Getting other Manufactureres TPMS to Work on BMW

SharpAndCunning · 11-09-2018, 02:40 PM

Has anyone purchased a different set of wheels off another brands car, and had the TPMS work?

A lot of OEM's use 433Mhz frequency, and I understand how they encode and send data to the receiver may be different between them, but some have to be the same.

Anyone ever tried anything and gotten it to work? I know my Genesis Coupe has 433mhz sensors, and curious if they might be able to be "programmed" to work. Or any other certain manufacturer for that matter.

kiloTHREE · 11-09-2018, 04:40 PM

433 mhz is a very large spectrum spec to live within, much as you have channels for wifi. Not to mention am and fm, proprietary code between manufacturer, code specifically locking out brands......ect. Plus you have to reverse engineer and custom code the vehicle to accept the new data in addition to the hardware changes if they are using a different frequency and modulation.

Short answer, if the light on the dash bugs you, spend the $200 bucks and get the right sensors

orca4wd · 11-11-2018, 10:25 AM

Something to consider to disable the TPMS and activate FTM tire system for your X1. There is a great writeup from Improvius in the DYI section. I know 2014 Honda CRV use the FTM system which works good. No more TPMS battery to replace, expensive mount/dismount of sensor..etc. Here is infor from Improvius:

BACKGROUND INFO: US Spec E84 models (and maybe some more recent specs for other countries) use the TPMS system that relies on individual pressure monitors in each tire. If you have metal valve stems, you have this type of TPMS. Up until very recently, most other countries use a system called FTM that relies instead on monitoring the tires via the ABS sensors. FTM basically looks to see if one tire is rotating at a higher speed than its opposite-side partner, which indicates that it has a lower level of inflation.

FTM works pretty darn well, but US regulations require TPMS in newer cars. So for some cars, like the E84, BMW just added in the TPMS system in addition to the existing FTM system. Since FTM is tied to the ABS monitors, I guess it really didn't make any sense to change the production and remove it for TPMS markets.

The upshot of this is that US-spec E84's have a sensor-based TPMS system because it's the law, AND they have a fully working sensor-less (sort of) FTM system because BMW didn't bother removing it. So my quest was to disable the TPMS system and enable FTM, which will make things much easier and less expensive when it comes to swapping wheel sets and replacing tires. Disabling TPMS would have been enough, honestly. I managed to survive the past few decades with manually checking my tire pressure. But I wanted to go the extra mile and retain the additional level of safety provided by automatic tire monitoring.

11-09-2018, 02:40 PM	#1
SharpAndCunning Lieutenant 100 Rep 432 Posts Drives: 2014 X1 35i Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: . iTrader: (0)	Getting other Manufactureres TPMS to Work on BMW Has anyone purchased a different set of wheels off another brands car, and had the TPMS work? A lot of OEM's use 433Mhz frequency, and I understand how they encode and send data to the receiver may be different between them, but some have to be the same. Anyone ever tried anything and gotten it to work? I know my Genesis Coupe has 433mhz sensors, and curious if they might be able to be "programmed" to work. Or any other certain manufacturer for that matter.
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11-09-2018, 04:40 PM	#2
kiloTHREE Lieutenant 76 Rep 435 Posts Drives: '13 xDrive28i Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: MN iTrader: (0)	433 mhz is a very large spectrum spec to live within, much as you have channels for wifi. Not to mention am and fm, proprietary code between manufacturer, code specifically locking out brands......ect. Plus you have to reverse engineer and custom code the vehicle to accept the new data in addition to the hardware changes if they are using a different frequency and modulation. Short answer, if the light on the dash bugs you, spend the $200 bucks and get the right sensors
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11-11-2018, 10:25 AM	#3
orca4wd Private 3 Rep 69 Posts Drives: X1, Z3M Join Date: Sep 2016 Location: Oregon iTrader: (0)	Something to consider to disable the TPMS and activate FTM tire system for your X1. There is a great writeup from Improvius in the DYI section. I know 2014 Honda CRV use the FTM system which works good. No more TPMS battery to replace, expensive mount/dismount of sensor..etc. Here is infor from Improvius: BACKGROUND INFO: US Spec E84 models (and maybe some more recent specs for other countries) use the TPMS system that relies on individual pressure monitors in each tire. If you have metal valve stems, you have this type of TPMS. Up until very recently, most other countries use a system called FTM that relies instead on monitoring the tires via the ABS sensors. FTM basically looks to see if one tire is rotating at a higher speed than its opposite-side partner, which indicates that it has a lower level of inflation. FTM works pretty darn well, but US regulations require TPMS in newer cars. So for some cars, like the E84, BMW just added in the TPMS system in addition to the existing FTM system. Since FTM is tied to the ABS monitors, I guess it really didn't make any sense to change the production and remove it for TPMS markets. The upshot of this is that US-spec E84's have a sensor-based TPMS system because it's the law, AND they have a fully working sensor-less (sort of) FTM system because BMW didn't bother removing it. So my quest was to disable the TPMS system and enable FTM, which will make things much easier and less expensive when it comes to swapping wheel sets and replacing tires. Disabling TPMS would have been enough, honestly. I managed to survive the past few decades with manually checking my tire pressure. But I wanted to go the extra mile and retain the additional level of safety provided by automatic tire monitoring.
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