Sunday was a beautiful day, so I was out driving some twisties with the DSC turned off -- faster than I should have, leaping from stop lights, etc (you know the routine). Anyway, all of the sudden the warning light indicating tire failure (I've got Pirelli run-flats) goes off. I immediately pull over and check tires, which look ok. When I get home I turn off the car and when I re-start it, the warning is gone... I REALLY hate to drive the 45 miles to the Mini dealer. Is this a problem that requires their attention?

 

It’s something that has happened time to time in my MCS as well as others. A change in air pressure sometime will activate the warning light. Check for nails and check the tire pressure. If everything is good just push the reset button in front of the E-brake for 10 seconds. After you’ve drove a few miles it should turn off.

 

The flat tire indicator works by detecting one wheel rotating more quickly than the others - suggesting a reduced diameter due to loss of air pressure.

It is possible to confuse the system when you get wheel spin - obviously at that time one wheel is spinning more quickly than the others
I would guess there is code that attempts to distinguish wheel spin from low air pressure, but probably if you do lots of wheel spin you risk confusion.

It is also possible that the flat tire detector simply "waves surrender" when it sees lots of wheel spin, deciding that there is no way it can figure what is going on and so turns on the light.

 

I've had the same thing happen to me several times when I have pulled off quickly over an uneven or gravel surface, also on heavy sand build up after the winter. I reset the light after checking the tires and never took it into the dealer.

The one time I did have a problem - tire puncture during a run this Spring - the light worked like a charm and I could hear/see there was a problem as soon as I got out of the car.

 

Sounds strange. I would not worry too much.

Go to a station, fill the tires, check pressure, reset the thing, and see if it happens again.

Likely that Sndwave is correct and there is no issue at all.

I get this if I change tire pressure for autocross as well.

Hope it's nothing as I expect it to be...

 

I've had my tire monitor light come on twice: once when I'd just had the tires replaced, and it turned off after a few minutes, and once when I was driving in fog. Some of the early adopters noticed that the light would come on after washing the car or in damp conditions. It usually didn't mean anything except that some water got in the system somewhere and soon dried out.

The advice given above is good; follow it and you'll most likely be fine.

 

unlike the corvette or hummer[!], the mini run flat system does not actually monitor tire pressure. as some have pointed out, it uses the abs to monitor wheel spin across all four tires. if one starts to spin at a rate different from its bretheren, the little light goes on. a very inelegant solution . any really spirited driving will cause the inside rear wheel on any given tight turn to greatly vary in rotation from the rest of the tires. this is especially true for rough roads [where mine seems to like to light up]...if the car doesn't feel any different, just another false alarm. all part of the car's character, right?

 

The car is simply saying thank you for driving it the way it was designed to be driven!!

 

I wonder if this happens more when your car's been sitting out in the sun where only one side of the car gets the sunlight and the other don't...like at morning/late afternoon. That's an easy 2-3psi difference in some cases.


well, if you're canyon carving, the above comment does not apply because both sides will be heated up from the drive alone.

Just wondering...

 

Happens to me all the time...very annoying. I rely on the tell tale sign a tire's off when the car starts to pull to one side or another while going straight and steady.