2025 TPMS

gmurcan said:

I came into this thread because it was labeled 2025 TPMS. Turns out, all of the discussion was about retrofitting earlier models. But, in case anyone is interested, the Rider's Manual for a 2025 discusses TPMS (as an OA) and an alarm system (as an OE). Still not an ordering option, but I had both of these options installed by the dealer on my 2025 at the 600 mile service. No issues and everything is working great.

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Reguam said:

Nice. I have not pulled the trigger yet but plan to eventually. Any chance you will post your OTD cost for both so I can start arguing with myself why I should get them?

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SkipS said:

Thank you so much for posting your invoice. I showed it to my dealer and he said he will do mine for less: $476.57 Out the Door. I will post the name of the dealer and city if it happens. Seems a little too good to be true, but crazy that this scooter cost $12,730.64 (with a top case, $1,435 for an extended warranty, and the dealer allegedly gave me $640 off of sticker) and does not come standard with tire pressure monitoring. Also only comes with 1 key! I got such a good deal on my 2016 C 650 Sport. Maybe around $9,700 with TTL and a top case. I get that was 8 years ago, but it was so much more of a scooter. Too bad the timing chains slip and they blow up leaving you with a $9,000 engine repair that BMW will do nothing about. Well they did give me an additional $1,500 off the price above after begging and fighting. The scooter was in the shop a number of times, with the complaint documented and I didn't want to buy a new one. Wish I still had the old Valencia Orange one with only 7,000 miles. I know, different thread!

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wspollack said:

UPDATE, AUG. 28, 2025: I NEED A PLAN B, OR MAYBE A PLAN C, OR MAYBE ...

==> For those waiting with bated breath for what I said would be my upcoming report in a couple of weeks: you can breathe normally now. It's not going to happen, at least not at that time.

I thought I'd reply to my own post, earlier in this thread, to save anyone who's following this the trouble of backing up a page.


1) I phoned the Service Dept. at MAX BMW in Troy, NY, this morning, to make sure it was still okay for me to drop off the bike this afternoon, for my RDC install next week. The service writer had asked me to do this, and told me, yep, this afternoon would be fine.

However, early in the afternoon I got a call from him. The service writer now said to me:

A) After (re?)checking with Gregg Templeton, the Parts Manager, presumably to make sure that everything was in order, he was told by Gregg that I would also need a control unit.

B) That control unit would take four weeks to arrive from Germany, so my appointment would need to be rescheduled.

C) That control unit -- all by itself -- would cost me $509, and MAX BMW would need a deposit to order it.

That would bring the work close to $800 for parts: $509 + ($120 x 2) + odds and ends. And with labor and tax, the total would be well over $1,000.

==> I told the service writer that I believe Gregg is wrong, but that I had no way to prove that. And I told him to forget the whole thing, no need to reschedule the work.


2) Gregg is a pretty knowledgeable parts guy, been at MAX for decades now. But everyone there knows that they've never done this before -- tried to retrofit a TPMS for any year of the C 400 GT -- so in this case, much as I respect his experience, it counts for nothing.

This sounds just like the WhatsApp exchange I had with Phad in Thailand.

In Oct. 2024, I noted that Phad stated I would need a controller, as I reported in post 2 in a different thread: https://www.bmw-scooters.com/threads/tpms-programming.3294/post-27730

However, about a week later, after further exchanges, and after I gave him my VIN, Phad corrected himself, as I reported in post 5 in that thread: https://www.bmw-scooters.com/threads/tpms-programming.3294/post-27798

His correction was this statement: "Also no need control unit, no wiring."

I believe that Gregg (the local Parts Manager) has fallen into the same trap (even though those folks know my VIN, because I bought the bike there, and because I've included it in most of my emails to them).

I believe that the tech I spoke with a few weeks ago did NOT fall into that trap.

==> I will pay another in-person visit to the dealership in a couple of weeks, and try to explain all this to Gregg, ask him to meet with the tech who had not said a controller was necessary, and see whether I can get the folks there to reach a dealership-wide consensus.


3) And I'll attempt to touch base with Phad again.

==> I will send him a message, asking if he wouldn't mind telling me what reference or document he used, when he determined that my particular C 500 GT, based on its VIN, did not need a control unit.

I'm guessing that he knows how to look up C 400 requirements for RDC retrofitting better than the local folks.


4) ==> I'm going to send an email to BMW Motorrad NA, asking for clarification.

