But I have a 2006 Mountaineer. It has the stock 18s on and I just wanted to get some new 18s.
I found out after taking one of the tires off that it has the band type sensors and it’s blue.
I was told by the dealer, I would need new bands in order for the sensors to be put on the new rims. Is this true? Why cant the bands on the stock rimes be transferred to the new rims?
2nd question. Can I use the valve stem mounted TPS instead, the ones for the expeditions and navigators? Will the computer still read them?
3rd. If I cant, where can I get these bands? The dealership wants like $50 a piece for them. They look just like giant hose clamps. What a rip off!!!
Sorry for all the questions,, I just wish this wasn’t suck a pain in the ass to get new rims.
I am dealing with this very same issue on my 07 Rnager. I just changed over to a different set of wheels, so I had to take the sensors off the stock wheels. I am still looking for a hose clamp that will fit over my new wheels. When I find one, I'll let you know. If you run across one, please let me know...
There should be no problem transfering the bands to new wheels, providing they fit. Most people who get new wheels get a larger diameter, and as a result the bands often won't fit. I'd imagine the replacement bands probably have a longer band to accomodate larger wheels, where the factory ones are probably just long enough for the wheel (speculation).
If you are keeping the same diameter... I'd be willing to bet the old ones would fit.
As far as valve mounted sensors go... the wheel has to be specifically designed to accomodate these. You can not use a valve sensor on a wheel designed for regular valve stems.
You won't be able to reuse the stock bands. They are clamped on like a banding machine - I had to cut mine off.
I've been to a few places this morning looking for a band to fit, but Fastenal, Grainger, and Fleetpride do nt have anything. I'm going to stop by a dealership and see a friend of mine this afternoon - see what Ford has. If that doesn't work - I'm just going to get a couple of the largest hose clamps I can find and daisy-chain them together....
Ahh I didn't realize they were banded in place.. that makes more sense. I've never actually run into one, but the classroom training i've received pictured them using worm-gear clamps.
Yes you could try cutting off the old bands and replacing the with hose clamps.. may have to string two or three together to compensate for the rim diameter.. I'd be concerned about them coming loose and damaging the sensor as a result... Might want to consider dripping some thread-locker into the screw when you tighten them down all the way. I'd also consider running a strip of electrical tape around the rim where the band will go, just to help prevent damage to the inside of the rim.
Heck it's something I would try! Good luck to you!
I have a band machine at work, but I honestly don't want to use the type of banding material we have because it will rust. That leads me back to daisy chaining the hose clamps together. Hopefully Ford won't want my first born for new bands they use...
Well, first off I went to dealership for my first free oil change, while I was up there I asked the salesman who sold us the Mountaineer if we could swap rims with the a 07s, because for some odd reason the 07 has allot better rims then our 06..LOL . He’s a real cool and nice guy, so he took us to the parts department and asked them if they can order the rims. They could and it would $900 just for rims, which not too bad for rims. I was thinking there going to be like almost $2000 . Well we ask about the bands and the parts WOMAN said we will need them. So that’s another $250…So well we were like , at least we know what we have to do if he wanted some new rims. Right when we were about to leave though, the service lady comes out with a mechanic and asked if we got our rim situation figured out. Well he told us that the bands bolt off and should fit any rims as long as you put each sensor/band on the right rim.
So then we go to a local rim shop next door and see what they say about the sensors and if you can put aftermarket rims on using the stock sensors. They said that we would need new bands, but they don’t know what rims will work or not. They basically just stared at us like they wanted to buy some rims for $2000 and see if they fit…. Retards. LOL
So I wasn’t going to shop there, so I found another shop on the net that was a little farther away that had some rims I liked, well called them up and they said that swapping the sensors is no problem. So I ordered some rims from them and they should be in by next week. The awesome part is, im getting rims, mount/balance. Lug nuts w/ locks and swapping the sensors all for $650 plus there giving $200 for the stock rims!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a story, I just recently found out about this whole wheel sensor deal. Needless to say, I'm pretty hacked off about it (and I don't even have a new enough rig to have them). I guess they are saying it's all the Explorer's/Firestone's fault too. Someone tell me what good this sensor will do in the event of a tire blowing out? It will know maybe a couple milliseconds faster than me, I guess, but what good is that?
As for the banding problem, look for a place that has the fiber banding machine instead of the steel one, should still be plenty stong.
[QUOTE=................. I guess they are saying it's all the Explorer's/Firestone's fault too. Someone tell me what good this sensor will do in the event of a tire blowing out? It will know maybe a couple milliseconds faster than me, I guess, but what good is that?
Well, what good it is is that most of the failures were due to low tire pressure over a long distance. 15 to 18 lbs will hold the truck up, but the tire suffers badly at speed. Thus, the delaminations with the tread going all squirrely and pulling the rig one way or another which leads to an over-correction and then next thing you know there's brains on the headliner.
So what good it is is that the morons who never look at their tires or who see a low tire and ignore it will get the constant reminder from the system, and maybe some of them will get it fixed before they cartwheel accross the median into the path of a tour bus.
People who check their tires will be only occaisionally pleased that the system warned them in advance because they just picked up a nail and are going low.
Sudden blowouts will continue to make everyone mad, and there isn't much you can do about that except to buy quality tires, keep the air pressure up to the proper level (which the sensors will remind you to do) and replace the tire if it is damaged or has run low for a long time regardless of the reason, be it that you are a moron who runs around with 15lbs in the tire for miles or that you had to drive to a safe place to change it.
BTW, did you see the Car and Driver article a few years ago? They put a full roll cage in an Explorer and made up a deal to let the tire "blow out". Turns out the didn't need the roll cage. At 70mph the guy is driving straight down the road with the "blowout" on the left rear, where it usually was when trouble started. His hands are up on the windshield. The Exploder is driving nice and straight. Now their tires didn't come apart, but still, you'd think if there was some basic stabilty problem, it would show up in that case. Can you say "driver error" in most of those rollovers?
Those are the folks most likely to ignore the sensors also.
So yea, what good will they do?
But it's nice to know there is another expensive and hard to service part on the new cars.
Last edited by 85e150six4mtod; 10-01-2006 at 03:01 PM.
That's all well and good, but what really burns me up is that it wasn't people's air checking habits. It was Ford saying they only need 26 psi in those tires. Then when the tires fail they throw Firestone under the bus! Now Ford has got us all thrown under bus.
I just got a notice in the mail this week from Firestone. It seems in all the craziness replacing all those tires, they forgot to check the spares. Now they are trying to make sure they all get replaced too.
According to this paper i just got, they'll replace them at any company owned Firestone store.
Says any radial ATX or ATX II P235/75R15
Wilderness AT P235/75R15 all #s beginning with "VD", and numbers beginning with "HY", "W2", or "VN" made before may '98.
Wilderness AT P255/70R16 HY, W2, or VN before may '98
I looked at my spare today, it's got a brand new Goodyear under there.
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. He’s a real cool and nice guy, so he took us to the parts department and asked them if they can order the rims. They could and it would $900 just for rims, which not too bad for rims. I was thinking there going to be like almost $2000
. Well we ask about the bands and the parts WOMAN said we will need them. So that’s another $250…So well we were like , at least we know what we have to do if he wanted some new rims. Right when we were about to leave though, the service lady comes out with a mechanic and asked if we got our rim situation figured out. Well he told us that the bands bolt off and should fit any rims as long as you put each sensor/band on the right rim. 
