Mini Cooper - TPMS query

[Graham King]

Folks, wonder if anyone can advise here.

 

My wife has a 2015 Mini Cooper (latest model line), this has runflats and TPMS fitted. I took car into local garage the other day as wanted them to swap front and rear wheels over in order to even out the wear.

 

They said they couldn’t do them as it would upset the TPMS as they are coded to the actual wheel they are on and that the computer would need reprogramming. I get why this is the case but had assumed that the reset process recalibrated it all properly.

 

Does anyone know if this is actually the case, I am trying to avoid having to continually buy 2 new fronts. My plan was to actually ditch the runflats all together at some point as I really don’t like them.

 

Cheers.

 

Graham

 

 

[Geoff Brown]

I have a 2015 Cooper S with JCW 210 upgrade.

I cannot see where the garage is coming from. The TPMS just monitors the pressure in the tyre & sends it back for processing & display. I far as I know it does not care what corner it is on. I have had the front tyres changed of late & the nearside ended up on the offside. The TPMS still functions.

When you have the tyres changed just bring up the TPMS & ask it to recalibrate while driving.

I would ditch the runflats as they give a horrible ride. I opted out of RFs & went for a different style of wheel & tyre combo that did not require RFs. 

For insurance reasons I would suggest replacing RFs with a 'BMW MINI' recognised & approved tyre. Dunlop & Hankook are two I know of. I have Dunlop SP Sport Maxx RT 205/45 R17 88W fitted. Reasonably good wet & dry handling but a little noisy. Price is good from the likes of Blackcircles.

[Graham King]

Geoff, thanks for the response. I think what they were saying was that each TPM has a code on it, the computer therefore knows which monitor is on which wheel so knows what the tyre pressure should be. You could swap side to side as the pressure would be the same but swapping back to front where the pressures are different would cause it to trip. I had always assumed that resetting the system effectively told it what the correct pressures should be for each TPM. You seem to be confirming this. 

Your comments regarding replacement tyres are interesting, I too dislike the runflats, absolutely ruin the ride. I wanted to swap these back to front to wear out the set and then look to replace with normal tyres. I haven’t looked around that much yet at possible replacements but will certainly look at your suggestions although it does seem 204/45*17 isn’t that common a size, 215/40 is much more common. 

I think I’ll just swap the wheels over and see what happens.

Many Thanks.

 

Graham

[Jim 123]

I'm inclined to agree with Geoff. The TPMS transponder in each wheel will probably communicate the internal pressure over a generic BMW frequency to the abs sensor in the hub that it sits next to,and this is where the in car display gets it's orientation. After a rotational swap the tyre pressure reset option in the car settings menu will need to be activated from the dash display.

Note that with the Mini space saver spare wheel option, I recall Mini advise to never to run a space saver on the front wheels (so a flat front has to be replaced with a wheel from the rear) which suggests that rotating the wheels isn't going to upset the cars brain.  Please keep us informed of what you do.

[Graham King]

Jim, thanks for your response as well. You describe what I expected to happen tbh. 

I will get the wheels swapped over and see what happens. I will report back on here.

Geoff, just re-reading your post, will I also need to change the wheels to fit non run flats or did you simply do this out of preference? I understand that run flats have a different inner rim on the wheel to ensure the tyre doesn’t come off the wheel if it does go flat but had assumed I could fit ordinary tyres to these wheels.

Cheers both.

Graham.

[ChrisC]

Get yourself coding the Mini, and you can also have tyre temps as well as pressure :-). It’s one of the coding changes I made to my 2015 MCS with JCW kit.    The best coding change is the JCW engine note from the Active sound. 

[Geoff Brown]

My wheels & tyres were fitted as a factory no cost option to get away from RFs.

You should not have to change the wheels whichever size they are (17" or 18") as you will find a tyre to suit.

If you use an online service: Blackcircles/E Tyres etc just put in your current tyre size then when the tyres are displayed just ignore the run flat ones. That should work. Also ignore the warning that you may get that your car should be running RFs as I get that all the time.

 

 

[Jim 123]

Chris how do you go about coding? I've never heard of it and would be interested to learn what's involved.

