Hi Everyone,

First of all, a Happy New Year to all and many thanks to those who run these forums; they have been a great help.

I picked up my EB/W MCS on 12-20 and have totally enjoyed the car. The problem is that my wife finds the ride way too harsh( I agree to some extent). I am running the OE Dunlop run-flats with the 17" s-lites. I am considering going to 16" or even 15" wheels.
I am not a driver who is going to push the car to its handling limits, but I do appeciate a responsive tire. I am basically looking for a wheel/tire combination that provides comfort and low-noise while sacrificing some of the handling/cornering abilities.

After doing some research, I have come up with: a 15X7 or 15X6.5 wheel(38mm offset)
fitted with Bridgestone Turanza LS-V 205/55-15 tires.

I would appreciate any comments on the fitment of this combinatiion or other possible wheel/tire recommendations.

Thanks,

Minipin

 

Welcome minipin,
You'll see the biggest change if you just change from the rough-riding run flats to regular tires, and they can still be performance tires. The problem with the run flats is that they have very stiff sidewalls, that hold up well when the tire is flat (or low or whatever happens when you get a flat tire) and you are driving on them, but provide a rough ride. Then you can carry the fix-a-flat kits with you, if you have a flat. They have a sealant that you spray into your tire and also a compressor that you plug into your cigarette lighter socket to re-inflate your tire.

If you go to a 16 inch wheel, that will also provide a better ride, as you can then go to a higher profile tire. I think your 17s are probably a 45 profile (which rides rough but provides better handling), and with 16s you can go to a 55 profile (stock size). I recommend you talk to Alex at TireRack, a sponsor on NAM here. He is an expert on all this.

 

I'll second that. I've ridden in two MINIs with 17" non-runflats and it made a world of difference. I'm currently looking for 16x7s to replace the Pirellis.

In the meantime set your tire pressure at 33psi cold if you already haven't. The dealer set mine really high.

Jeff

 

I will third the suggestion to keep the 17" rims and simply switch to non-runflats. By far it makes the biggest difference.

Switching to 17" non-runflats > Going to 16" runflats

 

hi and welcome, minipin. :smile: I dont
plan to drive the R90's in the snow.

 

Minipin, I was in the same boat as you... and like you was considering 15" wheels (yes, a blasphemous thought for an MCS!) I did not want to take half-steps, i.e change just the runflat tires... (which i knew would make a big difference) but then think to myself that if the ride was just a *bit* softer, it would be perfect... and end up changing wheels in 6 months. So I went with the "softest" ride i could, without compromising handling too much. With this mentality, I know this is as soft of a ride as I can get out of the car.
(FWIW, i even changed the '02 shocks with the '03 shocks).

I am running 15x7 SSR wheels w/Toyo T1-S 205/55/15 tires and am *very* happy now. Ride is great, and handling is great too (I think it's better than stock - which could be due to weight reduction, or it could be due to the hard runflat tires).

And there are lots of tire options in 205/55/15... Yokohama AVS ES100 is other option. And if you dont mind sacrificing handling somewhat, Bridgestone Potenza RE92 get good reviews too.

Anyway, Alex is a very good resource... you can ask him questions like: If I run a 16" wheel with XYZ tire vs. a 15" wheel with a higher-perf. tire, which will have a better ride, and he always has an answer. BTW, he was very much in favor of the 15" wheel idea. Note that I got the wheels from Tirerack, but Toyo's are not available from them, I decided to go with the Toyo's because they are so darn light!

 

Thanks everyone for the input. I guess the best thing to do is to talk to Alex and get his opinion. I would love to hear from anyone else who has put 15" wheels on their MCS and how they like 'em. Here's a question I have about the tire ratings on the Tirerack site: Are the ratings on a particular tire relative to other tires in that performance category or is it relative to all categories,e.g., is a 9.0 handling rating for a grand touring summer tire equivalent to a 9.0 handling rating for a maximum performance tire. Just curious.

 

minipin-it's hard to tell about that rating system, but I would assume
that the score is relative to their own tire category. so performance would be
for performance, all-season for all-season, etc.

 

>> Here's a question I have about the tire ratings on the Tirerack site: Are the ratings on a particular tire relative to other tires in that performance category or is it relative to all categories,e.g., is a 9.0 handling rating for a grand touring summer tire equivalent to a 9.0 handling rating for a maximum performance tire. Just curious.

You point out an interestring factr - there is no bench mark to judge survey data against. Check out Test data at the top left of the screen - thats our inhouse testing , its more cross compairable.

Alex

 

You will notice a big difference in ride. As you stated if you are not going to drive the car more than 7/10 (10 out of 10 being full race/autocross) a light set of 15" wheels will make the car feel more responsive. Beware that at the limits of cornering I have had a bit of rollover on the tires. This is with the stock 175-65-15 tires. I am thinking of upgrading to a 195-60-15.

 

Once again, thanks to everyone for the great input. I ended up going with the Turanza LS-V's (205/55-15). Got them from Alex @ Tirerack mounted on ASA LW5 wheels. The sevice provided by the Tirerack people is outstanding; my tires arrived 2 days after ordering and included all the hardware necessary for mounting, including matching lugbolts for the wheels. My driving impressions so far are: the LS-V's are much quieter, more responsive and much more comfortable than the Dunlops. I have noticed they are more prone to tramlining than the Dunlops. I have not noticed any difference in cornering ability(I drive somewhat aggressively, maybe 7 or 8 out of 10). I happen to like the look of the 15" wheels and would definitely recommend this configuration for anyone who doesn't object to the aesthetics.

By the way, the original tires/wheels are up on ebay with $1 starting bid and no reserve:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=2454305877

Minipin