I've ordered my MINI in May, and my dealer just told me that I might get my car sooner than expected... this is a good thing.

The specs:

Jet Black
White roof & mirrors
Multifunction wheel
17" S-lites w/all-seasons

I caved to style and added the 17" wheels and had question:

What are the differences between the 16" and the 17" wheels (besides the size/appearance )?

Does the car lose any of the "nimble feel" with larger wheels? In the past with other cars, I noticed that absolute grip improved by going to larger/wider wheels but the car lost the "nimbleness" of the smaller contact patches. Does this question make sense?

Thanks for any info on this question...

 

Welcome. Another jet black on order here. Good color.

'Nimble' is hard to classify. From what I've seen/read/driven, it's not so much the contact patch as sidewall stiffness. Lower profile tires will naturally be more 'responsive' because there's less rubber to stretch and flex. Keep in mind that the Mini, regardless of wheels and tires, is one of the more nimble cars on the road.

The other difference is in ride. By going with larger wheels, you increase the total weight of a wheel. Sometimes significantly. This in turn increases the 'unsprung weight' of your car. When a wheel hits a bump, it has more inertia to deflect. In other words, it's harder for the bump to move your wheel. Through your suspension, this feels like a slightly 'harsher' ride. Ideally, wheels and suspension would be weightless. This way, the main mass of the car (the body and you) can continue to move in a perfectly smooth line determined by the 'macro' shape of the road instead of the 'micro' bumps along the way.

I'm new around here too. Good to meet you.

 

Hi Goose and welcome. The jet black with white roof with 17" is an awesome choice . Fluidsoul pretty much more or less summed up what I was thinking. I'm a 17 incher too and love 'em.

 

Welcome to NAM. I assume you got an MCS, but that may not be the case. I love black with white, but I was afraid mine wouldn't be kept clean enough so I got white with black. There are 2 black with white and white S lites near me. One belongs to an attorney with whom I serve on a civic committee and he drives his quite fast. Those white S lites make the car look like a cat or puppy. I hope you post pics when you get it. Congratulations.

 

Goose,
Aloha and welcome to NAM.

Did you test drive an MCS with both the 16" wheels and 17" wheels?
If you did you should have noticed a difference in ride smoothness which is better with 16" wheels which are also lighter and more responsive to acceleration and braking- essentially more "nimble".

If you do performance driving then the 16" wheels will do better. If you do mostly street driving at the posted speed limit then either wheel will do OK. If your roads are ultra smooth with no potholes and ruts then either wheel will do fine. It's possible that with very hard cornering the 17" might respond a little better but you have to contend with the added weight and the other limitations of the stock suspension, etc.

 

This suggests to me a question (especially since I did not find my road condition above):

4. If your roads are rough, have potholes and ruts then which wheel would be preferable (if we cannot avoid driving on such roads)?

4.A. 16 because the standard sidewall is a higher profile.

4.B. 17 because the larger diameter can mask road deformities.

4.C. One or the other, but not for the reason stated.

4.D. Minihune's answer.

 

Thanks for all of your informative responses, folks. I feel fortunate to have found such a nice group of people. I should have specified that I was getting a Cooper S (forgive me, I'm new)

My dealer, Midwestern MINI, has very few cars to demo (not that they're a bad dealer - quite the contrary). I drove a Cooper with the 16's, and originally spec'd my MCS with the standard 16's. I confess that I switched to the 17's at the last minute before production based on looks alone.

I have recently driven the one MCS my dealer has for demos - an '04 MC40. As far as I can tell from my rather tame test drive, the 17's are great. I assume the "standard" MC40 rides on 17's and not 18's, right?

Thanks again! :smile:

 

Welcome Goose!!! Hope your MINI gets here soon! Since you're getting JB, be extra sure to check out the detailing threads so you can take good care of it from the start. JB may take some extra attention to keep spotless from what I hear, but it does look awesome!!!

 

Goose -
Depending on which 16" wheels you're talking about, going to the 17" S-Lites is going to add roughly 4 to 7 pounds per wheel, which hurts acceleration, braking, and fuel economy, and is roughly equivalent to adding 4x as much weight to the non-rotating parts of the car. Do they really look that much better?

It kills me that MINI calls these them S-Lites. They're the heaviest OEM wheel, even heavier than the 18" R95 wheels!

 

My original spec called for the R84 "V-Spoke" style. I've created my "live and learn" signature to reflect my newfound understanding of the wheel situation.

So: if a wheel/tire combo adds about seven pounds of unsprung mass per corner, the total EFFECTIVE weight must be multiplied by four? In other words, 7 lbs x 4 corners = 28 extra ACTUAL pounds, yet the EFFECTIVE mass is is like carrying around an extra 112(!) pounds? That sucks...

I assume that since I got the all-season tire option with my R85's, my combo is the heaviest (ie: 7 lbs per wheel extra)

 

I'm just parroting what others have said. If you put out an SOS for the math squad, plenty of people will rush into the thread with breathless descriptions of moments of inertia and rotational mass and so forth. Seriously, though, if you do a search for unsprung weight, you can dig up a few of those threads and decide who you want to believe.

 

First off, forget about the wheel size. What colour are they, that's what's important! I have a JB with white wheels (16's) and I am so busy cleaning them I can't worry about ride or handling!

You're are going to have so much fun driving your new MINI!!!!

Welcome to NAM!