My MINI is a 2010 Clubman, not S, not JCW, just Cooper. It has 38020 miles on it. Purchased June 2010. I'm a faithful customer of Tirerack and just had the tires replaced today with OEM Conti ProContacts.

I read up on the details of installation, etc., on NAM before I took it to Tire Kingdom, a recommended installer. I was expecting upsell and, because I'm female, went armed with data and lingo. What I didn't expect was to be told that the TPM sensors had to be replaced "by law." This was in case there was dry rot on/in the rubber gaskets. I live in the state of Georgia.

I requested the old parts and found no dry rot or damage to the rubber gaskets on any of the four. Was I ripped off? They claim I should replace the sensors every time I replace the tires. Of course, there is nothing about this in the owner's manual just "talk to your MINI adviser ...."

This is my second MINI - first '03 Cooper went to 165K - and I had tire wear/alignment issues with the first. So, I have rotated the tires on the Clubman every 6K miles. There is no clue in the owner's manual about rotation or alignment. At 30K, the MINI service advisor told me I should NOT rotate the tires on these new MINIs. I'm sure I heard him correctly.

What is correct? BTW I just ordered a current version of Bentley for this car as the one I had for #1 was invaluable.

Otherwise, this Clubman is top notch and is getting 42 highway/39 town. Wooo hoooo!!!!

 

I don't know about the state of Georgia but if that is true the state of Georgia is on crack. Thankfully there is no such law in Washington and I have never heard of such a thing and to me it reeks of rip off. It should be easy enough to verify if you are so inclined. Not sure how much they soaked you but it stinks to high heaven if you ask me.

I rotate the tires every 5k on my Mini's. We had 2 2009 MCS and I rotate my tires every 5K on my Coupe. Not really sure why Mini does not talk about it in the manual but there is no reason not to rotate tires at least on the cars I have owned.

I've seen hundreds of complaints about premature tire wear but most of those people do not rotate the tires. The original Conti run flats on my wife's car went 40K or so with 5K rotations. Unless you have different tires sizes front and rear why not rotate??

These are my experiences and thus far no problem. I sure would like to understand the explanation from that MA for saying that.

 

I've changed tires twice now, and have my original tpms. No one mentioned such a law, and I doubt it would be a state law, so it should be the same in Michigan as Georgia.
So, I think they made that up...
Someone there should know for sure.
That's great mileage! Mine is an automatic and has lots of town driving, short trips , so 29 mpg.

 

I've been informed that a TPMS *service kit*has to be used with each tire mount, o-rings/gaskets and such that are considered disposable and one-use.

That's been consistent across three unaffiliated Missouri tire dealers / shops.

Is $10-15 per wheel additional.

If they're saying the TPMS *units* have to be replaced, I've not heard of that.

 

What ljmattox says is true. There is a rebuild kit for the sensors. But the kits for my 2012 were $7.00 ea. It is not mandatory in our state to change them. I only change them when I move the TPMS sensors to another wheel or I have a tire that is leaking around the TPMS. Then I would change them all. I have never had one leak. My wife has the same one's on her car since new.

 

I was able to get new tires from Tire Rack mounted by a local shop with used TPMS already installed on my wheels. No question came up about replacing or rebuilding.

 

The part that was replaced was as ljmattox described - a 'kit' not a 'unit.' Sorry for the confusion. I'm still learning this MINI. The '03 had indirect TPMS and I had some in-depth discussion and work done on it at about 130K. The '10 has the valve-stem units and I didn't realize it when I arrived at Tire Kingdom. Now I understand the difference.

They charged me $7/tire/wheel to replace the originasl. I don't know what brand they used. Tomorrow I'm taking the MINI to a local tire shop recommended by a trustworthy person today after I shared my story. They are going to check the work and the alignment. The owner said that replacing the 'kit' with every new set of tires is a good precaution but didn't think the government required it. He said the whole sensor unit should last at least 80K.

I'm on a 6K mile oil/filter/rotation schedule and that's what I'm going to maintain. I'm thinking I must have just misunderstood the MINI advisor about the NO rotation. His knowledge was otherwise outstanding.

The wheels and tires are all the same size. The tires are not run flats. The '03 came with Dunlop RFs as I thought at the time that was a good idea. I couldn't stand the ride and handling and changed out at 30K. However, I never had tires that I liked for the duration.

As for the MPG, I usually use Shell 93 octane and I use cruise most of the time and MINI has a manual tran and most of the miles are long jaunts. Nevertheless, I'm crazy happy about the MPG!

Thanks again for the help. I haven't contributed much to NAM over the years - almost 10 - but I have gotten invaluable help from other MINI owners.

 

INS, I have 2 sets of wheels with TPMS on each and the winter set is the original MINI wheels with TPMS and 70K miles, never serviced the sensors and no issues, if they are moved you do replace the O-Rings, the actual sensors do not have a sevice interval, they are replaced if defective. My summer wheels are new last year and purchased sensors preinstalled from Tire Rack. If the wheels are swapped or rotated, you have to "relearn" the car, easy to do through the driver information center in the tach display, takes about 30 seconds.