Ok, nothing too urgent. I am going to autox the cooper this weekend. I plan on trying to stay on the run flats this year. I am wondering what a good cheap option for autox tires and wheels would be.

Any ideas?

 

"Good" and "cheap" usually don't go hand in hand, but for starters, you might want to check with Alex@tirerack.
He should be able to steer you in the right direction

 

Check out http://www.mini-motorsport.com/suspension.php. They have a Performance Wheel/Tire Package consisting of 4 Monza 16x6.5" wheels with 4 215/45-16 Falken Azenis tires, mounted and balanced, all hardware included. The price: $1050 silver, $1090 white. This package would be SCCA legal (right width/diameter combination) and , at 34 lbs per set, is about 6 lbs. less than the x-spokes with runflats. (Half of the savings is from the lighter wheel, half from the lighter tire.)

I myself am buying a set of 15-inch 7 hole wheels with tires from the base Cooper. They're about 30 lbs. per set, the lightest stock option and it only cost me $235 including shipping. This would not be considered stock for the MCS, though.

 

Buying legal wheels for the Cooper or MCS and then putting Azenis on them does not make much sense. If you are going to run street tires, go with the STS class where you can run just about any rim you wish up to 7" wide and as small as will fit over the brakes. The reason to buy the Monzas would to stay in stock class and shod them with R compounds, Hoosiers or Kuhmos. Azeni are good, but still 2 seconds slower than true R compounds.

 

I bought a set of 205/55 R16 Azenis on Enkei wheels for autocross... and they run great. No complaints. Discount Tire Direct.com had a "Shipping Sale" so I got 4 tires, 4 wheels, all mounted and balanced for under 1K. The free shipping was UPS Ground, and I still got them in 2 days. I would have gone Tire Rack, being an SCCA sponsor... but the free shipping pulled me in. In my first AutoX on the Azenis I pulled in 1st place.


David