Well, tomorrow I am getting three more tires and the service guy promised to give me four new Toyota tire valve caps. I will also check with the parts department to see what they actually have. Sadly, my tires are still like new, but I got five nails in about a year and decided to keep spare tires in the garage. They also have discontinued the Dunlop Enasave 01 A/S (the manufacturing date on the ones I have been getting is the 41st week of 2022) and I wanted to get them before they were gone. Slightly over $600 total for four tires installed with a two-year new-replacement road-hazard warranty.
On a side note, don't buy fancy metal ones like I did for my MINI. Some kind of reaction took place with the AL(?) stems on the TPMS sensors and they became welded. Managed to break out 3 of 4.
Yes, corrosion. and a PSA: any time you’re getting new tires, especially at Costco (if you’re not a fan of green valve caps), take the current ones off, put em in your pocket.
You need to be careful when getting tire valve caps for TPMS sensors. Two rules: No metal caps allowed Must have a rubber bushing inside to form an airtight seal I would refrain from cheapo aftermarket ones, though there are acceptable once satisfying the criteria above. See the technical drawing of the OEM Japanese Pacific tire valve cap PVC25 on the previous page.
Green means nitrogen fill. Yes, it is a good idea to take them off at service, and I do that, but I thought at least the dealer would have common sense. It was a good thing I declined the courtesy car wash because the TPMS sensor would go into the carwash with no tire valve cap. It is not to mention the harsh brushes.
Galvanic corrosion, didn't even think about that. There's no TPMS sensor in the spare though, they have normal rubber valve stems.
The spare tire probably comes with the OEM Japanese Pacific tire valve cap CL shown in the brochure screenshot on the previous page. It is made of resin and has a rubber bushing like the PVC25 TPMS cap, but it is a lot larger and has a lot shorter thread and doesn’t have a lip inside.
And an interesting observation: A small nonthrough hole on the top of plastic tire valve caps seems to indicate the presence of a rubber bushing. Metal caps naturally always come with rubber bushings, but they should not be used with TPMS sensors. TPMS sensors use the small cylindrical plastic caps with rubber bushings and long threads (not the large plastic caps with short threads intended for valves without TPMS sensors) pictured on the previous page.
The small non through-hole and the protrusion on which it sits work very nicely as a tool to depress the valve to let air out. I assume that they were designed for that purpose.
