ok folks I need some info on what you think I need and what you like.
Im trying to deside what I want, I currently have 17 S-lites with runflats.
I need a wheel and tire for normal driving conditions, that I can do turns on a dime if I need to.
I think I like the look of a 15 or 16 but Im affraid of it looking funny with too much of a gap.
your thoughts...

also if you post let me know what you run and if you have pics available

db

 

IMHO - 16 inch wheel/tire is best for the mini. You will not experience more "gap" than with 17. If anything the gap is more noticeable in the lower profile tires (such as with 17" or 18"). 16 in rim is plenty for a car the size of the Mini - call me "old school" but 18inch wheels on a car this size is ridiculous and screws up the ride. 17 is pushing it. If you want low unsprung weight and want to go with aftermarket rim, I would go with Comp SSRs. Nice looking wheel too, though pricy. Stock Xlite "vspokes" are relatively light weight, too. The Avon tires in 205/60/16 work well from what I have read. That's what I intend to get for the MCS I have on order.
I'd check with Alex @ tire rack about a package.

 

I agree on 16 as best steet choice. If you have a pre 05 you can consider going shorter that stock with a 45 or 40 tire (I am going to 215/40/16). You can pick up some width, drop some weight, and impove your aceleration with shorter gearing at the cost of greater speedo error and some "gap".

Works for me.
Wes

 

count me in as a sixteener, convinced me on demo S's with different wheel combos. less wheel, less weight, less $$ all the way around. a no brainer (except I'd move down to fifteeners if they looked cool:smile: ) jimbo

 

"Gap" is not an issue with the stock wheel and tires. The diameter of all of the stock wheel/tire combinations is approximately 24". It does not matter whether you choose the 15" or the 18", they are all close to 24" diameter.

I run the 16" X-lites with the stock runflats. You can see them in my gallery on MINI2.com. Actually, I have pictures with the 15" 7-hole wheels for the winter and the 16" X-lites for the rest of the year.

 

To be able to turn on a dime it would be good to have-
Wider rims than stock with sticky non runflat tires with lower profile sides.

However everything comes at a price and the above described wheels and tires are going to cost a bit more or wear a bit faster and ride a bit stiffer/rougher. Nothing is perfect and everything is a compromise.

So which MINI are you going to use this for- what year and what model?
Next, what is your budget for rims and tires?
What is your weather like? Rain much? How about light snow?

Generally if you want a smoother ride you'll need non runflat tires and since there are no 50 series or 55 series tires that will fit any 17" rim for the MINI and clear the wheel arches we consider the 15" and 16" rims which do allow for the smoother riding 50/55 series tires in various widths.

Stock tires are about 24 to 24.4" outer tire diameter. If you have a stock suspension you can go a bit taller but try to keep within about 3% for keeping your odometer and speedometer accurate and for not getting too tall an effect on your gearing.

For 17" rims in 7 or 7.5" width you can use tires like 205/45-17 or 215/45-17 with good street manners and good performance. Costs a bit more and weighs a bit more. Some tires wear a bit faster.

For 16" rims usually they are 7" wide and fit 205/50-16 tires (24"). Alternatively you can use 215/50-16 (24.46" diam), 225/45-16 (23.97") or 215/45-16 (23.6").

For 15" rims you can pick 6.5 or 7" wide rims with 205/55-15 (23.88"),
195/55-15 (23.4"), 195/60-15 (24.2"), 215/55-15 (24.3") and others.

Some tire sizes don't offer much of a selection.
Prices range quite a bit. Some are quite expensive but offer better performance although treadwear is greater. Good examples would be Bridgestone potenza S-03 or Goodyear eagle F1 GS-D3.

Some tires are more reasonably priced and offer a notch less performance but are pretty good. Yokohama ES100, Toyo Proxes, Avon Tech M500/M550 are all common choices.

Find your local MINI club and go out to an event to check out all the non stock wheels and go for a drive before you decide.

I have Centerline RPM rims 17x7 with Bridgestone Potenza S-03 in 215/45-17 and find that they work fine for me both for street use and on turns.

 

everybody is pretty hardcore on 16s, however I would say 17s. You need to be a little more cautios, however, gives a little better, tight feel to ride. I agree that 18s are really pushing it. I would try different tires w/17s before going on a smaller rim.

 

16's on mine. I like 17's too, but 16's behave better for my driving habits.

 

what do you guys think of these???
I kinda like the stock look, all the after market stuff just looks too Hondaish to me.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=7986576380

 

^^^
Those are 15s...actually the lightest OEM wheel made. They can make a MINI awefully nimble!!! I absolutely love mine....wear 'em 24/7.

 

Get some light 15s. You'll be amazed at the improvements in acceleration and braking! I'm using 15x7 Konig Rewinds (~14#) and 215/50 (23.9") Kumhos.
I absolutely refuse to ever put my S-lites back on..

 

Im sure they work great, but they're too small and narrow
and just looks too weakish to me.

 

True. I really liked the look of the (somewhat misnamed) S-Lites, but found the ride a too harsh. I bought some 15s but didn't really like the look (a different wheel perhaps....) but in the end found a good combination that works for me. Now I use 15 inch R82s with Falken all-season 195/60s in the winter and 16 inch R90s with Goodyear GS-D3 summer tires the rest of the year. You can read about my experiences here.

The photo below shows the different look of the 3. Ditch your runflats regardless and you'll notice an instant imrovement in ride quality.

