Yes, another wheel sizing question! I wish I had more time right now to go through this awesome forum and figure this out on my own, but due to some good advice and a few questions, I can save myself a little work and hopefully get a straight answer!

I drive a 2008 Just a Coop, Live in Oregon, and love to drive. 50% of the time I'm going to be driving in wet conditions! I could really care less about handling in the snow because snow comes maybe once or twice a year and i don't trust other drivers anyways . I was trying to figure out what tire is going to be best for me and I realized that I can't really make the right choice of tire unless I know all the good sizes.

I'm running stock suspension with 16" rims. Currently I have the OEM run flats 195/55-16.

Due to the fact this is my second vehicle, I had no clue how bad my OEM runflats are until people pointed out the flaws. Now at 18k miles, I have belted my run flats.

Choices I have come down to:

• Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position;
  • Tire size available: 205/55R16; 215/55R16
• ContinentalExtremeContact DWS;
  • Tire size available: 195/50R16; 205/45R16; 205/50R16
• PZero Nero M&S;
  • Tire size available: 205/45ZR16; 205/50ZR16; 205/55ZR16; 225/50ZR16

The extreme contacts got people really liking the comfort and wet and dry traction. The PZero Nero's and Potenza's seem like more of a dry handling tire with wet capablities. I want to be able to drive my car hard on backroads, but I also like to have some road comfort and heavy rain safety handling. Considering that I have been able to push my OEM run flats to what i considered decently hard I'm sure even the extremecontact dws' will make a dramatic increase in performance and comfort.

Let me know what you guys think!

 

960's are the best tire for your 50% rainy condition, but the sies available in 16's aren't ideal for Mini.

As a result, I think the Conti DWS 205/50/16 would be your best bet

Alex

 

thank you for the feedback Alex

 

Alex, these Conti's are now top my list. But, I'm eye-balling the 215/55ZR16's, at 25.3" rolling diameter. Any issues with this, besides the gearing (less torquey) and speedometer & odometer impact (under counting compared to stock, as seen in bold below)?

+-----------+-------------------+
| TIRE SIZE | DIAMETER |
+-----------+-------------------+
| 195/55-15 | 23.44in (595.5mm) |
| 205/40-17 | 23.46in (595.8mm) |
| 215/50-15 | 23.46in (596.0mm) |
| 215/45-16 | 23.62in (599.9mm) |
| 195/50-16 | 23.68in (601.4mm) |
| 185/60-15 | 23.74in (603.0mm) |
| 215/40-17 | 23.77in (603.8mm) |
| 205/55-15 | 23.88in (606.5mm) |
| 215/35-18 | 23.93in (607.7mm) |
| 175/65-15 | 23.96in (608.5mm) |
| 225/45-16 | 23.97in (608.9mm) |
| 205/50-16 | 24.07in (611.4mm) |
| 225/40-17 | 24.09in (611.8mm) |
| 225/35-18 | 24.20in (614.7mm) |
| 195/60-15 | 24.21in (615.0mm) |
| 205/45-17 | 24.26in (616.3mm) |
| 215/55-15 | 24.31in (617.5mm) |
| 195/55-16 | 24.44in (620.9mm) |
| 215/50-16 | 24.46in (621.4mm) |
| 185/65-15 | 24.47in (621.5mm) |
| 215/45-17 | 24.62in (625.3mm) |
+-----------+-------------------+

Thanks.

EDIT / ADD: No need to respond... I found a couple threads on the DW and DWS here. If I go with a Conti, it will be the DW...