So tonight when I got in my MINI, I got the tire pressure warning light on the center spedometer and then a diagram in the LED of the tach showing arrows to all four tires.

I checked the pressure and all four tires were at 30, and I can't find any damage yet the lights are still on. I have the original factory run flats still on the car.

Anyone have any idea what's going on?

 

When was the last time you checked your tire pressure, prior to the TPS going off?

30 PSI isn't 'that' low... What's the recommended pressure for your MINI?

 

IIRC the correct pressure is 38psi. So yea, 30 will set off the TPMS.

 

On the inside of my driver's side door, it says the correct pressure is 33psi, not 38.

 

Just air up the tires and reset the TPMS, the proceedure is in the owner's manual, it's easy!

Dave

 

Does it depend on what flavor of tires you got? (Hi performance, vs all seasons?) Cause my car came with Bridgestone RE050A's and if the tires fall below 35 psi (using multiple gauges...) the TPMS will go off.

 

What size tires do you have. My 08 and 11 have 17 inch and both are 38psi. It also say if I plan on going over 100mph I need to inflate to 40psi.

 

I should also add that this is the time of year for people to have their TPMS alarms go off. What happens in when the air gets colder your tires loose pressure. What might have been good enough in the summer will be too low in the winter. On our first cold night here a couple of weeks ago I had my alarm go off. I checked the pressure and they were all 30psi.

 

Both of our 09's have Continental Run Flats. The door jam states 38 psi and 40 if going over 100.

That's odd that yours says that. OP what kind of tires did you get on your car from the factory?

 

Well, the tire don't really lose pressure, (if they weren't losing pressure in the summer), they just follow the ideal gas law. PV=nRT. Where the number of moles of air molecules stay the same, the volume of the tire stays the same, as temperature drops so does the pressure and vise versa.

Sorry it's the stupid engineer in me...

 

I believe my tires are Continental run flats, ContiProContactSSR with 16 inch rims. Door jam says 33. Owners manual says 33 or 38 for 100+. I set them in between at 35 and reset the TPMS.

 

OK, the same thing happened to me last night... haha!

I went out to dinner, parking the car outside for a couple of hours. The temperature dropped below 60 degrees Farenheight (the coolest evening temperature, since I bought the MINI in June)

I started the car, drove about 50 yards and the TPS sensor in the dash light up yellow, then in the tach I get the TPS warning in red with arrows pointing to all 4 wheels. I drove across the street to the gas station with an air pump station. The pressure on all 4 tires was about 28 PSI. I filled the tires, recalibrated the TPS system and drove off. The warning in the tach dissappeared immediately after recalibration, however the TPS sensor on the main dash remained lit, for approximately one mile befor turing off.

Today, good to go, no warnings no issue and no pressure loss.

all in all, educational... and I finally got a good airpressure reading on a true COLD start.

 

Kay Gee: Just out of curiosity, what times/rims do you have?

 

OEM:

WHEELS:POLISHED BLACK 5-SPOKE
TIRES: CONTIPRO CONTACT SSR 205/55/17 91R (run flat)