DansSlk

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Thats not true, the devices are too far away from the control module for any sort of inductive loop charging. They use a long-life battery and a sensitive level switch to switch into a sleep mode whenever the wheels are not in motion, when the batteries go flat the sensors have to be replaced and when they are replaced the car can program a new set without needing the dealer at all.

To be fair here i can totally understand where your coming from but the system is explained in the cars manual and its only a case of buying a set of extra sensors for any new wheels you might it and thats it no dealer visit required, i would accept the slight inconvenience and cost of buying the sensors for the extra safety barrier they provide.

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etyu

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As Dan said, this is false. Isn't there a good tire place nearby? (e.g., America's Tire Co.)

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Eddy

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Pewter/Beige, PIII package, Airscarf, Hands-Free Communication System, Lighting package
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patoleas

Thanks for the information Dan, what you say makes a lot of sense. I do have several good tire shops in my Los Angeles area, but before I buy a new set of sensors
I am going to call a different MB dealer service pro and make sure that I if I need
to use my second set of wheels a couple of times a year, I won't need for any reason whether is battery or any thing else to take it to a dealer for reprogramming.

DansSlk

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No worries, by all means give another dealer a call they should confirm that the sensors do not need programming.

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SLK_350

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Hi all.

does this in other words mean, that you have to visit your local MB dealer every spring when changing from winter to summer wheels? Nobody told me this, as I just got my first MB last wedensday
I´ll call the local dealer here in Sweden, and ask.

UK-C200

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So the sensors are supposed to be good for the life of a set of tires - regardless of if they are on the car or not. If you get a new set of wheels, and tires, you need new sensors.

Just like ever other MB part, if you get them from the dealer they are more expensive than if you get them from a third party. The sensors are pretty much generic, you just need to make sure your "new" set is compatible with MB.

When you put the new tires on, the car is listening for the TPMS signals - they are very short range - think a couple of feet only - and if you have the right ones, your car will "hear" them.

As Dan has pointed out, you should not need the dealer at all - there's nothing to "program", and having the tires sit idle in your garage is not going to kill the battery any faster than if they are on the car (I'd go further and say they will stay in sleep mode and last longer, but the batteries do have a shelf life..)

This is based on experience in the US, but I don't think there's any difference with EU TPMS systems - I *think* they even use the same frequencies.

If your dealer tells you any different, please ask them for the service document reference they are getting the info from, so that Dan can look up the exact same document.

There are a number of different car based systems that implement TPMS, some require an "action" to read the new ID's, others simply "accept" the new ID's when you drive the car. My understanding is that the MB system does not require a special action to learn the new sensor ID's. Again, if someone can dig up a document stating explicitly one way or the other, would be a nice sticky to save folks an unnecessary trip to the dealership - and in any event, the most the dealership would need to do would be to tell the car to "learn" the new ID's - not program the sensors....

DansSlk

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SLK_350, here are 2 quote of my above posts, they along with the good post by UK-C200 should answer your question.

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