blinking yellow light gor tires

[slovenac]

is this just a difference in tyre pressure?

mini repairman told me that i must just check tyre pressure and i can drive normaly

but in mini maintanance book its written that if i see yellow blinking light i must stop

i dont have runflats

[harvey94]

Hi,

If you don't have run flats then it won't matter, just press and hold the button below the hand brake that has the same symbol and the light will stop flashing then go out altogether. This happens to me anytime I get a tyre or wheel changed but as I also don't have run flats it doesn't matter, you should always check tyre pressure though.

[Cooper S Jon]

check all your pressures along as they are at recommended pressures reset the runflat system..

it doesn't matter whether you have rf tyres or normal,the system still monitors for loss of air in the tyres..

[marque]

Hi

DO NOT just reset the system with out checking your tire pressure.
The tire pressure monitor system work by differential wheel speed it has nothing to do if you have run flats or not.
Set them to what ever it says on your door pillar For your size of tire or what the tire manufacturer states once you are happy reset the system.
Resetting they system does not only reset the tire pressure monitor system but it puts you stability control and traction control in to learning mod

[harvey94]

Quote: Originally Posted by marque (original)

Hi

DO NOT just reset the system with out checking your tire pressure.
The tire pressure monitor system work by differential wheel speed it has nothing to do if you have run flats or not.
Set them to what ever it says on your door pillar For your size of tire or what the tire manufacturer states once you are happy reset the system.
Resetting they system does not only reset the tire pressure monitor system but it puts you stability control and traction control in to learning mod

OMG! I really had no idea of this! i was told at my local BMW garage that since i was not using runflats then this did not matter!! i am so angry!!
Can i now ask you guys why my light came on after getting new tyres fiited? it was not straight away, after the garage i went and set my own tyre pressures as the manual stated for the tyres i had which was F30 R35 , my partner was driving to college that night and the light came on?

So angry i was told to ignore it!

[MINImeat]

The system just sensed a difference from the pressures at the last time it was set. That's why you need to reset the system whenever you adjust the pressures. It then has a new "nominal" pressure and will alert you when any tire deviates enough from it.

[harvey94]

Quote: Originally Posted by MINImeat (original)

The system just sensed a difference from the pressures at the last time it was set. That's why you need to reset the system whenever you adjust the pressures. It then has a new "nominal" pressure and will alert you when any tire deviates enough from it.

Thanks!

[Angib]

It would be good to clear up how the different Mini systems work.

It sounds like MINImeat is talking about the US-only system with sensors in the wheels which directly measure tyre air pressure, though I think even in the US Mini now uses the European system.

In Europe the only system ever used has been to use the ABS sensors to see if one wheel is rotating more quickly than the others - if so it usually means that the pressure in that tyre is low and it triggers the warning.

MINImeat, how sensitive is the US in-wheel system, if that is what you have? The European one is pretty rough - you need to have lost 10-15 psi (about 1 bar) before the alarm is triggered, in my experience.

So it must not be considered a reliable guide that the tyre pressures are OK or even similar - it's just a warning that one or more tyres' pressure is very bad and possibly enough to give a serious handling problem.

[marque]

Quote: Originally Posted by harvey94 (original)

OMG! I really had no idea of this! i was told at my local BMW garage that since i was not using runflats then this did not matter!! i am so angry!!
Can i now ask you guys why my light came on after getting new tyres fiited? it was not straight away, after the garage i went and set my own tyre pressures as the manual stated for the tyres i had which was F30 R35 , my partner was driving to college that night and the light came on?

So angry i was told to ignore it!

