Ugh. Gotta Love and Hate Forums at the same time no?

Rather than replacing the 1 factory rim I'm looking at new rims.

So reading more posts... seems a good portion leans torwards 16" rims....

So.. What are the advantages to 16" rims? Lighter ? Is that all?

Any pros to 17"s other than maybe lookin nicer, but if I get 215 r45's with they rub against the wheel well?

Feel free 17 and 16 converters to chime in. Your suggestions and expertise will ultimately affect what I buy .

Thanks much everyone!

 

16's are less expensive for both the wheel and the tire (You can get better tires and still pay less).
The wheel and tire combination will weigh less (good for acceleration, braking, and handling).
Some prefer the look of 16's and even 15's on our tiny cars.
The taller sidewall on a 16 will give a slightly more comfortable ride.

The shorter sidewall on the 17 will give quicker steering response and a firmer feel (assuming tires are the same brand and model).
The 17 looks better to most (since larger wheels are generally considered better looking, up to a point, by most of the population).
If money is no object, you can still get a lightweight 17" wheel and tire combination that rivals that of nearly an 16" lightweight option.

Decide which factors are most important to you...

 

Yeah spending all day at work staring at tire rack and reading up on the forums, I'm just making myself nuts.

Thinking of going Semi Cheap with this combo:
Rims (16"s):
http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/Wheel...nt&showRear=no

Tires 205/R55/ZR16:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....rtnum=055YR60N

Hey anyone know what the Z is for? Z rated tire?
Sorry I'm kinda stupid in this area :(

 

That's a nice looking wheel, but at 19 pounds it is on the (very) heavy side.
To me, 16 inch wheels are the 'sweet spot' on a MINI. They clear all the needed hardware, unlike some 15s, and are cheaper and lighter than most comparable 17 inch wheel/tire combos.
There are a number of good quality 15 to 16 pound 16 inch wheels offered at a decent price. Personally, I wouldn't go any heavier.
Ron

 

"Yeah spending all day at work staring at tire rack and reading up on the forums, I'm just making myself nuts."

Oh do I know what you mean....

 

grrrrrrrr but all the lighter weight ones are soo plain....

cept maybe these:
http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/Wheel...All&sort=Brand

But but but 3x what I was wanting to pay! :( is being 22 lbs lighter really worth it? I mean I have stock S-lites now... so whatever 16 I go to is going to be lighter no? :P

I'm pretty set on the Motegi Rims. Anyone have issues with the tires?

 

I'm in the process of converting our MINI from 17s to 16s. Our first MINI had 16s and no issues IMHO. With an MCS (no spare) and a wife who finds every nail & screw in the state, I have to have her running runflats. I have had to replace probably 5 tires in the past year due to bulges appearing from pothole impacts.

Never again will I have short sidewall tires for daily drivers.

 

That's ok - I'm stupid in LOTS of areas. Just ask my ex-wife.

Those wheels look VERY sharp. I'm going to have to do a little perusing ...

Z rated indicates SPEED RATING for that tire. See here for lots of info on that:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=35

By the way - you would probably NOT want to use 205/55/16 - the 2nd number (r55) is the sidewall aspect ratio - in relationship to the section width of the tire. So a 205/55 is a little tall (might look a little funny, the speedometer will be a bit off, and the car won't handle quite as well (taller sidewalls).

So, when you make a tire wider (from 195 to 205 say, you will usually decrease your sidewall aspect slightly. By doing so - the height of your tires will be very close to original spec and your speedometer will remain pretty close to accurate.

For example - the standard 16" tires are 195/55/16. So, a 205/50/16 is usually the correct 205 style. Or a 215/45/17, etc. Some web sites have calculators for this - you give them your original and plug in #s for new wheel combos and it tells you how much higher or lower the combo is. Pretty cool. If you ever talk w/ Alex at Tirerack.com, you'll hear him banging away on a keyboard sometimes doing just this.

Now there are reasons that people choose to go with an even smaller sidewall ratio - to give them slightly different gear ratios for early acceleration but I would think that most people do it just for looks. I know - shocking! And sometimes the lower profile wheel might then look slightly a bit out of place in that big wheel well - and then the owner will then buy lowering springs ... and then a larger rear sway bar ... and then ... well - you get the picture.

