Tires, Wheels, & Brakes Discussion about wheels, tires, and brakes for the new MINI.
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Finally decided on wheels..being installed tomorrow...

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  #26  
Old 07-07-2005 | 09:24 PM
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Originally Posted by kyriian
Motegi is not just some 'run of the mill' brand... they are a decent wheel company.. (you might be thinking of MSR) ive ran their ff6 for about a year now and despite my abuse, they have stood up well and no warping problems ever! the polish lip still looks new, and no dis-coloration at all: to say that motegi is low quality is just a plain wrong statement (their traklite, while very expensive, is forged, and weighs 15 lbs in 17 inch)

also, costs much less than your 'high quality forged' BBS wheel, so if you do manage to destroy one, trade for a new one... i wont have to cry everytime i scrub the curb!

i like those FF7, just a bit too heavy for me

and a side note, no 16 will fit over the brembos, you will need 17s for the track too
Great comments. You pretty much hammered the nail on the head. The 18" FF7 is certainly not that light, but it's negligible in difference to the 17" s-lite.

--------------------------------

Another FYI for those who are not aware of it... Motegi Racing is a branch of American Racing, a fine American wheel manufacturer. They've been around a LONG time and have fairly carfully expanded by aquiring and developing a selection of brands. The others...

Motegi Racing
RO-JA Motorsports
RIAX
MOTTO
TIS

Motegi is quite capable, and they do design a fine track wheel (that kyriian mentioned), but it's actually only slightly more than 14 pounds in 17" spec. 14.3 to be exact. Pretty damn light. Maybe that will be my dedicated track wheel when I get around to buying a set.
 
  #27  
Old 07-07-2005 | 09:27 PM
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Originally Posted by ahamos
I don't think he has Brembo's. That's a painted stock caliper behind the S-Lite in the first picture, and the second picture is an admitted hack-job. The caliper is in the wrong location for the MINI (although not by much).
No, actually I have brembos.

I bought the car (from the owner of a BMW dealership in Ohio) with them mounted. You need 20 mm spacers to clear the stock rim. Barely.



a pic from an earlier attempt at finding and fitting wheels...unfortunately, this was the one rim available. finding three more however...

 
  #28  
Old 07-08-2005 | 07:59 AM
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Oopsie

Originally Posted by JCW Driver
No, actually I have brembos.

I bought the car (from the owner of a BMW dealership in Ohio) with them mounted. You need 20 mm spacers to clear the stock rim. Barely.
20mm??? Holy crap! Your wheels are almost in the next lane!

I would never have expected that.

But for the Photoshop job, did you just copy in a picture of the wheel, with caliper and rotor, or did you add the caliper to the picture? It looked like you had simply copied the whole thing in, which is why I figured Kyriian had misunderstood.

My apologies, kyriian!
 
  #29  
Old 07-08-2005 | 08:45 AM
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Originally Posted by ahamos
20mm??? Holy crap! Your wheels are almost in the next lane!

I would never have expected that.

But for the Photoshop job, did you just copy in a picture of the wheel, with caliper and rotor, or did you add the caliper to the picture? It looked like you had simply copied the whole thing in, which is why I figured Kyriian had misunderstood.

My apologies, kyriian!
Yep, 20mm. Amazingly, I don't get too much rubbing. But the problem is the back side of the stock wheel. It still barely clears the caliper (1.5mm), and when the wheel deflects (flexes) under heavy live loading (hitting a small pot hole for example), the calipers and wheels are will touch. Not a great setup.

I got the wheel image from the Motegi racing website, and got an image of a brembo rotor and caliper (it's actually not the right one) from a yahoo image search. ... then squished and pasted the pieces together in photoshop over top of a pic of my car. :smile:
 
  #30  
Old 07-08-2005 | 06:09 PM
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Originally Posted by kyriian
Motegi is not just some 'run of the mill' brand... they are a decent wheel company.. (you might be thinking of MSR) ive ran their ff6 for about a year now and despite my abuse, they have stood up well and no warping problems ever! the polish lip still looks new, and no dis-coloration at all: to say that motegi is low quality is just a plain wrong statement (their traklite, while very expensive, is forged, and weighs 15 lbs in 17 inch)

also, costs much less than your 'high quality forged' BBS wheel, so if you do manage to destroy one, trade for a new one... i wont have to cry everytime i scrub the curb!

i like those FF7, just a bit too heavy for me

and a side note, no 16 will fit over the brembos, you will need 17s for the track too
Hold, on when did I say they were low quality? They are not a high quality wheel. Trust me. And their traklite forged wheel is by the same token an average forged wheel. The paint quality and fit and finish is average. Take the time at your next local Mini event and compare all the wheels and check out all the levels of quality.. You might be simply amazed !!!
 