Hi u

very good question. I have had this when I have fitted new tires and reset the system. which you should do when changing wheels ie winter to summer so on.
when you have new tire fitted and the system is reset. after a while the tire carcass will stretch. so the tire pressure drops only a little compared to the other tires so the dirental wheel speed changes and triggers the tire pressure monitor system. so if you ever have new tires fitted check your pressures so to know there ok reset the system give it a week or so and do it again. once this is done there should be no need to reset the system again. but you should check you tires regularly anyway to prevent abnormal tire ware and keep you fuel consumption as good as possible

hope this helps :-) sorry if post is abit jumbled was doing this on iPhone

[harvey94]

Quote: Originally Posted by marque (original)

Hi u

very good question. I have had this when I have fitted new tires and reset the system. which you should do when changing wheels ie winter to summer so on.
when you have new tire fitted and the system is reset. after a while the tire carcass will stretch. so the tire pressure drops only a little compared to the other tires so the dirental wheel speed changes and triggers the tire pressure monitor system. so if you ever have new tires fitted check your pressures so to know there ok reset the system give it a week or so and do it again. once this is done there should be no need to reset the system again. but you should check you tires regularly anyway to prevent abnormal tire ware and keep you fuel consumption as good as possible

hope this helps :-) sorry if post is abit jumbled was doing this on iPhone

This now makes sense! Thank you for clearing this up.

[MINImeat]

As far as I know, MINI has only ever used the ABS-triggered system, so my comments come from my experience with that configuration. It seems alittle more sensitive than the 10-15psi sited by Angib and I've even had my light come on with big swings in outside temps. I've always had plenty of time to get to a tire store and have the tire repaired. BTW, my last visit to a store to have a puncture repaired was the first where the employee walked out to see if I had runflats. I had several punctures successfully repaired in my RF's before I ditched 'em for normal tires.
The main message I want to convey is that there's nothing magic about the system; a tire with low pressure has a smaller effective diameter and the system sees that it's rotating faster. There's no sensor on the wheel or in the tire, so it doesn't care whether it's a runflat or not or as long as you set it for a properly inflated wheel/tire configuration.

[Caveman]

Quote: Originally Posted by Angib (original)

It sounds like MINImeat is talking about the US-only system with sensors in the wheels which directly measure tyre air pressure, though I think even in the US Mini now uses the European system.

Quote: Originally Posted by MINImeat (original)

As far as I know, MINI has only ever used the ABS-triggered system ...

US built MINIs switched from indirect monitoring (using data from the ABS sensors) to direct monitoring (using data from sensors inside the wheels at the base of the valve stem) in August 2007.

[marque]

Quote: Originally Posted by MINImeat (original)

As far as I know, MINI has only ever used the ABS-triggered system, so my comments come from my experience with that configuration. It seems alittle more sensitive than the 10-15psi sited by Angib and I've even had my light come on with big swings in outside temps. I've always had plenty of time to get to a tire store and have the tire repaired. BTW, my last visit to a store to have a puncture repaired was the first where the employee walked out to see if I had runflats. I had several punctures successfully repaired in my RF's before I ditched 'em for normal tires.
The main message I want to convey is that there's nothing magic about the system; a tire with low pressure has a smaller effective diameter and the system sees that it's rotating faster. There's no sensor on the wheel or in the tire, so it doesn't care whether it's a runflat or not or as long as you set it for a properly inflated wheel/tire configuration.

Hi

Yes you are dead right mini use the abs sensor to monitor wheel speed. which is basically a phonic wheel type set up. The system looks at it as a frequency this way it can be monitored more accurately.
The later car I think have a sensor in the tire but I think that's only for display on your inboard computer
But not 100% on that not had any apart yet

I have had cars in where the tread depths vary between worn and new around the car and the system has been triggered by temperature variations like you say, and also driving styles and very small tire pressure differences.

I use winter tires on steel rims 16" I also have pirelli run flats on standard 17" s spokes and set of summer wheels with 17" toyo's on all different sizes and profiles like you say it matters not what you have fitted as long as you look after them properly

[Angib]

Quote: Originally Posted by Caveman (original)

US built MINIs switched switched from indirect monitoring (using data from the ABS sensors) to direct monitoring (using data from sensors inside the wheels at the base of the valve stem) in August 2007.

Thanks - it's good to clear that up - I thought they had gone from direct to indirect!