues, as long as you reset the TPMS after the swap, and even that might not be needed in some cases.

FiveCX-5 said:

Anyone knows how the TPMS works ? Is that trough a sensor-unit in the tyre ? Is that so ? Then there are 4 tyre-sensors in the 17 x 7 OEM wheels ! Don`t forget to replace them if you upgrade from 17 to 18 or 19 or 20".......

Click to expand...

FiveCX-5, sorry but the CX-5 does not have sensor-units in the tires, so no need "... to replace them if you upgrade from 17 to 18..."

@ThreyP and @camellochapin......thanks (I didn`t knew it...)

With regard to the OP, I wonder if the fact that the new tires have such minimal sidewall height could be the issue? I thought I read somewhere that the TPMS "looks" at the tire and notices if the "shape" changes. Perhaps at a 45, the sidewall is short enough to be outside the range that the sensor can detect? Just a guess.

The TPMS just uses the ABS sensors, the wheels have nothing to do with it. When you reset the TPMS, it "learns" the relative rolling diameters of each of the wheel/tires by monitoring the pulses from the sensors. If it sees a change from the learned pattern, it throws a light. This could happen if a tire is low, tire pressures are adjusted, or in very unique circumstances, if the tires don't heat up evenly for some reason.

I don't pick up my cx5 till Friday so I don't know the system but I know on some vehicles have speed sensors on your tranny output and rear diff. Also abs speed sensors so if the ECM gets it's info from multiple sources it's going to really throw some lights off. Example. Driveshaft is spinning a certain speed. The abs speed sensors in the hubs are looking for a certain speed aswell so if your tire pressure is low or you have larger tires it's probably doing to disable some things like traction control cause it can't compute what speed your traveling. I may be totally wrong but my 2500 ram cummins had all kinds of abs and speed sensor issues that disabled me abs and dinged at me non stop

I've had 2 different set's of 20" wheels, 255 and 245 tires, never had an issue with non functioning tpms or traction control (for the rare time I have that mommy on). As long as your wheels balance well, I don't think there will be problems.