  #31  
Old 07-08-2005 | 06:13 PM
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Originally Posted by JCW Driver
Great comments. You pretty much hammered the nail on the head. The 18" FF7 is certainly not that light, but it's negligible in difference to the 17" s-lite.

--------------------------------

Another FYI for those who are not aware of it... Motegi Racing is a branch of American Racing, a fine American wheel manufacturer. They've been around a LONG time and have fairly carfully expanded by aquiring and developing a selection of brands. The others...

Motegi Racing
RO-JA Motorsports
RIAX
MOTTO
TIS

Motegi is quite capable, and they do design a fine track wheel (that kyriian mentioned), but it's actually only slightly more than 14 pounds in 17" spec. 14.3 to be exact. Pretty damn light. Maybe that will be my dedicated track wheel when I get around to buying a set.
So it appears that you know something about the wheel industry cool

But, the only reason those other company's are out was to save the failing American Racing brand. And by the way they did not expand or acquire any of those brands, they were all created in house at ARE in hopes to increase wheel sales..
 
  #32  
Old 07-08-2005 | 07:54 PM
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I was under the impression that RO_JA was aquired. But I just looked on the internet and see that you're correct. I stand corrected. :smile:

American never could keep up with image development of thier own primary brand, it seems. Thier historic based products are quite nice for those specific applications (RWD muscle cars, historic racing cars, and such), but the modern stuff never struck any chords.

The value for dollar is very good, but they are not in the same class as volks, fikse, rays, etc. Nor are they trying to be.

Anyway, the Motegi's are on the car now... just gotta snap a couple pics. I think they look pretty good.
 
  #33  
Old 07-09-2005 | 01:57 PM
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Cool, they are good wheels I just want everyone that drives a Cooper to be a well informed buyer

Best Roja wheels every was the R2-5 which is made by Rays

Also, Ro_ja was trying to compete for the upper market but the quality and marketing never helped them reach there goal, thus they moved the brand back into the Motegi line. The LT-5 was also suppose to be sold this year under Motegi made in 2006 who knows...

And TIS wheels do not even get me started chrome is cool and so is 20x7.5 but check out tire rack some time and blow up the picture to 1000x1000 and you will see just how poor the quality is on those wheels..
 
  #34  
Old 07-11-2005 | 10:03 AM
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Originally Posted by Passat774
you will see just how poor the quality is on those wheels..
I wish I could disagree - but its a bling @ a price point hard to beat.

Alex
 
  #35  
Old 07-11-2005 | 11:54 AM
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can someone please post a pict of the car already?!
 
  #36  
Old 07-11-2005 | 12:01 PM
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Nice I like it......... Very cool 18" wheel.
 
  #37  
Old 07-11-2005 | 12:24 PM
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Originally Posted by Passat774
Cool, they are good wheels I just want everyone that drives a Cooper to be a well informed buyer

Best Roja wheels every was the R2-5 which is made by Rays

Also, Ro_ja was trying to compete for the upper market but the quality and marketing never helped them reach there goal, thus they moved the brand back into the Motegi line. The LT-5 was also suppose to be sold this year under Motegi made in 2006 who knows...

And TIS wheels do not even get me started chrome is cool and so is 20x7.5 but check out tire rack some time and blow up the picture to 1000x1000 and you will see just how poor the quality is on those wheels..
You are right about the quality. Very good. Not great though. There are minor mass production related issues (paint application, for example) with wheels like this but i'm very happy overall.

Pics posted in 5 minutes...they look great!
 
  #38  
Old 07-11-2005 | 12:33 PM
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  #39  
Old 07-11-2005 | 12:42 PM
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Looks better on you MCS then on your pic sample.
Question on you tires size? 215-35-18 or 215-40-18 or 215-40-18 or 225-40-18?
 
  #40  
Old 07-11-2005 | 12:44 PM
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wow that is one very black Mini.
Wheels look great on the car!
Just can't get over the Motegi = pep boys brand image.
 
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