[ChrisC]

Esys is the standard tool, costs about £20 for the lead and download the software.   It’s a bit of a pain to get working, but there are forums out there.   BimmerCode is what I am now using, bit more expensive but simple to get working, its an iPad/iOS app, the connector is £27 and the app in app purchase is £25.

The changes I have made to my 2015 MCS are

Tyre temps as well as pressure on the vehicle status display.

Stop start remembers my last setting (saves switching it off each time you start the car)

Music off when the drivers door is opened instead of when it’s locked

Outside door handle lights on when you reverse

Active sound using JCW engine note instead of the MCS noise

 

There is so much more you can change, it just depends on what units are installed in your car, but you also switch stuff off you don’t like or want.   

If you have a late Mini or BMW it’s a way to personalise your car.

 

 

[Jim 123]

Thanks Chris I'll have a play.

[aerobod - near CYYC]

Although this link has details for the BMW 2-series, the F56 MCS is almost identical in coding procedure (just some of the config files are different). You will need the ENET (ethernet) cable, not the CAN based one: Coding F-Series BMWs and Minis

[Graham King]

Folks, just a quick update on this. 

Following this I also visited STS (national tyre fitter), they also repeated the same thing that I couldn’t swap the wheels from front to rear without upsetting the TPMS. So once the freezing weather had subsided a bit I did it myself. I made sure the pressures in each tyre were adjusted accordingly then took it out for approx 10 mile drive. I can report no issues whatsoever, didn’t even require a rest of the TPMS. 

So presumably the sensor in the wheel simply talks to the sensor (ABS?) on each corner to let it know what pressure it has so I guess the intelligence is in the ABS sensor not the tyre sensor. 

Appreciate all the advice above, Jim & Geoff you were correct and 2 national tyre chains were wrong. 

Thanks.

Graham.

[Jim 123]

Thanks for the feedback Graham and I'm pleased that it all worked out. 

[aerobod - near CYYC]

BMW / Mini have two types of monitoring, neither requires wheels to be in specific positions:

TPMS (Tyre Pressure Monitoring System) - full pressure monitoring with in-tyre sensors. Identified by metal valve stem secured with external nut. The sensor compatibility changed around 2014, so the right sensor needs to be used with a given car model year before and after the change.

FTMS (Flat Tyre Monitoring System) - uses the ABS sensors to monitor if tyre rolling circumference is changing due to losing pressure. Identified by conventional rubber valve stems, has no in-tyre sensors.

[ChrisC]

A 2015 F56/F55 Mini Cooper is 100% using the TPMS system, not FTMS.

I don't know the spec of your car, have you got either of the Connected (iDrive like) displays?   If you have you can see the tyre pressures under Vehicle Information, Vehicle Status.    Just to test the TPMS is working - take 5 psi out of a rear tyre and take  it for a slow drive until the tyre pressures are displayed.    This should show you the TPMS is working and if it identifies the correct wheel.   If it thinks the wheel is still in the old location, reinflate, reset the TPMS, and try the test again.   

Plenty of F56 owners rotate the wheels, it seems to be more popular in the US.   None are reporting problems on the MiniF56.Com forum.

[Graham King]

Definitely got TPMS, metal valve stems and can monitor the tyre pressure as Chris states above. 

Have to admit I haven’t gone an actually checked the readings as it hasn’t complained. I’ll take a look at it tomorrow, I know what I set the pressures to so if they’re showing the correct ones then happy days. 

Cheers all.

[aerobod - near CYYC]

In Canada no current BMWs or Minis are fitted standard with TPMS, in fact this seems to apply to VWs, Audis and other non American manufacturers, too. I believe this is due to the significant temperature swings that occur in many cities during the winter or potentially the risk of ice forming from moisture in the air in a tyre below -20C, that could cause sensor problems.

Some winter days we can see temperature swings of more than 40C in 24 hours, which would cause a tyre set to 35PSI at 15C to drop to 30PSI if the temperature drops to -25C, triggering false alerts. FTMS systems seem to have a tolerance of about 10PSI before alerting, so a lot more suited to our climate without triggering false alerts.