The other day my low air pressure warning light came on (in red, not yellow).
I checked all 4 tires, they seemed fine. I made an appointment to go to Otto's anyway, just in case. It occurred to me that with run-flats, how could you tell if there's really a problem? Aside from nails sticking out of it of course.
So that's one question.... Is there a visible difference to the shape or looks of a run-flat tire that's flat?

Sounds like a silly question in my own mind, but never had run-flats before...

Also, once down at the dealer's, they simply reset the tire pressure monitor, took it for a test drive, and checked to see if the warning came back on. I should have thought of that myself; I think they should have suggested that before I ran all the way down to the dealer's on my lunch break. But while there, I was told that the indicator goes off every once in a while when the weather changes.

So my 2nd question is, how often does the MINI tire pressure sensor give erroneous warnings to you? (It should be noted my tires are all fine and the warning has not come back, so let's assume all my tires are fine).
Thanks for your feedback!

 

you should have asked this in the GEN2 section...the GEN1 tire monitor is different from the GEN2 and I see you've an 08.

Both of my MINIs have the older system...I've yet to see an alert on the 07 after 12 months of ownership. But I do check the pressure regularly.

 

I got that once when the weather outside was really cold.

The manual inspects checking the tires and air pressure if nothing is wrong, reset it. If it comes back on again, take it to dealer.

 

Mine came on a couple of weeks ago and I checked the air pressure in all of my tires and one was down about 2 psi cold.IIRC the TPMS comes on if one or more of the tires goes below the predetermined psi rating that is stored in the computer.I went and filled up the front tires to 38 psi and the rears 36 psi then reset the TPMS and drove as per the instructions in the owner's manual to reset it.

Light has remained off since.

 

Mine went off when I was at my parents and knew the neighbor had a ham radio and assumed that the radio set it off. The tire pressure was fine. I did a reset and no issued for the last couple of months.

 

Mine did it the other night when it dipped down into the 50's here. That was the coldest since I got it. I never checked the tire pressure since buying it. Both rears were 26 psi and the fronts were 30psi. I put them all at 35. Light has not come back on.

 

Ah, this IS the GEN2 section...

In my 07 the warning went off once and when I checked the tires they were all about 15 lbs low, filled them up, reset the system and it never went off again... No issues with my 08... Knock on wood...

 

When temperatures go down, so do tire pressures. You should get in the habit of checking your tires pressure at least every week.

Something I noticed when my car was new was the runflat tires did not hold pressure as well as a regular tire.

 

The lessons I've learned are:
1) Buy a tire gauge
2) Learn where the tire pressure monitoring system reset button is

Thanks for all your feedback!

 

Where is the reset button the R56's? My buddy has a 53 and I know where the button is...but it's certainly not there in mine. Do I have to go through all the stuff with the info button when the car's off?

 

The information is in your owner's manual to rest the TPMS.

Here are the directions for you to rest it taken from a pdf.:

I hope that helps some.

 

Thanks

 

^^You are welcome and glad that I could help

 

In my old MINI i had a runflat go flat from a nail. The light was on so I checked the pressures and it was at 0 lbs. To answer your question, you could not tell by looking at the tire that it has 0 lbs of air in it.

 

I got a flat about a week after I picked up my MINI. I was on the freeway and slowed down to about 55mph when the warning came on. I didn't notice anything unusual until I had driven approx. 2 more miles and then it started pulling noticeably to the left (flat on front left wheel) but still easy to control. My exit was just another 1/2 mile or so and I pulled into the gas station on the corner. The tire was "noticeably" flat. I tried to put air in and it hissed out faster then it was going in - a big hole right in the middle.

That was 5 weeks ago and today when I started her up to go to work, the low tire warning came on. I checked the pressure in all the tires and the front left was only 26psi - the others were between 33 and 34. Went back to the same tire place and they couldn't find any leak. I read on another thread that sometimes they don't seal them properly so they 'resealed' it. I hope this won't be a continuing problem.

 

Did you go to the Mini dealer? Dealers usually do a decent job with the tires.

Pump it up to the same psi as the rest and do a reset. Keep a close eye on it. If it happens a second time, you know something is up.

 

The closest dealer is about 40 miles ...

Hopefully the reseal took care of it but I'm going to keep checking every couple of days for a while just to make sure. If it happens again, I'll just take it in to the dealer and have them check it out.

 

At least that closer than my dealer, 180 Miles, all Interstate.
My flats go to my local guy that has figured out how to reset the monitor.

 

I would add:

3) Check tire presure once a month and top-off any tire not at the recommended PSI.

The TPMS is a useful feature, but it is not a substitute for routine maintenance. Checking your tire pressure frequently should be part of that maintenance. Also, the readings that "set off" the TPMS system seem to be all over the place. Some posters have had it go off when tires are down just a few pounds. Others report finding tires that are down 5-10 pounds after a TPMS warning. That's very low, and another good reason to check it yourself.

 

Haven't checked for a few weeks. No pressure warning but the tire looked a little low to me so I checked Saturday and it was down to 30 psi. Still leaking apparently but not as fast as before. I'll be checking it every couple of weeks - I almost wish these would hurry up and wear out so I can justify getting all new tires.

Oh, also on my previous post I noticed that I had a typo - my tires are at 43/44 psi not 33/34.

 

43/44 sounds very high for a recommended PSI. What size tires/wheels do you have?

 

That's what I thought but my husband looked at the tire specs and it said 51psi max. I still have the OE tires - Goodyear - can't remember the exact model. They didn't have any in stock so I got the Goodyear Eagle. Supposedly it's the same but a slightly different tread.

 

Max tire pressure is not the same as recommended tire pressure. There is real danger once the tire presssure goes above 51 psi and that can be the hot pressure. As you drive, the tire pressures will increase as the tires get hot.

For the R56:
17" rims have a recommended cold tire pressure of 38 psi
16: rims have a recommended cold tire pressure of 33 psi.

Look at your driver door (the pillar) or your owners manual. for the recommended cold tire pressure.

 

Good info. Way to many people see the maximum pressure on the tire and fill to that PSI! Its bad for the tires and alters handling severly.

 

I'll check it out. Thanks