Hi everyone,

I am moving from Oregon to Cooperstown, NY this summer for 2 years and am wondering if anyone has any experience driving their MINI in snow? They plow the roads but I'm unsure how it will all go since Oregon rarely gets snow.

Any gadgets/ tires/ advice?

I have a 2005 MINI Cooper with about 50,000 miles.

Any advice/ experience is greatly appreciated!!

Elizabeth

 

I just moved from NY/NE PA Pocono mountains area in February . Yes the roads are horrible. Be prepared for lots of potholes. My best advise is get a set of Continental DWS tires as they are the highest rated all season tire. These worked for me for years and I have bought several sets. they went thru the snow fairly well as long as the snow was not too deep. The other thing to do is get dedicated snow tires if you have a second set of wheels or you can just swap them yearly with your summer tire.

 

if you're that worried just get a set of steelies and some snow tires. the biggest issue with snow driving is usually the tires, not really the car.

 

I live up in Minnesota and this year we had record snow falls...and I mean major record snow falls ha ha .. I myself use what they call a studless snow tire in the winter and loved them.. But im sure a good all season tire like Braminator sug. would be just fine..lol..

 

A good snow tire on a MINI makes it as sure footed as a Mountain Goat!
As long as the roads have been plowed to 3 inches or less, and the ruts are not too deep, you are gonna love it!!
One word of warning......
WIDE UHP tires tend to ride up ON-TOP of snow...and it is a white knuckle ride...that is why they say LIGHT snow....and in all honesty, with the snow you might see, a second set of rims (that will be beat to heck with salt. sand, and potholes) for a set of good snow-tires is a WISE investment!! Heck cheaper than buying a SUV for a second car....

 

This past February my friend and I drove his '05 through some heavy snow in Northern Ohio and Indiana. The tires were all-seasons, but I'm not sure the brand/model. Regardless, the Mini handled it better than most FWD cars would. The weight distribution made it pretty sure-footed.
I would invest in a separate set of wheels and snow tires, as others have suggested. That is what I plan to do for my new Cooper S as well.

 

Hi all I am new to Cooper-landia and have a 2011 AWD mini Cooper - countryman. Live in boonies in Maine and do a lot of driving..winter has me nervous. Would like to get a second set of tires with studs..any ideas? worth it? mainly highway but need to get too highway..Used to a big old heavy Toyota...

 

Do like me.......stay home

 

Modern snowtires are so good, that with AWD, your car should do GREAT, even on ice. Studs are great on ice...but so bad on bare pavement I think most folks have switched to stud-less tires for winter.....
IMO, look what others use...in your area....
The only issue I think you MAY have is ground clearance (compared to your previous vehicle)....but as long as you stick to roads that have been occasionally plowed, you should be fine!!

 

Upstate NY can be a very snowy place. I should also point out that Cooperstown is a very beautiful little town. I have a 2013 CooperS. I just finished my first winter and I give it a thumbs down for handling in the snow. But that's mainly because I have the rock-hard, run flat tires. I think if you had all-season radials or snow tires, it would handle pretty well, as long as the snow is not too deep.

 

LOL...
I did ONE HALF (got my car Christmas EVE) of a WHITE KNUCKLED WINTER on all season UHP runflats...they might be OK for "light snow" in the Carolina's..but not up north...
Put a set of snows on my car..became a SNOW MACHINE!! As long as I have ground clearance, it is a blast!! I can accelerate FASTER and STOP FASTER than my wife's 4x4!!
Snow Tires on a FWD car = CRAZY FUN!!

 

I've lived in VT for 17 years and we get our fair share of snow. In my last 6 winters driving MINIs I've only had snow tires for one (Conti runflats) and the rest of the time I've had all-seasons. Admittedly I don't venture out to the mountains much, but even though VT doesn't have a bare-roads policy I've had very few problems. Sure I've got stuck on my steep driveway entry occasional when I didn't clear the snow off enough and it's iced up, but so has my wife's Wrangler. I think on my R58 I will get studless snows on 16" rims since I don't think the 17s will do so well. My R53 and R56 both had 16" wheels. I'd prefer 15" steelies but from what I understand they won't clear the brakes on the R56-59 models.

 

I was thinking of getting 15s for my Justa as tirerack showed it as an option for my R56. I think 15s don't clear the brakes on an MCS?

 

Right, the 07+ MCSs actually have the brakes from the 02-06 JCW so are bigger. I always forget that R56 is both the Justa and S designation, whereas it was R50 and R53 for the 1st Gen MINIs.

 

I bought a set of 15" winter tires on steel rims from a fellow MINI owner who had traded in her '05 MCS for a 2012 Clubman S. The 15" steel rims work fine on both my '09 Justa and her '05 MCS but were too small for the bigger brakes on the 2007+ S's. I just looked at a picture of my dad's old '05 MCS next to my '09 MC and I think that the ground clearance is similar. When Nemo hit and dumped 30" on us, my MINI was able to handle up to 6" of snow with snow tires with ease. I wouldn't have made it through the winter on my summer tires. My snow tires were an excellent investment. They aren't super fancy Nokians, just basic Firestones but they handled the snow very well.

 

Elizabeth,
Welcome to upstate NY

Cooperstown and the surrounding area are beautiful with some really nice MINI friendly roads. You'll love it. We have been there many times as we are just a little ways away in the Albany area.

As for snow, the Coopers are great snow cars, with the right tires. As you can see in my signature we have 2 MINIs. My S replaced my Jeep for taking me skiing. Both of our cars runs Bridgestone Blizzaks in the winter. Our '04 should be a lot like your '05 and it runs the WS60s. They are great. Nice ride and quiet. Oh, ya they are fantastic in the snow. As for wheels, by a set of used 15' wheels off NAM market place. And whatever you get for snow tires, get the 175-65x15 size or go up one size to 185-65x15. Don't want to be too wide; narrower is better in the snow. Hope that helps.

If you can make the trip to Albany once a month, we have a nice little MINI club that is a special interest group of the BMW car club and we meet at a really fine brew pub there. You are welcome to join us... http://www.mpgminis.com/about/ which is part of: http://www.patroonbmw.org/