My Yokohama Avid H4S tires are just about bald (rear ones aren't even legal tread depth anymore), after only one year. Sheesh! I expected them to last a little longer, as they've got a very good wear rating, but that's part of the price I pay for driving a Mini, eh? Since I need new tires, again, I feel I may as well go ahead and buy some nice new wheels to go with them, which is something I've wanted to do for a long time now. I currently have the base model 15" 7-hole wheels, but I'd like to go to a 16x6.5" or 16x7" size, with appropriate all-season tires. (Probably just another set of Yokohamas, but maybe I'll go with Traction T/A's this time around.)

I've always loved Mini's R90 web-spoke (mesh?) style wheels, but they are just too heavy, and likely a bit too much money as well. My current 12 pound 15" wheels will probably be hard to beat in weight, but I'd like to get something reasonably light. Definitely under say...18 lbs., or so. The Tire Rack has a beautiful 16x7" web-spoke style BBS wheel, that weighs about 11 lbs., but a whole set would run about $1,800, which is just insanely too much dough for me. They have a much cheaper ($100 ea.) web-spoke style available, that is okay in weight, but looks just plain ugly to me. It seems I will have to look elsewhere to get something that will work for me, though some of the O.Z. wheels look pretty decent, have good weight, and are affordable...to MY pocketbook. I prefer not to spend more than $200 a wheel, and I wouldn't mind being closer to $100 each, but then...LOL...who wouldn't, eh? (That's not including tires, of course.)

Okay, so...I've been looking elsewhere, but it's tough. A lot of these online wheel search engines suck, and often don't give weight information at all, or even bolt pattern information. Needless to say, my tires are quickly going bald, and I need to make a decision, and put in a wheel order soon, before I end up driving around on a donut and three rims. Any help pointing out specific wheels that might fit the bill would be greatly appreciated...even though I'm afraid I can't offer a finder's fee, sorry.

To give you a better idea of the types of web-spoke style wheels I've been looking at, and having a hard time getting weight and other information on, I've listed a few names below, as examples. Some of which may turn out to be just right for me, but I just don't know enough about 'em yet. I'm open to silver, gun metal/anthracite, or even black finishes. (My MC is LY/B, w/exterior chrome accents.)

Konig Rush
Konig Theory (still available?)
Racing Sparco NS-II Python (still available?)
Voxx Matrix 8 (best looking 16x6.5" I've seen yet, but still available?)
American Racing X-Comp

Motegi Racing MR12's look pretty nice too, but weigh nearly 20 lbs. Their silver finish MR8 is also not bad, though not really what I'm looking for either, but I know they are available in a 16x7" size that'll fit my Mini, and weigh in at an acceptable 16.5 lbs., at $125 each. That should give you a good general idea what I'm looking for. The Alt 128 (or is it 148?) is also pretty nice looking, but I can't seem to find weight information on that one either, in 16x7". I was really hoping to get a 16x6.5" wheel, for acceptable Winter driving performance, but there just don't seem to be many aftermarket wheels in that size, which really surprises me. I guess 16x7" is acceptable enough though. I wouldn't want anything wider than that, but I think I might like the tad extra width over what I have on now, as I certainly enjoy the twisties as much as anyone else here. (Hmmm...might explain the rapid tire wear, eh? )

 

Discount Tire sells the Racing Sparco
http://www.discounttiredirect.com/di....do?tpc=SPCPYT

That would be my vote.

 

Yeah, they are pretty nice, but I'm confused by their bolt pattern information. The 16x7" sizes range in bolt pattern from 9-100 to 9-114, with offsets of 40 and 47. All in silver finish, which is fine. No wheel weight information is provided, but maybe Racing Sparcos are known for light weight? I know the Mini's bolt pattern is 4-100, but maybe 9-100 is compatable with that bolt arrangement. I guess I'll just have to call, eh?

 

Okay, looks like that bolt pattern won't work, so that particular wheel is out, at least for me. Rats.

 

You can get the R90 16" from Classic MINI for $152 each. That's with the NAM 20% discount.

 

Pics, man, Pics! :D
-G

 

Okay, okay, I'll see if I can put up some pics of these likely candidate wheels.

As regards the R90 suggestion. I love the look of the R90 rims, but...geez, they are SO heavy. (Comparatively speaking...to just about any wheel of that size!) I can't justify the expense...considering the rolling weight penalty I'd burden myself with (that I don't think ANY lightweight set of tires could ever compensate for). So, they are out as an option, sadly. I've discovered that the only way to get weight information, about a specific wheel, is to call up or e-mail the supplier directly. Local area retailers are usually not very helpful in this regard, and often won't even call their own suppliers about such things, let alone get a decent answer back...if ever. Which seems a little strange to me, since I think that would be a fairly common sort of question to ask, don't you? So far, direct contact with online suppliers has been a little more fruitful, but the answers are slow in coming. If wheel weights didn't vary so much, even within a particular size category, or if I had a car with significantly more horsepower, I wouldn't care. With a car like the Mini though, be it an MC or an MCS, I think it's a rather important issue.

More thuroughly searching online forums like this one will probably help me a lot. I've already been able to get quite a bit of wheel weight information that way, but it often times eliminates an otherwise good looking wheel from my short list, rather than add new and exciting possibilities. Some of the information tends to be a bit old as well, and so what have seemed like a good new possibilities...have turned out to no longer be available!

