I just ordered online from Tirerack.com 4 AVS ES-100's for my 2003 MC. Since I know these tires are very popular, why doesn't it appear as an option or even Best Seller tire when I put in a 2003 MINI Cooper at the Tirerack.com site? I'm not knocking Alex--since this is my first post in the Tire forum and have not yet had the pleasure to meet him, but I had to jump through lots of hoops to find the size that I should order to replace my 16" Goodyear Eagle Runflats. Just seems if Tirerack is so committed to the MINI community, they should make the purchasing steps as easy as possible, and actually suggest these popular tires and the size that works, 205/50-16 to replace my oem 195/55R-16.

Just my 2cents.

 

Alex is pretty straight about giving you options but the average MINI tire buyer may be more interested in keeping the stock 195/55-16 size than the move to a plus size 205/50-16 tire which is still pretty common.

Tirerack has to think about liability and safety in recommending certain sizes. It's not that it won't work or fit but is there a safe remedy given that stock rim and that particular car. Or what is the safest choice for a replacement tire?

Tirerack is committed to the MINI community, but for performance tires you may have to talk to people like Alex to get the full range of options. There are always pros and cons with any choice.

The Yokohamas are good for the following reasons (I have them in 215/45-17):
Good price- much better than the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 or Bridgestone Potenza S-03s.
Good thread wear (but not great)
Very good dry traction and wet traction
Reasonably smooth and not noisy, ride is moderately comfortable
Not a snow tire!
Wide selection of tire sizes in 15", 16" and 17".
Usually in stock.
Very good street tire, Does OK for autocross but some others are better.

So when you do go shopping. read the posts about tire options and tire sizes for a given size rim. Then with an idea of what sizes will fit the rims you want to use, you can search by brand or tire size and mark if you want competition or street tires to find what will work/fit.

Sounds like you'll do fine with your ES100s. I do think they work especially well when new but as they get older their performance might be proportionally less.

 

I guess I really don't know how much bigger the tire is--going from 195 to 205 or even knew there was a potential liability issue. I just read and heard so much positive feedback about the Yoko's, but there wasn't a direct replacement to fit my 16" 5-stars--so I was confused. Thanks for the feedback. I understand about the performance loss. I figure it can't be much worse than my nearly bald run flats at 19,000 miles.

I'm definitely going to ignore MINIUSA this time around, and rotate my tires, cause my rears are still decent.

Oh and I expect the ride to be cushier than what I have now. Seems my ride is getting harder as the tire wears, or maybe that's just my tolerance level going down as I get hammered over every bump!
Thanks!

 

yeah, there were some loops to go thru/around to find the right size and brand. i spent alot of time researching tires at tirerack and here on nam to find my tire.

basically, i figured out what brands and size to look for. then i did a comparison side by side, along with reading some of the comments by actual owners, paying particular attention to mini owners. of course, i also considered what the local mini owners had on currently, as well as their experiences.

when i had my choices whittled down, then i called alex for his input. told him my driving style and environment and what wheels i intended to get. and my order was in.

free expert advice plus i scored a much better deal than any local retailer here in hawaii.

in the end, everything came together quite well. and in fact, i already ordered another set of tires from alex, as no one locally carried what i wanted, and i found out eventually that there were a whole lot more loops to jump thru to get them from anywhere else. and ontop of this, tirerack was pretty much as low a price as you'll find anywhere, if not lower.

the only thing i would have liked to have done differently is probably call alex sooner in the choosing process, thereby saving me a whole lot of researching time.

btw, i got yoko avs es-100 205/50/16's mounted on white asa lw5's to replace my stock 17" s-lites with runflats. recently ordered bf goodrich kdw2's in same size as either a replacement or for another set of wheels. and i was lucky enuff to score them as there were only two sets left at the time.

 

humm why are u expecting a performance loss.. since u are pretty close to the stock rolling diameters (if fact i think its a littler shorter?? not sure can't be bothered to check)
also the tire would probably weight a little less than those runflats......... finally expect a much better ride with those tires (it only took me few mins before i reliase how much better the car rides when i got my ES100 , same size as urs, compare to the goodyear NCT runflats.
also like u said i think u should defintely rotate the tires in a FWD Car :smile:

 

Heh heh, I thought the performance loss was related to stickiness?? My run flats were pretty good when new, but as bald as they are, I'm chirping everywhere--on take off, on curves, so I figured it's the same thing. Lose performance as it wears down, no biggie, just time to buy new shoes.

