Mini seems to be making a strong recommendation to RESET the TPMS every time I adjust tire pressure.

What actually happens in a reset, and why reset so often? If my gauge says my tires need 2 or 3 psi of adjustment, and I go ahead and make that adjustment, what does a reset do? Doesn't the tire sensor tell the car what change I've made? (It would be nice if the car reported the same psi as my gauge - but it doesn't). If I add 3 psi, does the car then report an additional 3 psi? If so, what gets reset - why must I also perform a reset? Suppose I ignore the reset - what bad thing happens in the TPMS?

 

The reset sets the reference level. It's like zeroing out your bathroom scale before you get on. Get your tires to the pressure you want, do the reset, then the system will monitor based on changes from that pressure. If all you ever do is pump them to the same pressure with the same gauge then you can probably safely ignore doing the reset. If you use different garage air lines and don't use your own gauge for consistency then you might want to have a think.

 

I've had my car for a year and never needed to do a reset even when I had a nail in the tire and had it patched. It never lost enough air pressure to trigger the message.