I live in a climate that has 4 seasons (with winter being the mildest and shortest of the 4). I have ordered a Clubman with all season tires.

Has anybody else selected the all season tires? How is winter traction with the performance tires?

Dealer says the all season tires will wear longer than performance tires. True?

Will I get better mileage with all season tires?

 

If you live in an area that gets snow (more than an inch or tow at a time) then you would be much better off with a set of performance tires for summer and a set of SNOW tires for the winter. I live in new england where snow can be in abundance some winters.

[quote=hooknew;2397332] Has anybody else selected the all season tires? How is winter traction with the performance tires?[\quote] Althoug i have not had all season tires on my Mini I have had them on some other cars and changed over to snow tires as a result of not getting goo d traction from eh all season.

Very true. The performance tires i have on my Mini and BMW are rated for only about 20,000 - 25,000 miles where most all season tires are good for at least 40,000 if not a lot more.
My winter snow tires are also only rated for about 20,000 as well but the traction difference is a world apart.

That debatable. A lot of it is how you drive.

 

Probably. However, don't forget that if you're using performance tires, you'll probably be using winter tires for a few months of the year. I do, at least, so I don't end up putting tons of miles on my performance ones.

 

I just picked up my Clubman S with 17" Continential all season run flats. They look like the will wear a long time, so far I only have 1500 mile on them, but I don't imagine they would be that great in snow. I don't plan on driving the car in the winter, but you will be better off with a set of 16" snow tires for winter.

 

The real question you must answer is:

For those few days when there's snow on the ground, will you stay off the road or will you drive? If you will wait for the streets to be cleared, you won't need snow tires (maybe not even all-seasons either).

Also, you can always get yourself a set of snows later.

 

My husband is a big proponant of having performance tires and switching to snow tires for winter (he drives a Volvo C70 coupe) and I have always just has all seasons without trouble - I hate the hassle of swapping them out and figuring out where to store the extra set. We ordered the car with the all seasons and will just see how it goes. I don't drive much in the snow since I am a teacher and we tend to have those bad driving days off Also, we are keeping my current driver (a Dodge Durango) which has 4WD, so hopefully I can avoid too much driving in snowy conditions with my new baby. As for MPG, my hubby does see a slight drop in MPG with the snows on, but I am not sure how the performance tires stack up versus all seasons. I would think the difference would be negligable though.

 

I have the 15" wheels with the Continental all season tires. They're a decent tire, but certainly no substitute for snow tires. If you're looking at a few snowstorms a year, and they tend to plow your area in a reasonable time, all seasons should be fine. I just don't see the point of driving on winter tires for 3-4 months if you only average a few good storms.

 

All Season! I wish I ordered them.

 

OK...I'm confused (forgive me since this is my first post!). Big Jim Swade says the 17" All Season Continentals are runflats? I thought you had the choice of runflats or the All-Season tires which were non-runflats.

Also, do all the cars (runflat or none) have TPS and do they have a spare tire?

Sorry for all the stupid questions but the number of options are mind-numbing while the amount of detailed information (in the brochure or online) is microscopic

 

17" are runflats

In the US all 08 model year cars (MINI's or not) are required by law to have tpms sensors

S's don't have a spare, non-S's do

 

All seasons are good for cold weather (<40). They are considerably more squirrelly in warm weather than summer performance tires. For good grip, get summers and also all-seasons or winters for the cold. All-seasons aren't that good for snow, but summers don't work at all in cold weather (The rubber compound gets hard and slick in cold temps.). I'm gonna wear out my all-seasons before replacing them with winters.

 

Hello! I live in North East Wisconsin and met with a local tire dealer in Green Bay. My Clubman came with the performance sports tire and I love how it handles!
However, I did decide to buy 4 winter tires - Continental Brand. The dealer will charge me $400 and will swap them out twice a year -forever - for no charge. So, I figured a pretty good deal. Will change them out in late Nov and sometime in April.

Will let you know how my first winter goes.... Last year we got about 80 inches of snow.

I just heard that a Mini won a performance race through the Alps... so, we should be ok!!