 

I too noticed that when I first got my MCS..that it takes a little navigation

to find the tires that'll fit your wheels. Tirerack assumes that you are looking for OE replacements, so that is why they concentrate on runflats. You just need to know the sizes that'll fit (from reading... other posts) and be ready to do
some research and trial and error on your own.

If you look for a wheel/tire package, they do list 205/50/16's as recommended
tires if you have 7"+ wheel width. I think they are being conservative so that
the majority of the customers will find what they are looking for...OE replacements.

Otherwise, need to call them up to ask questions. I've dealt with many
different sales guys there and other than one of the 5 or 6 that I spoke to,
all of them have been very good.

 

I think the performance loss that was mentioned is that over time any tire will do better when new than after some 12 months or close to 20,000 or 30,000 miles. You get wear on the tread and change in the rubber over time due to use, age, and ultraviolet light.

I don't think it was meant as performance loss comparing the 16" runflats and the Yokohama ES100 tires per se. Although I think a new set of ES100s will feel quite a bit better (ride quality and in performance) than those old runflats right now.

Anyway, if you need to talk tires for the MINI you are always free to ask for Alex M. If you have a good idea of what you want your tires to do and whether you like more ride comfort and all season use or performance then that will help him to help you locate the best tire fit.

 

Yeah I guess I'm sort of surprised Alex hasn't jumped in and commented yet.

 

Put the Yoko AVS ES 100's on my '04 MCS when it was new. I now have 4300 miles on them. Just rotated them front to back. The fronts are at 3/32". Rears 6/32". Before rotating of course. Reckon tire wear is controlled by the right foot?
Only 3 AutoX's and no track.

 

Tomslick,
Check for even tire tread wear on all the tires. Adjust tire pressure for street and autocross to make best use of your tires. If your pressure was too low in the front when autocrossing you will wear your tires a bit more.

For you, rotating tires at about 3000 miles might be helpful. Alot depends on your driving style and habits, your roads and your braking tendencies.

ES100s are directional tires so front goes to back on the same side, no crossing over when rotating.

 

Do you rotate your own tires? I've never rotated my tires before, but I'm guessing that nothing special needs to happen--that is no balancing is needed???

 

Right, no need to re-balance. Just take your front tire and rear tire and
swap them on the same side for directional tires like the ES100.

I use 2 jacks on the 2 jack points per side and do one side at a time.
maybe 15min? After you torque your lugs, take a quick 5 or 10mile trip
and re-torque your lugs.

 

Excellent advice. Thank you!!! I just couldn't imagine having to take it to a shop every 3K miles, I'd rather do it myself. Now I can.

 

Hey Richard!


I just got my new Yoko's on Sat. :smile: Good choice! I could notice a HUGE difference just in the parking lot. Ride was improved and traction...OH MY GAWD THE TRACTION!!! I did a little run through the canyon and they make the coolest swooshing noise ripping around the twisties! I went from 26 lbs per wheel to about 30 lbs. I can't notice a difference. If anything I think with the better traction I'm faster off the line and I did notice a change in braking. I'll see on my next fill up for mpg.

I hope to get a few more miles on the before Saturday so I can really let 'em rip. Wooooo!
I'm still unsure about rotating...didn't on the OEM's and they lasted almost 18k. They tell you that you want the better tread on the rear. Mr. Tire Man told me I'd be lucky to get 10k out of the Yoko's. So I dunno if I will bother or not. The fast wear of the Yoko's is one of the reasons I chose them. I figured if I hated them I'd burn them up pretty quick and could move on to something else.

Happy Motoring on your new sneakers!



