Thinking of purchasing a tire and wheel package off the net. I have a 2008 cooper s with 205-45-17 and Dunlop run flats on it. Want to get away from the run flats and go with a standard tire. My questions are these. My tires have the tire pressure gauge indicator on them. I've been on a couple of sites where you can have those added. Where can I take my cooper to get the new indicators set up with the car, and any idea how much that costs? Was also thinking of going with either a 215-45-17 or upgrading to a 215-35-18. My cooper is stock height as well. Anybody have any thoughts on the above?

 

You can just reset the tire pressure monitor system yourself once your new wheels are on the car. The instructions in the manual that you would use to reset after inflating your tires will also make the car "learn" the new sensors.

I you don't have a manual you can Google something like "mini cooper manual pdf" and one of the top three or four links will point you to a page at the MINI website where you can download it.

 

I have the downloaded manual you speak of spiney. I was checking it out last night and did see the reset feature for the TPM that you are talking about. So it's as simple as putting on the new wheels and tires with the new TPM's installed and then just reset the TPM? The car will just pick up the new TPM's and there will be no issue like cooper beeping at me and displaying the TPM light all the time?

 

Correct. Just fit the new wheels, start the reset procedure, then drive for a little while and the light will go out. Make sure you pump the tires to the right pressure for your car before you do it and you're all set!

 

TPMS can be transferred from one set of wheels to another or you can buy a full new set and install them. Tirerack.com has TPMS sets and most tire and wheel specialists stock them. If transferring TPMS from old to new wheels you can use a maintenance kit on some of the wear items on each TPMS valve.

Using stock suspension, 215/45-17 is a better size and gives you better selection of tires and more ride comfort than 215/35-18. The tire selection in that 18" size is small and 35 series sidewall would be stiff riding on anything but smooth roads. Wheel gap would be increased by a very small amount.

215/40-18 would be more similar to 215/45-17 in terms of tire diameter and you get a much larger selection of possible tires.

 

idk about 17-18s.. i'd stick with 16s. also tire $$ goes up rapidly as wheel size increases. tirerack should have everything you need.

 

I can't recommend Tire Rack highly enough.

Have purchased many sets of tires and new wheel/mounted tires from them over several decades (performance tires, auto-x tires, snow tires & alloy wheels). Very informative web site and helpful on-line sales consultants. The fact that Tire Rack supports many car clubs (Miata, BMW, MINI, SCCA etc.) AND strongly supports the Street Survival teen driving program is another reason I choose to support them. Just last week, got a set of alloy mounted snow tires for my wife's new BMW 328 xDrive Sport Wagon. They also have a strong ship to tire dealer program which I've utilized many times when I only need new tires mounted.

Even if you don't purchase from Tire Rack, their web site has a wealth of tire info, surveys, reviews etc. that's not duplicated anywhere else.

Not affiliated with Tire Rack...except as a long term very satisfied customer.

 

The tire and wheel website you purchase from should have the data for the appropriate TPM sensors for your vehicle.

When I ordered my Pooper S Convertible, I also ordered a set of snow tires and wheels from Tire Rack. Tire Rack identified my vehicle's sensors as 433MHz sensors if that helps. May or may not be the same for your vehicle.

Follow the TPMS reset procedure carefully in the owners manual. It goes like this:

Inflate all four tires accurately to the correct pressure. Start the engine but do not drive the vehicle. Execute the TPMS reset procedure. Drive the vehicle for several minutes, making sure to exceed 20mph. The system will recognize the new sensors and will establish the set tire pressures as the new guidelines.

As for tire/wheel size, the 215-45R17 will give some more sidewall height for a more comfortable ride, but will make for a larger overall wheel diameter which will throw the speedo off just a little bit. I say stick with your OEM size or push up to the 18's but really I say stick with OEM tire size.