Most 215/45/17 combos will be fine, but brake clearance might be an issue w/ some wheel sets. Review your ideas with Alex at Tirerack - he'll watch your 6. The nice thing about this combo is that you will have a lot of choices available in that size.

Jeff

 

Will do. I'll call Alex from reading so many posts seems he is the Mini Cooper Guru of wheels @ TR.

I'm pretty much sold on the rim (unless Alex says other wise).

Soo exciting shopping for new wheels!!!!!!

Still thats for that lengthy detailed reply. Totally reset my tire thoughts!

 

Yeah Alex is great. He spent a fair amount of time on the phone with me providing a free education. They will absolutely get my business when I order.

There was another guy that I spoke with once - not Alex - who couldn't seem to care less though about customer service - so make sure you get Alex.

One last thought - is that there is likely someone out there with SWEET 16" wheels that is looking to buy 17s and is selling their 16s off. Check out Craigslist, etc.

Oh - and what TIREs are you considering? A lot of folks will replace their runflats with a nice summer tire (or keep the runflats with original rims for winter - if applicable).

Jeff

 

Was looking at the pzeros i posted, but living in nyc, and lazy as I am. Maybe continental all weathers.

I figured I'd pop the question @ alex and see what he feels would be the best tire for the wheel :P.

I've only had my mini for 5 weeks now, and the brooklyn queens expressway is quite unforgiving at times. Personally I dont mind the violent ride run flats give, but I had to drive a date home and she was scared as hell when we hit a series of bumps... I dont think she likes the car OMG!

Anyhoo 16's regular tires softer ride. Seems like a worthwhile upgrade!

 

Alex@tirerack.com has just posted that he is on vacation, see the top sticky on the tire forum. He'll return 5/13

Your choice of Motegi Racing SX7 in 16x7 is fine. +42mm offset and 19 lbs.
The weight is actually OK, not heavy, not very light.

 

BQE ... (shudder). I was on that beast the weekend before last - we drove out to LI to pick up Amy's new MCS. Unfortunately like an IDIOT I listened to my GPS and took the BQE instead of the Belt to the Southern state and then the Cross Island. On the bright side we had a fantastic dinner in Brooklyn at one of the seafood places - with all the celeb photos on the wall.

What tires you consider will change your comfort level dramatically. If I was driving in that nasty stuff all the time, I'd probably put comfort above performance to some extent, and get General Tire Exclaim UHP for all the warmer months and keep the all-season runflats for the winter.

And where you live it goes without saying but seriously consider getting 1-2 types of wheel locks.

Jeff

 

Ah, the lovely BQE. How I don't miss that road or the Cross Bronx. If you are driving around that area, serious consider some 16" rims (larger sidewalls) with some good all season tires so you can drive in the snow.
Non run flats will feel more comfortable. Buy one of those Slime emergency repair kits and keep it in the trunk.

 

Good all season tires with some street comfort for 16x7 wheels?

Check out
215/50-16
BF Goodrich Traction T/A V $109 each 440 treadwear
High Performance All Season tire
Fits rims 6-7.5", 24 lbs, 24.5" tire diameter(close to stock)
Test results
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...ay.jsp?ttid=95

Or in 205/50-16 (or 205/55-16 $114 on backorder)
In Grand Touring All Season
Goodyear Eagle ResponsEdge $108 each
440 treadwear 23 lbs 24.1" tire diameter
Test results
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...ay.jsp?ttid=86

 

Awww That sucks that Alex is out. Might just make a decision as I'd like to have em by the weekend and mounting. At this point the 1 wheel that has the bend is slow leaked to flat. Hey at least they're run flats :P

What I'm hoping is someone on craigslist listing the 1 matching rim, and me getting it on as a "patch" so I can make the best fit decision on the tires. grrrr I work in the consumer electronics industry. Ask me anything gadgety and I pretty much can lead to a definative answer within 15 minutes :P

Who knew tires can be soo.. varied

And yes 16's is the way I'm going to go. Like I mentioned, ride comfort would be nice, for myself and passengers lol. The worst stretch of the BQE is the section between the Belt/Prospect split and the brooklyn bridge.

Coming from queens I get off the brooklyn bridge exit where there is tons of construction. Slime is a must, you get nails, bumpers, headlight glass, you name the debris, its there.