-Cyn

 

Hi Cyn!
Hmm, 4 pounds more per wheel due to the new tire??

re: 18K
LOL, yeah I'm in the middle of 18K now, and never rotated. On the other hand Toshi has rotated his tires, and he's well over 20K, and his tires look about the same as my rear--which is still ok! He says those Goodyears are supposed to last 40,000 miles!
OMG, only 10,000 on the Yoko's????? . I wasn't aware of that. Hmm, does this mean I need to get a frequent buyers card from Yoko and start stocking up??

They should arrive tomorrow at my tire shop, so hopefully by Friday I'll be in my new shoes.

 

When threads are on track, I try to let them self perpetuate! Minihune brings so many valid and correct points up.

Alex

 

Greetings - I've had a set of these on for about a month now, and am quite pleased. I wouldn't say I've noticed a huge difference between the pirelli runflats and Yoko's, but definitely better traction, quieter, and probably the most noticeable distinction, smoother over small road imperfections. Can't say about braking however; I replaced the pads at the same time I did the tires.

:smile:Phil:smile:

 

[font=Arial]Yeah, the Yoko site said the size I got weighed 18/19 lbs. I read somewhere on here that the Conti's are 14 lbs. Don't know if that's true....

I know I laughed at the guy when we were talking about all season tires and that they come with a mileage guarantee. LOL! Yeah right!

I think since you have runflats you're going to notice a huge difference. Small bumpage is very nice now. The tires seems to really stick instead of hopping.

Since we're only a week apart we can watch each other's progress. I wish we could get sponsored so we could do a side by side comparison on to rotate or not. That would be interesting. Okay, so I might give that rotating thing a try.

Make sure you take it easy on Saturday...get some miles on them before you let her rip. :smile:

Finally after months and months of searching....NEW TIRES! Woooo![/font]
[font=Arial][/font]

[font=Arial][/font]
[font=Arial]-Cyn[/font]

 

How many miles should I have on the tires before they are seated in? Yeah I'm looking forward to the "softer" ride, although now that my son is getting older and more attentive (6 weeks), the bumps and vibration seem to calm him down!! Yesterday I was trying to drive over bumps and highway lane markers.

re: Sponsors
Heh heh, yeah that would be cool. This tire set, shipped 2 day was $380 + $70 for install = $450 every 10,000 miles?? LOL. The MINI has given me a lot of firsts----never had a windshield replaced 1 week after owning it, and now new tires every 6 months. LOL. Wifes gonna scream! "But honey, it's all about safety!!!", and fortunately, my MINI costs 50% less to drive than our other car esp with todays gas prices, so she can't argue we should be driving the other car.

 

Under normal driving conditions, I would go easy on the tires for at least 100miles for the release oil to wear out.


I usually take it easy for about 20miles, then explore the limit little by little
by taking the corners faster, but being careful not to exceed the limit of
grip. By 50miles, my tires have really good grip. :smile:


btw, im using ES100's on my commuter...its got about 70% tread left
and the howl is very loud. I think Im going to swap those out to my
R90's later on and get some ST115's on my commuter (Falkens).

 

Thanks kenchan! Hmmm, you say the howl is loud, do you mean while cornering? I've read various comments about road noise, but all were complaints when mounted on non MINI's. At 70% tread, how many miles have you got on them?? One more thing, what is it about the Falkens that interests you most? Is it ride comfort or durability or what?

Thanks!!!

 

The tires guys didn't mention anything to me but I think MINI recommends at least 300 miles. Seems like over kill. Maybe just do some bobbin' and weavin' on a wide part of the road to rough 'em up some.

Well, you did burn though your OEM tires kinda quick and the Yoko's are a soft tire. Maybe we both can squeeze another 18k out of these ones. :smile:

For me the 300 bucks is well spent for the smileage on the twisties.

Oh yeah!



-Cyn

 

Haha thanks! Yeah, I plan to do mostly camera coverage of the event on Saturday. I might have my 4 camera set up going, but that's another thread. Thanks for the info on tires. I'm gonna take it more easy on my new tires, but definitely still have fun!

 

Minhune, thanks. Yeah I started to rotate them at 3000 and got sidetracked. Tread wear is very even across the tread. No alignment problems and judging by wear, pressures must be ballpark at least.
Running 50lbs front and 46 rear for AutoX. Still rolling over a little on the front.
Run 34 all around on the street.