Automotive TPMS and ABS quick question

[Strawboss]

I have factory installed TPMS and ABS on my new car. First, I'm planning on installing snow tires and rims that DO NOT have TPMS on them. Do you think the car is going to send me warnings or alarms or beeping or lights telling me my TPMS in not working or is not detected and shut the car down or not have an override etc... Second, the car has factory 15 inch wheels, the snow tires and rims are 14 inch, NTB told me that because I'm not using 15 wheels, the ABS will shut down or send me warnings or not work correctly. Hard to believe as I told him I thought ABS operated on the fact that the wheel itself was turning or not, not the size of the wheel. Any thoughts to these questions. I don't feel like putting on the snow tires two months before I need to find this out. Thanks.   

[VirginiaJim]

One, you should match the rims.  If you have 15 inch rims, then the snow rims should be 15 inch unless the tire size makes up for it...but why 14 inch on a 15 inch rim car?  On my RAV it complained when I started using a different brand tire and I had to reset the TPMS to allow for that.  Yes, it can be that sensitive.  Your ABS may or may not complain.  If you have discrete sensors in each rim then I'm sure it will set a code somewhere if the car doesn't sense them.  You'll either have a warning light or the tire low light on most likely.

[Strawboss]

Old school rims for snows. I had them on the Focus which ran 16" summer rims, Focus was an 02, so no nanny bits, bolted right up to the new car, saw no reason to spend another maybe $300-400 on new steel rims and $250 for TPMS on rims that I'll use for 4 months around town on a commuter car.

[Toxz Qwaste]

My accent came with 14" steelies but I run 16s with summer tires and I put 14"snows on it for 4 months. I don't use TPMS for the winter. Just an annoying yellow light in the panel. No codes. No trouble. I generally like using a tire with a high sidewall in the winter in case I bump a curb. Also, 185/70-14s are way cheaper than 205/50-16s. Tire Rack is a good resource for finding out what fits.

[Strawboss]

Thanks, yes I agree, I got everything all ready to go, I got the tires, firestones, $70 a piece, $380 out the door for four after mounting and balancing. I found that after shipping, tire rack is no deal, same if not more money than local name brand stores. Same tires with tire rack would have been $50 or more after shipping and getting a shop to mount them that had an agreement with tire rack. Speedo is a bit off with 14 inchers too. Another thing, these tires have what I'd call a "stylized" arrow running along the sidewall of the tire pointing one way. Inside that arrow's shaft are block letters, tiny ones, that say "rotation". Two are mounted each way. No problem now, but I'd like to rotate them proper by crossing the rears to the front as opposed to just front to rear. No word from Firestone about this or from the store or any literature or ad I can find right now about it.


Got it, found the info just now, they call it "directional tread pattern", no compromises in design for optimal performance as with other snow tires, got to mount them one way, glad they mounted them on the rims the way they did, they never told me, I found the lettering while looking at them that night in my garage. Oh well, bring on the snow!

[T Cro ®]

One, you should match the rims.  If you have 15 inch rims, then the snow rims should be 15 inch unless the tire size makes up for it...but why 14 inch on a 15 inch rim car?  On my RAV it complained when I started using a different brand tire and I had to reset the TPMS to allow for that.  Yes, it can be that sensitive.  Your ABS may or may not complain.  If you have discrete sensors in each rim then I'm sure it will set a code somewhere if the car doesn't sense them.  You'll either have a warning light or the tire low light on most likely.

Under most cases when using snow tires you will go down a rim size as you will in most cases be using a tire with a taller sidewall... And narrower too; tall narrow tires work better in snow than fat. This was one reason that my Ural did so well on the snow covered roads...
ABS unless very specialized to the rim for unique reasons could care less the rim or tire used. What if the owner decided to install tires with a slightly different profile or size? That would be a huge mess that I would only expect from the likes of VW, BMW or Audi etc....

[Toxz Qwaste]

Firestorm Winterforce? I just bought a set for this season. I used these before on a Caravan and an A4 years ago and I liked them. Good in the snow but definitely not anything like a sport tire. Takes a little getting used to when I do the switch. As far as tire rotation goes, every season they get switched front to rear. Got 4 seasons out of my last set although halfway through the last season they weren't really "snow" tires anymore.
I agree about the Tirerack deal. My last installer just matched the shipped price for the tires and charges for installation. Same price either way in the end.

[Racer Boy]

ABS doesn't care what rim or tire sizes you are using, all that matters is the they all match each other for diameter, so you don't get speed differences between the wheels. ABS works by comparing wheel speeds, if they are different, then it knows something is wrong (traction control works the same way, and uses the same sensors).

[T Cro ®]

... I agree about the Tirerack deal. My last installer just matched the shipped price for the tires and charges for installation. Same price either way in the end.

About the only time your going to get a real deal is if Tire Rack is close enough for you to pay them a visit; I used to live about 30 minutes from one of their warehouse locations and they do installations right there in house....

[Strawboss]

Great input, thanks all, I agree with you all, I guess I just needed either confirmation or reinforcement. The car is a Fiesta, not sporty at all, not as sporty as the ZX3 Focus we had that these rims originally were bought for. Snows were a bit squirrelly as you said being a narrower higher profile tire as opposed to the high performance low profile WIDE summer tires. I got 10 years and 50,000 out of those snows I got from Sam's club, they were off branded but made by Michelin. The only thing that stopped that car in snow was when the snow was so deep in the morning that the front air dam could not push it out of the way after about 10 feet, other than that, it was like a Panzerkampfwagen in the Ardenne forest.