Thanks to 33EJB and TVR for critical help in acheiving a successful outcome. Alex @ Tire Rack was not aware of any 15" steel wheels that would fit the car. 33EJB came through with the news that he has been successfully using 2005 Honda Civic 15 X 6, 4 X 100 steel wheels on his Gen II Justa in Canada. However, they do not use TPMS units in the wheels there, so he could not help with that. Alex did not think the 2010 compatible Mini TPMS units would fit the older Civic wheels because they are "pre-TPMS". I took a risk, bought one, tried it on a Civic wheel and found it fit perfectly.

Then, I was told the TPMS units have to be re-registered with the ECU each time you swap wheels, requiring a visit to a Mini dealer or someone with the Snap-On tool. TVR came through with the news that only the on-board reset is needed.

After installing the wheels and inflating the new snow tires to the same pressure as the wheels with the all season tires, I was very pleased to find when I fired the car up that not even a "reset" was needed. Apparently, the on-board system can't tell the difference between the OEM TPMS units on the factory alloy wheels and the TPMS units I just received from Alex that I installed in the steel wheels.

So, now swapping wheels is as easy as the "old" days as long as the pressures are the same. Nothing extra to do.

(BTW, I went with with Conti Extreme Winter Contacts: 185-65-15, virtually identical OD to my 195-55-16 all-season Yoko ENVigors.)

The only bad news is that these wheels clear the Justa front calipers by less than 1/8", so they are of no use to Cooper S owners. (2006 and later Civics have been available with 16" steel wheels, but they switched to a 5-bolt pattern, so no luck there.)

Now, I'm just looking for a way to attach "Mini" center caps to cover the center hole of the steels wheels.

Thanks again to everyone for all the help.

DOC

 

Just wondering why you insisted on 15" wheels and tires? Are they that much cheaper?

My S came with 17" wheels and I bought a set of 16" wheels and snow tires, and tpms sensors from Tirerack b4 I took delivery of the car.

 

Alex indicated that only 16" alloys were available that would fit. Made no sense to me to pay $100+ per wheel and $400+ for tires (not to mention $225 for TPMS) for something I will only use a few hundred miles a year.

$100 for 4 used Civic wheels, $300 for tires and $225 for TPMS is about all I can stomach.

DOC