I imagine that some of you will scoff at this, and that the likelihood that I'll learn anything useful is slim. However, scoffing is easy but not very productive, and, on the other hand, I like to be thorough, you never know, nothing ventured nothing gained, etc., and this only costs a few minutes of my time.


5) ==> If anyone else actually has such a retrofit on a C 400 (GT or X) done by an actual BMW dealer, I'd certainly like to hear about it, learn where it was done, what parts were involved, and so forth.

As I've said before, I don't care what a dealer in TX or a parts guy in NY or anyone else in Beemerdom says -- ya know, money talks, bullshit walks -- Phad, the indie tech in Thailand, is the only person that I'm aware of that's done this. If it really costs an actual owner over USD 1000, I can see why.

I would appreciate it if some of you owners with '24 or '25 models would step up here, so at least I can show the folks at my local dealership that it CAN be done without a controller, at least on some of the C 400s. C'mon, life is short, live a little -- I mean we ARE on a BMW forum here.

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MeSeaHunt said:

any updates on this???

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wspollack said:

Yep, sensors installed, system works like a champ:

1) See final receipts and description in my post #53 here: www.bmw-scooters.com/threads/2025-tpms.3557/post-30463

2) I got one ride in afterwards (other than coming home from the shop the week before):

View attachment 6147

(Incomplete map the result of a hardware glitch.)

That looks like it for me, for the season. It was cold and rainy the last few weeks, I had the first of two medical procedures today that will sideline me for about three weeks, and after that it'll be mid November, well past the usual end of my season (cold, fewer daylight hours, wet leaves on the ground, possibly snowing, etc.).

3) Looks like @SkipS is planning on getting the work done, too: see his post #63 abive,

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MeSeaHunt said:

So my brain is itching so i am wondering about the dealer programming, is this really a re-program or just going in and simply enabling the function???

Also guessing for those of us that do our own tyre changes that we could just order the sensors and put them in ourselves and then let the dealer rape us for the rest of their part???

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wspollack said:

Regarding whether the electronic work (with a dealer's equivalent to a GS-911, et al.) is merely unlocking/activating an existing screen already buried in the TFT's firmware, or something more complicated than that (e.g., loading a new screen from some source): sorry, I have no idea.

Same -- no idea -- regarding whether folks who have their own tire-changing equipment can DIY the hardware part, and then ride over to a BMW dealership to have the software part done. I wonder whether some dealers will refuse to do software work, when they didn't get to make a profit doing the hardware work, too.

On the other hand, I recall reading (here, or in my own WhatsApp chats with him) that Phad in Thailand will do this sort of programming for something like $50, but it requires your hooking up a PC to the bike (with, I guess, the proper OBD adapter and cord), and then having this done remotely, somehow.

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mgg said:

Do you know that they have to be programed? I mean they could be plug and play. I think mine were on the Indian Challenger. Also I added heated grips and the bike new they were there and if you upgraded the stereo it automatically added a graffic equilizer. But I guess being BMW it's probably not.

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wspollack said:

Regarding whether the electronic work (with a dealer's equivalent to a GS-911, et al.) is merely unlocking/activating an existing screen already buried in the TFT's firmware, or something more complicated than that (e.g., loading a new screen from some source): sorry, I have no idea.

Same -- no idea -- regarding whether folks who have their own tire-changing equipment can DIY the hardware part, and then ride over to a BMW dealership to have the software part done. I wonder whether some dealers will refuse to do software work, when they didn't get to make a profit doing the hardware work, too.

On the other hand, I recall reading (here, or in my own WhatsApp chats with him) that Phad in Thailand will do this sort of programming for something like $50, but it requires your hooking up a PC to the bike (with, I guess, the proper OBD adapter and cord), and then having this done remotely, somehow.

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SkipS said:

Got my sensors installed on my 2024 C400GT at BMW of Burbank (outside of Los Angeles). Michael was a great help there. I was surprised that it was "only" $476.57 out the door ($10 for 2 wheel weights, $228.92 for 2 sensors, $43.12 for 2 torx screws, and $150 for labor which was essentially the fee to mount and balance the 2 tires). It was pretty much plug and play on my scooter. Took them a couple of hours. Good luck to everyone!

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wspollack said:

UPDATE, OCT. 1, 2025: SENSORS INSTALLED, EVERYTHING WORKING, NO CONTROL UNIT

Okay, the RDC sensors arrived from Germany a couple of weeks ago, and when they did Max BMW contacted me, to schedule the installation.

That installation was this afternoon, and it went fine (other than costing me a good chunk o' change, of course, for something that should have been included in the Premium Package, or perhaps a new Extra Special Premium Package).