That's my .02....

 

15s seem to work great on my MC

Summer


Winter

 

I like the looks of the 17's and don't feel they hurt the ride enough to make a change. You can go with non-runflats, that will make the biggest difference.... and you can also go with a lighter 17 wheel.. Check this out:

Link

 

Did some research on tires.... A 205/40 17 non-run flat weighs 20lbs.
A 205/50 16 non run flat tire is the same, 20lbs. This is the same Michelin Pilot Exalto tire.
I prefer the lower profile tire of the 17. Less squirm and better looks. IMHO
If you live in an area with lots of potholes and rough roads... you might want the 16's with the higher profile to help absorb the bumps...
I checked around and there are some 17 inch wheels that weigh 12 lbs. So you can drop half the weight if you want to... My plan is to keep the R98's and go with a lighter non run flat tire...

one more thing to consider.... the smaller the wheel, the better the acceleration due to ratio difference

 

Changing your wheel/tire size also affects the accuracy of your speedometer. Fool around with one of the tire size calculators out there and you'll see how much you have to mentally adjust what the speedo says to how fast you are actually going. http://www.canadiandriver.com/tools/...c/tirecalc.htm The cops don't seem to care if your speedo is 5.8% too fast...

 

I was shocked on my test drive at the harshness of the 16 inch run flats. I knew I would be driving on the pot hole infested streets here in the northeast year round and felt a coventional tire would work better in the snow. Iwent with the 15" thinking I would up grade in size and performance if I was not happy with the handling. The difference in ride quality was amazing and I found the handling acceptable for my needs. I did plus up to 195s when it came time for for new tires. The conventional all season tires are enough lighter that it does make a difference in start up performance as well !

Spacing is not really and issue and I kind of like the appearance better than the larger wheels...17s almost seem to be to be too big IMHO.

 

I have a lot to consider.
I go back and forth on what I wanna do, Ill prob try to get those 15s and keep my S-lites just incase I deside the 15s are too small .
Im not going to be racing or running the car very hard I just want a good road wheel/tire combo that if I need to get out of a jam I can do so, plus I want a wheel that looks stock (prob boring too some).
I love Mini-lites but a lot of ppl run those, I wish someone made a retro 60's looking wheel, the closest thing seems to be these honeycone factory wheels (ebay link above) for now.
I want to make my MINI look factory retro.
one thing I have to consider is the 15in tires avail and how much the cost diff between 17s-15s.
thanks for all the help!
keep um coming!
thanks db

 

Yes, These rims are stock 15x5.5" holeys (for 7 holes) and are very popular for autocrossing since they are stock and the lightest rims that come with a MINI at 12 pounds each. The limitations are the looks (traditional and simple) and the width (narrow at 5.5" which limits the size of the tire that will fit well).

I own two sets of wheels with this rim which I use for high performance driving events- autocross/track/driving school.

Most owners that have them use them for street use with 175/65-15 continental tires and they are quite comfortable but not high performance.
You can use this rim and mount 205/55-15 tires like Toyo Proxes 4 ($70 each and edgeracing.com) or contact Alex@tirerack.com about BF Goodrich g-Force Sport ($71) or g-Force T/A KDW 2 ($99), Bridgestone Potenza RE-750 ($94), Fuzion ZRi ($60), Kumho Ecsta SPT ($67), Yokohama ES100 ($78) and more.

Also the holeys come in White or silver- the whites might look good with a white roof (harder to keep clean though). And you can paint or powercoat them other colors like flat black or glossy black or even anthracite or body color.

 

I think I askled this already somewhere else and I can remember if I got an answer.

one other thing that concerns me is when I ditch the runflats I want to get some sort of spare to keep in the "tiny" trunk, what does the MINI spare look like, I assume they come in diff sizes? are they the same wheel or do they make a tiny donute spare just to get you home/gas station?
Is there anything other spares from other car companies that would work, in other words something you could find locally (junkyard etc.) ???

thanks db

 

I personally like a more simple wheel, no offense to anyone who likes the 18 inch w/radical spoke wheels but the fancy wheels look too Honda or boy racer riceburner too me, the price of the 15s is very tempting, KUMHOS are what a lot of my Beetle friends go for due to cost and its an ok tire for street driving.

in person do these wheels look small?
also how would it affect the speedo and if so how is that fixed or delt with? I cant see any probs just changing wheel sizes but since the car is on record with MINI USA as having MINI S-lites how would this effect the warranty??? Im almost affraid to do too much to the car because Ive heard MINI will balk at just about any mods other than dealer added JCW stuff.


db

 

There's only about a 2lbs difference between run-flat and non-run flat
from what I remember seeing. This was comparison between SP9000
and SP9000DSST. On street, you'll need to have over 10lbs savings
per wheel/tire combo to notice much from my experience. and the
difference was only felt in braking and a slight difference off the line.

Smaller the circumference, right?

 

I noticed that about these new run-flats... Times have changed as they used to be much heavier than they are now.... but they still ride harder than non-run flats...

Yes... the smaller the better acceleration ... those are my words... but I also like less revs on the Hwy, so I will stick with the 17's. The already low gearing of the 05 MCS is enough for off the line acceleration. I did not buy the car for its straight line performance... I bought it for the all around driving experience and go-kart like handling.... I like the ride and feel with the 17's... but they can be improved with some softer non-run flats.... which will also handle better.... Everything is a compromise...

 

I didnt think about the increase in revs with 15s

db