A true morning obstacle course to get to downtown NYC, its my moring wakeup next to coffee.

Minihune - I was looking at those too(BF Traction), but I saw these continental contix all weathers that seemed to get good rations. Height is 24.9 so about a little more than half inch above the mini 24.3 wonder if this would be ok...

Again thanks much everyone, eventually i hope to know enough to help rather than be helped!

 

Dumb question but have your checked with your local MINI dealer to see if they can loan you a wheel to get you by for a week?

Oh - and when you get the chance .... MOVE off the island

 

Well I train in to work most of the time, so its not "mission" critical that I drive. More of the weekend luxury .

But it be nice to have this all taken care of by the weekend no?

 

i just got >these< 16 inch wheels in today and they weigh in at 16.26 pounds per wheel and cost $144 per wheel. can't wait to get them mounted.

 

Well I wouldn't rush it - you'll have the wheels and tires for a long time to come so it makes sense to get something that you are super happy with.

 

Have you looked into Rota's yet?

www.18racing.com

 

I also just got Rota RBs with 205-50/16 Dunlop Z1 Star Specs (having spent a year on the Dunlop run-flats). My only problem: banging my head against the wall for not doing it sooner. I agree with what 84im said - 16 sure does seem like the sweet spot.

 

Full Rota Line is here: http://www.rotawheels.com/p1.php

 

It is easier to find lighter 16" rims than 17", but 16" aren't necessarily lighter. I have a set of 16x7 and 17x7 wheels. Both weigh about the same. So, in my case, the main advantage of the 16" is that the extra sidewall tends to absorb roughness in the road surface more than the 17". This is because you end up with about the same tire O.D. on a MINI.

The turn-in on the 17" may be a little quicker than the 16", but turn-in can also vary from tire to tire.

My 2007 MCS came with 17x7 Crown Spokes (22.5 lbs each). I first replaced them with 17x7 Centerline RPM wheels that weight about 16 lbs. They are very light for their price (paid $750 for four with shipping & tax), but they are polished aluminum. Raw aluminum oxidizes, so they need to be polished and waxed frequently. Also, the finish quality is not the best, and the company has a very bad customer service record. I use these wheels mostly for AutoX.

For normal driving, I got a set of Rota RB 16x7. More on them later.

Probably driving your boss nuts as well.

You can get lighter wheels, but those are quite inexpensive.

I'm running these tires (Pirelli P-Zero Nero M+S 205/55-16) on Rota RB 16x7 wheels.


They are good wheels, but a little difficult to clean. I'd probably go with a different style Rota if I were to do it again.

The Pirelli Nero are a good compromise tire, not as noisy as the Michelin Pilot Exhalto PE2 I have on 17x7 wheels, but the PE2 have better grip. There are other tires that make less noise than the Nero, but they have less grip than the Nero.

I chose 205/55-16 over 205/50-16 for a couple of reasons. The stock tires that came with my MCS R56 17x7 Crown Spokes (sold them) had an O.D. of 24.5". The Nero 205/55-16 have an O.D. 24.9" while the 205/50-16 are 24.1" O.D. Either way it was 0.4" off of stock (about 1.6%). The speedometer in the MINI (as in most cars) is optimistic. I believe mine is about 8% off. So, the larger tire reduces it to about 6.4%, while the smaller dia. tire would increase it to 9.6%. The other reason is that I went with 16" wheels for comfort in normal driving. So, the extra sidewall helps that.

Tire Rack has the tire O.D. in the Specs tab. On the MINI, you generally end up getting as close to 24.5" as possible, but going with a different O.D. will change the effective gearing. A smaller tire will give you a lower gearing equivalent, so a little more torque. A larger O.D. would be like higher gearing which might give better mpg at a specific speed and gear.

Rotas area also available from a NAM vendor.
http://www.fastmini.net/wheels.html

 

Well I went with the Motegi 16's all black (this was a last minute impulse change). And Pirellei Pzero 205/50 R16's.

And yes I was victim to 2006 MCS bolt issue. Tire Rack sent me the 14mm's and turns out I am 12mm's. No biggie found someone locally who had the bolts

Thanks Everyone for the insight and advice! She feels .. soo much softer compared to the run flats!