I need an oil change so I am going to let the place put on my new tires/rims. They did not come with TPMS and so I got a quote from there. The sensors are $50 per not including labor. I can get them online with the "re-learn" tools for about 50 total however he said his tool may not work to sync with the ones i order. I was thinking about ordering them myself and have them install, but then do the re-learning myself but did not want to get into it and not be able to do it. Thoughts?

 

Guessing you have a 2015? I have a 2016 Lariat, and the truck learns mine on its own when I switch winter/summer wheels/tires.

I only had the tire shop swap my sensors, I got mine from Rock Auto

To manually do it
key on, engine off/accessory mode for push button
press hazards button 3x in 10 seconds horn will sound when successfully done
Increase or decrease air pressure starting at left front tire until horn sounds, then right front tire until horn sounds, then right rear, then left rear. Once last one is done, turn off vehicle once completed, set tire pressures and drive it, it will be good to go

 

sorry yes, mine is a 2015 XLT

 

There are sensors which are hard coded specific for your model vehicle. For many modern vehicles these only require a $20-ish clicker to wake from the storage/shipping coma used to preserve battery life until put into service. Then as described above there are in-vehicle procedures to pair the sensors to vehicle and/or update the location after rotation. But, you have to make sure you get the right sensor the first time else the wheels have to come off to take them out and install the right sensors.

Then there are generic “clonable” sensors which can be programmed to mimic the sensors the truck already knows. These require a tool from their manufacturer which can be $150 and up. If one is an independent repair shop this is the only way to go because one only needs inventory of rubber stems and metal stems to cover 98%. No need to stock Ford sensors 2007-2009, 2010-2014, Mazda sensors, BMW sensors, Toyota sensors, GM sensors, ad nauseam.

Amazon sells the cloning Autel MX sensors for about $120/4. Then you need an Autel TS-408 or TS-508 to make the sensor into something compatible with your vehicle. This sensor is useless without the tool to initialize/program.

I have a TS-508 and recently replaced the original sensors in a friend’s 2011 F-150. One sensor was dead so I used the TS-508 to read the sensor ESNs from the truck, then wrote those into the new sensors using the TS-508. At the same time this instructed the sensors to speak 2011 F-150 frequency and protocol. Might notice this is bass-ackwards from the “normal” procedure where one puts new sensor ESNs into the vehicle rather than putting old ESNs in the new sensors.

When the new sensors were mounted in the tire the truck didn’t know anything had changed. With clonable sensors one can have “identical” sets of summer/winter wheels.

 

$5 a piece and the reset tool is about $15. Part # F2GZ-1A189-A and TPMS-19, 8C2Z-1A203-A. Took them to Discount tire and they swapped them for $10 a tire. The clicker comes in handy when you do rotations, that way you don't have to let air out for the system to relearn location.

 

2015 sensors self learn location after a rotation.

OP, I have the inexpensive sensors in 3 vehicles and have had no issues with them. I will be putting them in my C6 Grand Sport when I buy new tires next year. I have an inexpensive relearn tool for it because C6 does not automatically relearn tire position.

I suspect the inexpensive tool you are looking at is only to relearn the vehicle position after a rotation, not a tool that can be used to "wake up" the TPMS sensors if they are shipped in a deactivated state.

 

I'm assuming the 2015 is the same - my 2016 does not require a tool of any sort to reset or activate the TPMS sensors. I swap back and forth between my snow tires and rest of the year tires with zero issues.

I found a set of OEM sensors at a low cost when I set up my snow tires on Amazon at the time... If you look around a bit you may find Oem sensors at a lower price - the source may vary...

 

Link? Where did you buy them?

 

EBAY is your friend for a lot of things. I'll see if I can find the links in my purchase history, but you should be fine using those numbers to seach.

 

A lot of scams on eBay.

If you purchased TPMS sensors on eBay that didn't need to be activated or woken, then they were previously used take-offs. Sensors are manufactured in dormant state for maximum shelf life. After that they wake when the wheel starts turning.

New valve stems for TPMS are very easy to come by. Most shops insist on replacing the valve stems with new tires even when they do not replace the TPMS sensor.