My buddy has a tire machine and balancer that I use all the time so I never go to dealerships or tire shops to get my tires mounted anymore. (HUGE $$ savings). TPMS was kind of an over sight for me now that I think about

So I finally got around to getting a 2nd set of TPMS and a 2nd set of winter wheels but I need them programmed to the 2nd set the car an support. Does anyone know if I just go to any shop with out them mounted on wheels to have them programmed. I don't want to mount them on and then have a shop bill me for remounting to get to the actual sensors.

OR Does someone recommend any affordable hardware for programming the TPMS that they have used

 

They need to be programmed into your IS using techstream. You could have a toyota/lexus dealer do it, unless you have a friend with access to a copy of techstream.

I was in a similar situation. I copied the numbers on the new tpms and mounted and balanced the wheels. I had my sensors programed into my car with the numbers on the sensors.

 

Yeah I was just worried about the dealer saying they need to remount my wheels. I might just take them unmounted to the dealership and have them program it first

 

It shouldn't be necessary if you have the numbers written down already, which is all the info needed to program them. If you take them unmounted, you might save yourself some headaches just in case any problems do come up. Good luck with your decision.

 

If they are OEM or aftermarket and have the 7 digit hex or 9 digit decimal ID printed on them, Techstream alone will work. Some aftermarket sensors (e.g. ITM) work differently since they are made with the ability to clone an existing malfunctioning sensor and need to be initialized. They won't be printed with an ID that you can use, and even if you scan the ID with a TPMS tool, the default doesn't work (in my experience anyways.) In this case, the dealer or tire shop will still need to use some sort of TPMS tool to get the job done.

 

You can also have a well equipped tire shop program the TPMS settings to the car. The high end generic tools (e.g. Bartec 400) are better suited than Techstream for this job because they can read the numbers from the sensors and program them to the car even if the tires are already mounted.