Hey all,
We've got a regular Mini Convertible (06) with stock runflats, that are at the end of their life.
I want to put higher performance summer tires, but don't know if we should stick with original size (175/65/15) or go slightly wider on the same (stock) rims.

Any advice or suggestions?

 

The stock tire size on my '06 is 195/55-16

 

Well, i have these and they are 15" wheels, so i have to stick to 15" tires i guess.



I don't want to spend any money on wheels, as the car is driven by my wife and she is quite happy with the setup as is.

By the way - I'm in San Diego as well

 

What tires do you have now?

 

Would go from the 175/65/15 tires that you have now to 195/60/15 summer tires.
They'll fit on the stock 15x5.5 rims and are very close to the stock diameter.
How about these?
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....omCompare1=yes

 

Right now we've got OEM Continental ContiTrac run-flats, which are all-season tires i believe.

I've talked to to my friend who races and he also suggested going from all-season to Ultra High Performance summer tires. I was looking at General Exclaim UHP
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....omCompare1=yes

But he suggested either Yokomaha S.Drive
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....eModel=S.drive

or BFGoodrich gForce Sport
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....omCompare1=yes

I just want to get something that is not going to wear out in 15K miles, but can also handle the occasional rain we get down here in South Cali.

General UHP has UTOG of 380 while all the rest are at 300 or below.

As far as sizing goes - friend suggested 195/55/R15, but i see you guys recommend 195/60/R15. The 195/60 is tough to find with very few options.

 

195/55/15 is pretty short.
You can use 205/55/15 on the oem wheels. Wouldn't go any wider than
205 on 15x5.5 inch rims however. All 3 of the tires listed above come in that size.

Here are the 6 UHP summer tires in that size available at Tire Rack:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSe...r=15&x=58&y=10

I'd go for the General Exclaim UHP or the Yokohama S-drives as second choice from these.
My wife has General Exclaim UHPs in 205/50/15 on her 2001 VW Cabrio on 15x7 rims and
we are happy with them. They won't have as crisp turning response on 5.5" wide rims, but will
be much a better summer tire than the 175/65/15 all season Contis you have now.

 

A small correction -- they aren't runflats. Coopers come with 15" non-runflat tires (nobody makes runflats in 15" anyway).

 

Ok, you think you have ContiTrac 175/65-15 run-flat all season OEM tires. I can find no evidence that there ever was such a tire.

I have 175/65-15 OEM ContiPremiumContact 2's and 205/50-16 Dunlop Z1 Star Specs. My wife can not tell the difference between them. Except the car accelerates markedly slower and gets three mpg less on the 205's. Fortunately, it's my car so she isn't unhappy when I have the 205's on it.

 

I thought they were run-flats, but maybe I just haven't looked at them close enough.

Cristo - how's wear and MPG on the General UHPs?

hsautocrosser - 3MPGs isn't much, but still not a welcome change.

 

A corresponding decrease in acceleration comes with the lower mpg. Keep the weight and diameter of the new tire down and you can avoid or at least limit it.

The 175/65-15 Contis tend to be 16lbs whether summer or all-season. A 195/55-15 Yok S.Drive weighs 19lbs. A 195/55-15 Gen Exclaim UHP weighs 17 lbs. At 205/55-15 the weights are 21 and 19 lbs.

 

Wear is slow and mpg is pretty close to the 195/60/14s BFG Comp all seasons that the 205/50/15s replaced.
Actually, between those two sets she had Bridgestone Pole Position S-03 in 205/50/15 that wore more quickly,
had a very stiff sidewall for a non runflat tire and were about 3 pounds heavier per tire than the Gen Exclaims,
and got 1 or 2 mpg less, but boy, were they sticky tires.
I'm surprised at a 3 mpg drop with the Dunlop Z1 Star Specs, but they are an Extreme Performance summer tire.
They're a bit stickier and have a 200 wear index compared to 380 for the Gen Exclaim UHPs.

 

"I'm surprised at a 3 mpg drop with the Dunlop Z1 Star Specs, but they are an Extreme Performance summer tire. "

The tire is six pounds heavier than stock. With lighter wheels the net increase is 4.8 lbs per corner.

 

If you go wider but also go lower on the aspect ratio, you can end up with virtually identical tire diameter.

As for tires, I highly recommend Hankook Ventus V12 Evo's, though I don't know if they have them in a size for you.

 

I've looked at several sizes and options.
General UHP looks interesting, but it appears to be an all-season tire sold as summer high performance.

The second best (not too heavy, medium thickness side walls, inexpensive, UTOG 300, decent reviews) is Yokohama s.Drive

So I've decided to try them out - now just need to put in an order and get them installed.