Davavd

those look great, thanks for the pics!

cheers

greg v.

 

You cannot use tires that are taller than stock and expect them to fit the MINI that well.

About 24.9" is the limit, many 25" tires will rub.

215/50-17 is 25.7" tall. It will look oversized and too tall for the MINI and close the wheel gap by 1.3" and reduce clearance by that amount.

Even with stock suspension which has quite a bit of travel under load you will be rubbing.

If you search for various tire sizes you will find no discussions about 215/50-17. Even 205/50-17 is too tall at 25.1".

So that leaves only
205/45-17
215/45-17
and if you want smaller than stock then
215/40-17
205/40-17

225/35-17 needs a rim 7.5" wide or wider. Very few tires come in that size

225/40-17 has no tires I can find

225/45-17 is too tall usually at about 25".

 

Thank you for the info MINIHUNE, this is exactly why these forums are so helpful. For those of us who do not have the knowledge of things like tire sizes we can learn from those of you who do. With this information I'm going with the Yokohama Avid W4S or H4S in a 215/45 17. I'll let you know how they work out. This forum has been of great help in choosing and getting experience on tires, particularly from firs hand knowledge with your own MINIs.

Mahalo!

Scott

 

W4S (ultra high performance all season) and H4S (high performance all season) are both good for street driving.

Base Cooper works with H4S.
Test result-
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...ay.jsp?ttid=73
215/45-17 $96 each 500 treadwear 23lbs

If you like driving with better handling then W4s is good.
Test resulst
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...irePageLocQty=
215/45-17 $95 each 400 treadwear 24lbs

Choosing between the two. H4S might do better if you have a lot of wet weather. As tires get old they do less well, rubber gets hard and noisy.
Treadwear for these are similar, usually last a few years with good results.

W4S likely to offer a good match with Cooper S.

For those on a bigger budget-
In Ultra High Performance All Season tires:
Yokohama Advan S.4.
215/45-17 $172 each 400 treadwear 24lbs W speed rated
Test results-
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...irePageLocQty=
Better dry than wet handling, better performance tire than W4S but much higher priced.