To put this in one post, here's a reposting of my prepaid sensor-order receipt, followed by today's receipt:

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And when I got home I recorded a 48-second video, so y'all can see what it looks like, in terms of the TFT display:

And if you don't want to click on Watch on YouTube and then click on my full description, here's the text I added underneath that video on YouTube:

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DISCLAIMER: To forestall comments about this, note that I run my tires with a much lower pressure, typically 33 PSI front and 36 PSI rear. This video was made right after arriving home after the installation, and those pressures were what the dealership inflated the tires to. Before my next ride, I will lower the pressures to my usual values.

Today, Oct. 1, 2025, I had the internal RDC (BMW's term for TPMS) sensors installed inside the rims of my 2023 C 400 GT scooter, and the bike's TFT display software updated accordingly, by my local BMW dealership (MAX BMW's Troy, NY, location; see https://www.maxbmw.com/ ). This video shows the result of that work.

Based on my research and assorted posts on the BMW Scooters forum (https://www.bmw-scooters.com/pages/Ho..., I may be the first C 400 owner in the USA to have this work done. For one thing, relative to the purchase price of the bike, it's an expensive upgrade. For another, there is much confusion among dealer service departments regarding whether this change can be done at all, and, if it can, what parts are required.

In terms of cost, parts were about USD 294 and labor about USD 363. I think about half of the labor cost could be saved if this upgrade were performed when new tires are also being installed.

(I admit that I'm somewhat obsessed by all of this. I could've gotten away a lot cheaper by using external sensors -- I've been very pleased with quality units from FOBO, for instance -- were it not for BMW's jackass placement of the Schrader valves sideways, in the spoke-like portion of the wheels. I had a FOBO sensor in the rear wheel, but with two brake calipers up front an external sensor on that wheel would smack into one of the calipers.)

In terms of parts, much of the confusion involves whether a USD 500 "control unit" is required. According to independent BMW specialist Phad Motorrad in Thailand ( / @phadmotorrad ), that unit was NOT needed for my bike, based on my VIN. Note that the build date of my '23 C 400 GT was July 18, 2023 (according to https://www.mdecoder.com/ and https://bimmer.work/ ).

Regarding my queries, asking for clarification on build dates and parts requirements for this upgrade, neither BMW Motorrad in Germany nor in North America was any help; the former referred me to the latter, and the latter referred me to individual dealerships. Even within my large, well-established, long-time local dealership, there was uncertainty, confusion, and differences of opinion within the parts and service departments.

The bottom line is that you're pretty much on your own if you're a C 400 owner who wants to pay for this upgrade. My particular bike required two 36 31 7 106 019 RDC sensors (c. USD 114 each) and two 36 31 7 106 018 Torx screws (c. USD 22 each). The sensors had to be imported from Germany, which took a couple of weeks.

Now if Veridian (https://veridiancruise.com/ ), a Canadian company that makes cruise controls for throttle-by-wire bikes, ever gets around to fabricating one for the C 400 (see https://veridiancruise.com/future-bikes/ ), my two major complaints regarding the C 400 will have been ameliorated. (If you're a C 400 owner, I'd appreciate it if you would contact Veridian -- [email protected] -- and ask them to add your name to those requesting a C 400 cruise.)

If BMW hopes to compete in Europe and Asia with the likes of the Zontes and Voge in the 350cc - 370cc range, they have to up their game. Those companies make similar scooters, some of which have factory TPMS, and all of which are thousands of dollars less expensive. But I digress ...

Last, if any owner of a different late-model BMW could explain to me what the values of the two sides of the TIRE PRESSURE display screen represent, I'd be grateful for a comment or two on the matter. That is, naturally no manual was provided with this change, and I'm not aware of any documentation on this, so I'm left to wonder whether those are minimum and maximum observed pressures, pressures at startup (as opposed to the increased pressures when actually riding), and so on.

One last observation: the tires seem to have to be rotated for a bit -- I've read that you have to get up to 19mph -- in order to replace dashed lines with an actual reading. This is somewhat disappointing, as it precludes a pre-ride pressure check. This is NOT the case with some external sensors from FOBO and others, but is similar to the way my fairly expensive sole auto works (the car must initially achieve 15mph). Ah, well.

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mzflorida said:

Well, back on the site and my wallet is getting lighter! Thanks Bill. I'll be ordering the parts this week.

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wspollack said:

1) It’s only money. You read post 74 here, in which @SkipS got it done for less cash?

2) You get my off-site email?

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