Yes! This is my 1st Mini. Love it so far. It has 97k miles on it, I hope I get another 200k out of it!

 

Well then welcome to the addiction my friend 😁! They are great cars and can be made even better with minimal modification. I am also fairly new to the MINI scene but not new to modding cars (or tucks....or motorcycles....or pretty much everything I own rotfl) This is an awesome forum to be a part of and most the people on here are very willing to help. There are also some EXTREMELY knowledgeable people on here. So don't hesitate to ask if you have a problem or need information. The search function is pretty good on NAM too.

 

Thank you! Yes, this forum is awesome! I've learned a lot and have had help from some members already. I hope a can pay it forward!

 

Catching up on your thread @JerBear . KILLER shop space and toolbox. Man I’m jealous.

Also I took a look at the Konig lockouts you mentioned in my build thread, and they seem great. They’re basically the cast, 8-spoke brother of my Dekagrams haha. Very handsome

Do you have a wheel size and tire setup in mind? Just curious since I’ve been obsessing over fitment measurements for the past few weeks.

 

Why yes I do! lol. Mainly because I jumped the gun on my first wheel/tire combo and I'm not happy with it. Live and learn I guess. I was very concerned about ride quality because of my sons health issues. I bought the car with shot stock shocks/struts and it bounced like crazy. It was honestly a terrible ride. I found I can get the comfort I want with Bilsteins so I plan to run a lower profile tire next time around. Lower profile equates to lower gearing (sorta) which this car desperately needs, and smaller tires are also lighter. I'm looking at the Konig Lockouts in 15x7 with a 38 offset. I'd like to pair them with the Federal SS-595 in either a 195/50-15 or 205/50-15. This is my daily driver and at 140 plus miles a day, the tires don't last long enough to spend a lot. I think my current wheels are 17.x pounds and the Konigs are 13.x pounds so I'll save some weight there.

I do have rubbing issues now. I'm currently running a 205/60-15 on a 15x8 with an offset of 20. Front is minor, rear is pretty bad with ANY weight in the back.

 

I upgraded the headlights, running lights, and license plate lights with LED's. I picked up some LED's for the turn signals in the bumper so you can't see the orange when the lights aren't blinking but it hyper flashes. I'll probably just get the silver coated standard bulbs instead.

 

Yep, get some chrome covered bulbs, its the next best thing. Also running LEDs in normale reflector headlight can be very annoying for other people on the road, I would highly recommend fitting them in projector headlights only...

 

@JerBear Catching up on your wheel considerations too - Wow 140 mi per day is looooong. I had a 100mi round trip commute for 5 years in a very comfy Prius that I set up for touring and it still wore me out.

Your 15x7 et38 sounds like a great fit for that.

Digging the leds, man. I’ve always gone xenon for my low beams, but I have led highs/DRL which are wicked bright when I flip them to high. Literally every bulb on my R53 has been converted to led so I just wanted to say I’m happy to answer questions I might be able to help with.

I have for the front indicators. Very bright and they have a built in resistor board, so no hyperflashing.

The only bulbs I needed resistors for were the side scuttle indicators.

 

Yeah nd I learned the hard way from past LED "upgrades" that if you don't use the right kind of bulb the light scatter is wrong. These are actually designed to be used in reflector housings and have to be clocked correctly. There not cheap bulbs. They actually look like HIDs at night. There is a distinct top line where the light is cut off...if that makes sense. I hadn't really planned on installing LED's in this car because the factory headlights are actually really good. But one of the low beam bulbs went out and I can never seem to bring myself to replace broken parts with factory equipment lol.
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That's funny Trag the side scuttle LED's I got worked great and didn't cause a hyper flash.
And I may have switched gears on my rims. I found a 15x6.5 with an et35 that will still fit the tires I want and they only weigh 13.1 pounds each. They come in black, silver, bronze, and gunmetal. I was talking to colinmini awhile back and he was running the Bridgestone RE71R on 15x7 Kosei. He has an extremely fast street setup. He had 195/60's on stock holies. I'm thinking either 195/50 or 195/55 on the 15x6.5. That will also give me the ability to fine tune with spacers since I already have a stud conversion done with lots of extra thread.

