Tire Rotation and TPMS
 

Ok, I'm sure this is a stupid question, and I am sure it is answered a million times somewhere on here; but I have already looked through so many pages and other forums I am just going to ask it again. I hope that all of you in your infinite wisdom and experience can help out a novice who just doesn't trust other people to do something this easy and important.

I have a 2012 Ford Egde SEL AWL. I would like to rotate my tires. On my old Mazda 3 I could rotate them and everything was fine with the TPMS. This leads me to believe everything will be just fine with my Edge, but because I opened my big mouth and let other people know what I was doing they insisted on making me research this online and now I am nervous about it because apparently people actually do have an issue with this. So now I have to know, if I rotate my tires myself at home without a relearning tool, will I mess up my TPMS? I never once reset the TPMS in my 2004 Mazda 3, maybe I should have, but I never did and it always worked just fine. Is that the case with my newer model Ford, or will all hell break loose and my TPMS will never work right again? Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

Sincerely,

Frustrated Car Novice

Some vehicles know what sensor is where on a vehicle and other vehicles could care less. So...If you have a vehicle that can care less (like my Freestar and MKZ) the only issue you may have is the TPMS light may need reset when you do a FRONT/REAR rotation due to the change in vehicle load applied to the tires vs. what it was. However, this doesn't always occur. My freestar does it about once every 3-4 tire rotates.

On vehicles that know exactly which sensor is where, if not rescanned for position after a tire rotate may report the L/R tire is low, but the L/R tire may be on the L/F or R/F.

My 2004 Freestar and 2010 MKZ can care less which tire is where...They are just looking for a response from the sensors. Heck, my MKZ would pop the TPMS light after about 35 miles from the garage with the snow tires on it (aftermarket rims w/no sensors). The factory Goodyears and rims were setting in the corner of the garage. The system would clear once I got within about 30 feet of the OEM rims as it would "See" the sensors from the factory tires and be all happy untill the next time I left the garage.