I just had some Kumho SPT's in 215/40/17 size put on, and I must say I really don't think I like these tires. I've read good things about them here from people but I don't see why they are good . They do grip pretty good, I have about 150 miles on them so far, so maybe they aren't quite broken in yet, but they seem to grip plenty.

The driving feel of them is what bothers me...quite frankly it sucks and totally ruins the nature of what a MINI is supposed to feel like. I just had my suspension upgraded to H-Sport springs/Koni Yellow struts/H-Sport rear control arms, and these tires do not let me use the wonderful suspension set-up to its fullest. I'm thinking that the sidewals are far too soft for my liking, because you can feel them squish and squirm if you swerve, through the steering wheel, not good at all.

My Yokohama AVS ES-100's felt better than these tires do, even when they were near bald, at the wear bars last week. The only reason why I did not get another set of the Yoko's is because I wanted to go to a 215/40 instead of the 215/45's that I had, and the Yoko's in the 215/40's did not have a high enough load rating, but the Kumho's did. Now I'm thinking, screw it and should have just got another set of the 215/45 Yoko's...they were GREAT tires, wore wonderfully and handled/gripped like mad.

Anybody want to buy a set of Kumho SPT's??? I'll give a good price, I really want my Yoko's back. Anybody looking for a good set of "cheap" tires should go right for the Yoko ES100's...they were fantastic.

 

I agree 100% with your driving impressions. I had these on 15" BBS....205/55/15's if I remember (which was actually much worse than your size). Shutting the door....the whole car would shimmy side to side due to the soft sidewalls. I had a set of Bridgestone S0-3's in 215/45/17 in the garage when I took delivery of the Kumho's. I should have known right then I wouldn't be happy...I could literally almost fold over the sidewall on the Kumho by hand while the S0-3 was super stiff.

I have to say....the ride was sweet over rough pavement, but all squishy and such when turning the wheel.

 

Yeah!!! I went for a "spirited" drive on one of my fav twisty roads today, because I just got my car aligned finally, and goodness, they were almost scary in how much they flexed and rolled. I even increased the pressure to 39 all around, did not help much.

 

I did the same....running pressures in the 40's. I ended up selling the wheels and tires and taking a loss on the setup.