 

@JerBear Oh gotcha, well fwiw lightweight 15x6.5 makes me think of the Heliums. They’re not flow-formed, but still way under 12lb and extremely affordable. They happen to be a very similar 8-spoke design to the lockouts you were looking at before, and they come in bronze.

https://www.good-win-racing.com/Mazd...t/21-1046.html

 

Dam dude those are almost 2 pound per wheel lighter than the ones I had been looking at, and for the same price! I really don't know how I have never seen those before.

 

Well I took Trags advise and ordered a set of Konig Helium's. They are a 15x6.5 with an offset of 40. Gonna be running a 195/50-15 on them. My current setup weighs between 36 and 38 lbs. per corner and the Helium's are said to weigh 11.4 lbs. each. The smaller tire is also listed at 3 pounds less each so I should be shaving somewhere in the neighborhood of 9 to 11 lbs. off each corner. 36 to 44 lbs. of unsprung rotational mass total! I'm very curious to see if there is a noticeable difference in acceleration or fuel mileage. The 15x8's its currently sitting on rub. The narrower rims and lower profile tires should take care of that problem.

 

Short answer: Hell yes!

You will notice that straightaway in performance, braking and in the end also in fuel savings (but the tire rolling resistance also comes into play for this off course).

 

Well the Konigs came and so did the tires. The rims are actually lighter than advertised! 11.0 lbs each, I believe the Goodwin Racing page said 11.4 lbs. The tires weigh a little more than advertised, 16.6 pounds. They were listed at 16 pounds. They are the same tires I had before but in a smaller size and the other size is listed anywhere from 19 to 21 lbs each depending on where you look. So that would put my old setup at anywhere from 36-38.2 lbs each. I meant to weigh them but was in a hurry when I took them off to sell them and forgot 😕. So new set is 27.6 lbs. Dropping 9 lbs/wheel or 36 lbs total! I'm typing this out while I'm waiting in line to get them mounted. Pretty excited, not gonna lie.

 

If anyone ever asks if light wheels make a noticable difference on an R50, the answer is yes.

First thing I noticed was it takes MUCH less effort to start from a dead stop. I'm sure the diameter has more to do with that than the weight. Then once your rolling it accelerates noticably easier. I don't know if I'd call it faster (although it probably is), it just seems like it's less effort for the motor to accelerate the car.

The difference in handling is MASSIVE. As in it feels like a completely different car. It's much more nimble. Turning the steering wheel takes less force and results in a much more rapid response from the chassis. It feels more precise, kind of like it's on rails.

Braking is better too. Haven't had a chance to really test it out other than a quick trip down a country road but stops much quicker. Kinda jerks you forward when you jump on the brakes.

Overall I couldn't be happier!
​​​​Mad props to Tragesaurusrex for recommending these rims.

And for all the cheap tire haters, this is a dd that sees 140+ miles per day. A set of tires doesn't last that long so at $36/tire with free installation from Walmart it's hard to beat a quiet, comfortable tire with good wet weather traction that balances well and looks decent. They hold up very well for the price point too especially since I regularly drive in a very spirited manner.

 

@JerBear Yeahhh buddy!!!

They look great! Better than any of the product shots I saw. Very AutoX.
I’m glad the new weight and circumference changed several dimensions of the car for the better.

40 bucks a tire is madness haha. After just dropping like 650 on a set myself, I’m def a bit jealous.

They look awesome paired with silk green too.

 

Told ya They look great!

Tire preference is a personal choice, I wouldnt want to bet my life on Linglong tyres, but again, thats personal.

I weighed the Mini R87 16x5.5 not too long ago and they weighed in at 15.3kg (33,7 lbs), which was already light. But this is another level

 

You did indeed! I didn't think it'd make THAT big of a difference though.

And as far as the cheap tires go, if I could justify $600 for a set of tires I would but these are pretty good quality for no name rubber. In my experience, a good way to tell how bad a tire is is if it has a manufacturers warranty. If its a crap tire, there wont be a warranty. This is a street car driven at street speeds. The only tires I've ever had fail were a Bridgestone and a Dunlop. Both catastrophic failures and both did damage to the vehicle they were on. This is the same brand and model tire I had on the other rims just a smaller size. For the price I've never had anything close to this high a quality. I ran this brand on my old work truck too before switching to BFG's and got over 58,000 miles of highway use out of them. I do keep a close eye on them though. Proper inflation and rotation also helps.

