this makes me cry
i loved those wheels

 

TD Pro Race 1's, matte black look soooo nice. Plus, they're made in England, how appropriate......

 

Team Dynamic and OZ Ultraleggera are fantastic, but i love OZ Ultraleggera matt black

 

Word. They were a classic design. I had some 18" "Tuner Silver" SLs on my car for a while (until I bent one and couldn't replace it). They looked utterly hawt. The UL is a gawdy, over-styled mess in comparison. But you can get them in red now...

 

i hear you, i went to the dragon before i got aftermarket wheels, saw some car with SLs and was dead set on getting them, went to tirerack, and saw they were discontinued and grieved

 

wheel weights arent a matter at that size.

I disagree emphatically with GNLR13's observation. On a car a light as the MINI, the ratio of sprung to unsprung weight has a critcal bearing on suspension performance and overall handling. Lighter is better. Both the TD and OZ wheels are good but you should definitely choose the lighter of the two. Going to 18" guarantees that your wheel/tire combination will be heavier and will not handle as well as a smaller diameter wheel, but you should by all means go for the lighter of the two. The TD, in my opinion, is rather pedestrian, while the OZ is feathery and elegant. Looks, however, are much less important than weight.

 

others disagree. me included. I had 10lb 15" BBS RG-F wheels on my car right at delivery.....took the stock 16's with runflats off. something like an 18lb drop per corner. steering response went to poop due to the larger sidewall. they also looked silly. if I felt an improvement in the car's performance, I would have kept them.

me? I've been wanting a set of three piece Superleggera III's for quite some time now....hottest variation OZ has made

 

Ba da bling. Hotness is in the eye of the beholder.

 

Amazing

 

The OZ's go up to 18" and to date I've never seen a mini with 18" TD's they're always 17" TD's. I liked both wheels I slightly preferred the look of the OZ's but TD's were cheaper but for me the deciding factor was that I wanted 18" and I couldn't find TD's that size so I went with OZ's.

 

perhaps you thought i meant any wheel overall that weights dont matter. i meant specifically between these two wheels. i emphatically agree whole heartedly that a lighter wheel is always a better choice.

btw- you forgot to quote the rest of my thought, "i think theyre comparable in weight for the TD Pro Race 1.2 vs the OZ u-leggeras"

according to this wheelweights file both are 16.8 lbs in 17x7. no listing for 18"

 

I think Helix lists the 17" TD as 17.6 lbs & Tire Rack lists the black 17" UL as 15.5 lbs & the 18" UL @17 lbs...(shrug)

I need at least 17'' wheels to clear my Wilwoods & I like the ULs but they have a 37mm offset vs the OEM 42...So my question: Any of you R53 owners with the UL have lowering springs? (I have H-Sports - about a 1" drop). I was just wondering with the wheels pushed out wider from the 37mm offset & a lowered car, would I experience fender rubbing?...

 

I'm not sure yet, but i'll be lowering my car on coilovers and installing OZ UL's (17x7) at the same time, and i'll comment when i do...

 

I'd also like to know how that goes, as I have just installed OZ UL (17x7 w/ 37 offset) on my MCS and am planning on buying a set of coilovers. Looks tight.

 

I'm thinking of doing exactly the same as you, i.e., 17" UL's & coilovers.

Which coilover brands are you considering?

 

I'll be swapping over my Hankook RS Z212s from my bullets to my Ultraleggeras, and lowering on the (AST shock +Swift spring Combo) TSW Coilovers.

I wonder if the 37mm offset will push the wheels out further....