*sigh*

What a drag, but...I think it will all feel worthwhile, in the end, once I finally have those new rims (whichever ones they turn out to be) mounted on my MC. I've got 3 weeks to get this done, so...darn it, that should be enough time, right? LOL

 

 

 

As you can see, these two wheel examples (the Alt 148 and the Wheel Max 941) are not exactly the same, by any means. However, they give a good impression of what I think would look pretty sweet on my Liquid Yellow/Black CVT MC. Of course, being that it's a CVT MC, I think the weight issue is significant. The black wheel looks heavy, but looks can be very deceptive when it comes to rims. I suspect, but haven't confirmed yet, that the Alt 148 is in the 16-18 lbs. range, which would be okay...if it were closer to 16 than 18. LOL I think I could live with 16 lbs., if I can find a good, lightweight (relatively speaking) all-season tire that will make me happy. Speaking of which...any thoughts on that subject? How light a full size (maximum ground clearance, for Winter driving) tire can I get that will fit a 16x7" wheel? Strictly for everyday street use.

"Mesh" style (and closely related) wheels seem rather limited in variety in the 16" wheel size range. I see a lot more 17", and on up, but those wheels are even heavier, and I feel (from recommendations here) that a 16" wheel size is a good compromise between performance handling and ride comfort. Both are important to me. Keeping the width of the wheel fairly narrow (6.5" to 7") still keeps me in a width range that is reasonably okay for Winter driving, which I have to do here in Reno every year, to some degree. The 16" diameter allows me the use of tires that give me the maximum, non-rubbing, tire diameter I would greatly prefer to have, for all-year ground clearance needs. I can gain nearly 1/2" of extra clearance going that route, over the 1/2" of clearance I previously gained by just getting the biggest tires I could find for my OEM 15x5.5" wheels.

Okay, I admit it, I'm a little wacky about getting extra ground clearance. I have my reasons. (Mainly $700 of undercarriage work I need done to my poor Mini.) LOL Anyway, I'll post some more wheel pics soon. I hope these pics have been of some help. If any of you happen to have any of these wheels on your Mini, please let me know how you've liked them...and send us some pics!

 

The 16x7" Enkei J10's weigh 17 lbs. 5 lbs. more than my current wheel. Even in 15x6.5", they are still 15.5 lbs., though I could very much live with that, if that's a size I was shooting for, but I'm not. I like the Enkei J10 styling though, which is rather like the Wheel Max 941 above, minus the screws, and also available in a silver machined finish. (Any arguments against getting a black wheel, like the one above? Hard to maintain appearance of?)

 

I'm finishing this up with a new thread.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=61279

 

If you like BBS, look at this link, https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=60422, you might get these BBS's for 1/2 price of new.

retroom

 

I checked into that link. My need is fairly immediate, and I suspect that deal...while it would likely be a good one...would still not be enough of a "steal", at least for my budget. Plus, the tires that come with the wheels are not something I'm looking for either, at all.

As things stand now, I've just today ordered four O.Z. Ultraleggeras (16x7", 4-100, +37mm offset), and four Michelin Exalto A/S tires (215/55-16) to go with them. These are more expensive wheels than the SportMax 941 wheels I liked the look of best (and was all set to order), but the final verdict on the SportMax wheels was that, "While they may look nice, I would not otherwise be happy with them in the performance department."

The O.Z.'s are pretty nice looking, and only weigh 14.5 lbs. each, with a good quality record...far above that of SportMax, which used to be ProMax. ProMax had a less than stellar reputation. Today, this evening in fact, WheelMax (sellers of the SportMax series of wheels) finally e-mailed me about the 941's weight. However, despite my having told them what size and type of wheel I was interested in...they had to ask me all over again, even though they sent my first, very clear, e-mail back to me in the content of their own e-mail response. Indicating, to me at least, that they...have no idea what the heck they are doing over!

I think I've made the right choice, for me. The look of the O.Z. Ultraleggeras has really grown on me, and I'm almost happy that WheelMax kind of dropped the ball. (Despite my decision, I did respond to their e-mail with a further request for the weight of a SportMax 941 wheel, just so we can all know anyway, as I'm still curious.) I had called WheelMax twice in the last two days, as well as having e-mailed them, but that still didn't get me any answers. Which I think, sadly, is rather pitiful on their part, don't you?

Thank you all for your input on this grand adventure of mine. The installation of this wheel/tire package will happen this Saturday, so I'll be able to report back on how it all turns out, pretty quickly. I'll take some pictures as well, and attempt to post them here next chance I get.

These are the O.Z. Ultraleggeras.



And these are the O.Z. SuperLeggeras that I was also considering, and am also still partial to. Too late to change my mind? (Same light weight.)



Oh geez, I still can't believe I'm uncertain on this...even at this late a stage in the game! LOL

 

I have 16" Konig Theory rims on my 05 MCS as winter wheels. My summer/stock wheels are 17" S Lites. I'm very happy with the Konigs, they were only $50 per wheel with the Michelin X Ice winter tires I bought (total cost $684) through Discount Tire.

Sorry no photos unless anyone knows how to get photos from my Nokia cell phone to the computer....