Mustang GT TPMS question

[Alloy Dave]

Ok, I know this has been discussed at length in other places....so if someone has a link that would be helpful. Or, if you've done this...please comment.

I have a friend at work who has an '07 Mustang GT. He wants summer wheels/tires. I'll paste below his email to me. Any more info appreciated regarding the cost of the retraining tool, cost by the dealer to retrain, how well any of the options work if you've tried them, where to buy the bands less expensively than Ford, etc. Note he has 17" wheels.


**** His note below.


Mine is a lowly GT! The car has the original 17" machined aluminum wheels with Pirelli tires. I hate the wheels. My plan is to use these in the winter. I am ready to buy a set of the OEM 18" polished aluminum "bullit" wheels for summer use. I found a source for take off wheels. I already bought the new tires from TireRack - 235/50-18 because they were on sale for 40% off.

One obvious option is to skip sensors in the summer wheels and just live with the dash light on and put a piece of black tape over the light.
or
Buy an extra set of new sensors/brackets/straps for the new wheels from Renner for $450. But Renner says the car will have to be retrained each time I swap the wheels because the car can only recognize one set of sensors at a time. But a special "tool" is needed to retrain. They said I should bring the car in each time I swap for them to retrain. I didn't ask about the price of the tool or to retrain.
or
Is there a way to buy sensors cheaply, and do the retrain myself in the garage
or
I heard of a guy to took his original sensors off, put them in PVC tube with a valve, pressurized the tube to 32psi, and put the tube in the trunk. Creative! But will the sensors "go dead" if they aren't always in motion? Not sure what I'm really saying!

I'm looking for any help I can find. Lets have lunch soon and talk cars.

[SLB8SNK]

I will leave much of the technical jargon for someone else, but from seeing it first hand and asking a tire tech, the retaining tool is nothing more than a circular magnet that is placed over the valve stems on each wheel once they are remounted. Each car has a process/procedure and using that magnet, retrains the senors. I had this done on my Expedition when they replaced the tires and watch the tech do it, took all of a minute per tire. He downloaded the process from his shop PC, so I imagine it is a process that is available, or maybe he can go to a tire store and kindly ask them to pull and print.

Hope that makes sense!