Well, after almost 5 years, the tires that came with my Jeep have been replaced, and along with the new (to me) rubber, I replaced the alloy rims with a set of Pro Comp steel ones – and I’m no longer using the TPMS valve stems that were in the factory rims.
I think TPMS is a pretty nice feature – however, in the Jeep Wrangler, I think the implementation is pretty flawed.
- Only a light saying pressure is low – but no indication of which tire is low. I had a 2005 Jeep Liberty with TPMS, and it told you which tire was low.
- Aluminum valve stems that cannot be replaced without replacing the entire TPMS assembly in the tire. I had one assembly replaced because the stem had corroded to the point where there were only a couple threads of the needle valve keeping air in – the rest of the needle valve was exposed. Not a comfortable situation to find yourself in when you’re planning a road trip.
Here’s a shot of one of the tires with the new wheels. The new tires are the same as original equipment tires – 32″ BFG MT’s. The new steel wheels are Pro Comp Rock Crawler Series 98 rims in flat black. I also got wheel caps and new lug nuts, in chrome (the shop didn’t have any black ones in stock). I think they look pretty good!