Side note, my hanging scale broke so I weighed the new wheels on a bathroom scale. I'm thinking that's why the other tires weighed so much less than advertised. The hang scale was doing some funky stuff, new batteries didn't help either. I'm not sure exactly how accurate the bathroom scale is but its all I got right now.

 

Thanks man! I love em! I get flamed a lot for cheap tires but I've yet to have a problem with them so I keep running them. I cant imagine how good these cars must handle with some R compounds! Maybe once I finish the rest of the maintenance I have planned I can take nd's advise and put some real tires on her.

 

I will add my thoughts after driving my 70 mile commute to work this morning.

1. Fuel mileage according to the dash went up from 32.2 mpg to 36.1 mpg. (That's never been accurate because measured by the tank I get around 38 average)
2. My speedometer is off by roughly 8%. At 25 mph the speedo reads about 27, at 50 mph the speedo reads 54, at 70 mph the dash reads 75-76ish.
3. Since the speedometer is off I would assume the odometer is also off, so the mpg display is probably not entirely accurate. I didn't drive any different than I normally do, maybe more aggressive if anything.
4. It doesn't FEEL any faster but I can do anything I did with the other wheels/tires in 1 gear higher. For example, I usually take a 270 degree onramp in 3rd and shift into 4th. This morning I entered the ramp in 3rd and shifted to 4th as usual but hit 5th as soon as I straightened out/came off the ramp. usually I have to accelerate in 4th up to speed and already merged onto the highway before I shift into 5th. I'm thinking there is a lot going on here. First of all the car is going slower in any gear at the same rpm as before because the tires are smaller. But based off the mph and taking the 8 percent error into account its still pulling a lot harder out of the corner. The other thing is these tires are a little narrower, so less rubber on the road. I didn't notice much difference in perceived grip, but then again, the tires ARE new. They may have better traction? Passing at highway speed over 55 mph can easily be done in 4th. I had been dropping to 3rd because the car is such a turd it would take too long to safely get around someone.
5. Its super freaking nimble. Almost to the point of being twitchy, but not in an unsafe kind of way.

All in all, I'm very happy with them. Maybe a little too excited but I really didn't think it'd make that much difference. It was also hard to find anyone that swapped wheels for a lighter set on an R50 with good results and actually wrote about it.

 

Exactly this!

The usual stories on the internet is about complaining, so thanks for sharing. And good to hear you made the right choice!

 

Since its part of my build I figured I'd throw this in here (I have another thread in Electrical). I picked up this Braille B14115 for the R50. Its 11.5 pounds, over 900 PCA, and about the size of a motorcycle battery. It came with the fancy mount and I got the battery and mount for less than a third of MSRP. I plan to run it in the factory location at first then if it holds up, move it to the passenger side of the hatch. The goal is to make room for a custom intake and bring air in from the cowl area. I'm thinking something like a Pipercross but routed like an R53 intake. I don't like the IAT's I was seeing in the summer in traffic with my UNI filter. It has a heat shield but still seems to suck in a lot of hot air.

 

I had some spare time today after replacing a bum o2 sensor so I yanked out the factory battery box and found a few threaded holes under there that just so happen to be in the perfect location for the Braille mount. I got it all in and buttoned up just to find out they didn't ship the terminals with the battery . I'm also not sure what to do with the ecm. It's housed in the oem battery box and I don't want to cut it up till I know it works. I'd bag it but the back looks like a heat sink so it may need air circulation. It may end up zip tied to something til I can test this smaller battery. I don't mind permanent modifications but only if I know there gonna work...

 

Well the terminals for the Braille finally showed up yesterday. I'm contemplating mounting it in the hatch right from the get go. That way I don't have to modify my OEM battery box so if it doesn't work out how I want then I can just switch it back.

In other news, my rear brakes are shot. I ordered a set to match the front on 12/23/20. There nowhere to be found. Distributor is supposed to let me know tomorrow what's up with that.

These cheap little Wal-Mart tires I've been running SUCK in the cold. And their worse when its wet and cold. It occurred to me that I bought this car in May of 2020 and haven't driven it in cold weather yet...until now lol. It's fine for normal driving and I wouldn't say their unsafe at all. But if you like to take curves/turns on these windy back NC country roads without slowing down, well, you cant ha ha. Unless of course you enjoy pulling your Mini out of muddy ditches. The understeer is just awful!!!