I just went through this myself. I bought 4 tpms sensors with my wheels and tires. The shop I had install everything just took my stock sensors out and put them in the new wheels. It's such a pain they didn't want to mess with programming the new ones. On the other hand, I have 4 brand new tpms sensors in my garage lol.

 

So the answer isn't magic?

 

I just purchased 4 new sensors for my new wheels, discount tire tried to use aftermarket and they didnt work, here is the sensors i purchased from the dealer

 

I will be getting my snow tires assembled in a month or 2 I guess i will just clone the F150 with my father in laws tpms programmer.
it uses some universal 315/433 sensors but you pick by make model year
you then scan the sensor you want to “replace”
then make a exact copy.
i did this on my 18’ explorer for the snow wheels/tires it worked seamlessly.
i also have a $14 tpms activator tool for the explorer so when i dont have the fancy tool i can rotate tires and correctly identify the positions when done.
The universal sensors are about $25-28.

 

That depends. Magic is just science we don't yet understand. Do you understand? If not, magic!

 

So the Motorcraft sensors worked OK where the "China"-sensors did not.

Did you 'just drive' and it picked them up, or did you have to do the warning flasher/horn honk routine described in the owners manual?

 

I got the universal aftermarket tpms.
I cloned them on my father in-laws programmer
they appear to read properly and show the proper id.
I had zero issues with my explorer
I have not put them on the road yet but I don’t expect any issues. All 4 were $108 total from ebay.
Snow wheels/tires completed

 

I use an autel tpms programmer and the dual frequency sensors in my shop. If you have the original wheels you can just wake and clone all 4 sensor ID. Majority of vehicles will figure out the orientation themselves. GM was slow to the party on that and used a seperate tool. You went into the learn procedure and one head or tail light would come on at a time and you hit a button at that sensor.

I do wish the 21 told me my spare tire pressure. I also wish the spare was the same size as my other 4. Lol

 

This is exactly what we do too, it works really well when adding a second set of wheels/sensors for snow tires. We've been exclusively using the Autel sensors for about 3 years now and haven't had a single issue. I also really like the fact that I can pull the sensor IDs from the car and program the factory IDs to new sensors even when the factory sensors are damaged and not working. I really like my Autel MS906TS, it's been my daily driver scan tool for the past 4 years.

 

I have a 906 and a launch 431 pro. I generally grab the launch but have no issue with either. The launch is great for immobilizer and key programming. If it did TPMS and Battery testing i could eliminate a ton of boxes from my shop. On my 21 I can only get into about half my live data with the 431. I'm waiting on an update.

My TPMS programmer is the 508K. i really like it. The Autel sensors have never failed me either. And you can get metal or rubber stems as well. Sometimes on Toyota and Lexus it won't wake the sensor though and I have to drive them first. I have their (al539B) Multimeter, scantool, and Battery monitor too but i wouldn't recommend it for much. It fails 99% of all batteries. Is way off on cranking amps and is lackluster for a multimeter compared to a Fluke. Lol.