$700 for TPMS sensors seems like a lot. And it is.
However, that’s just the clickbait headline. The truth is I ended up spending $700 I hadn’t planned on, but for these items:
- 4 18” wheels
- 4 18” winter tires with about 4-5/32” of tread lift
- 4 BT TPMS sensors
- mounting the TPMS sensors in the wheels
The Whole Story
I had a friend sell his M3 for an Ionic 5N. He had purchased a 2nd set of wheels for winter use and offered them to me. They were 18” wheels with winter tires already mounted. They were a little worn, between 4/32” and 5/32” of tread left. For $500, that was a good deal, and even though I already had winter tires (dismounted), I like the idea of a 2nd set of wheels so I can do the switch on my time.
I took about 45 minutes to switch tires about a month ago, since my summer tires were low. About 3/32” left, with a slow leak in one from a screw. After the switch, I wanted to reset the TPMS sensors.
However, in the 2025 software, there isn’t a way to do this. There was in older versions, and maybe it was for older cars. Every time I drove the car it was annoying to see the alert that my TPMS wasn’t working.
I even went into the service menu and did a forget/relearn, but nothing worked.
I posted a few places and someone noted to me that Tesla moved to Bluetooth sensors from the old RF ones in 2020. I contacted my friend, and sure enough he said he had a 2018, so this was likely the issue.
I looked on Amazon and found these sensors for $100. I had a local Big O shop (who I really like), do the mountinng for $100. So, $200 for the sensors and mounting, $700 in total.
The shop staff was very skeptical. They kept saying they couldn’t program these (on the phone, during drop off, and a manager came by before the actual install). I told them not to worry, this was an experiment.
When it was done and I walked outside, the sensors had synched and I could see pressure. I went back in and got the manager so he could see it worked.
A $700 investment, but I think it’s worth it. These tires will likely need replacing over the winter, but that’s fine. By next winter I’ll be back to switching my own tires over when the weather changes.
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