As this is my second cooper s, I knew the benefits of a non-run flat tire. I wanted a 205-45-17 sized tire for my web spoke wheels. I went with yokohama parada spec 2's. Got them from Alex at Tire Rack after reading all the positives comments about him here. My new '06 cooper s has the JCW suspension, installed at the dealer. The car felt nervous on the freeway with the original runflats & it used to follow every groove on the freeway. The paradas really smoothed out the ride, especially on the freeway. Its actually fairly comfortable now. If anyone wants to know, the JCW suspension is great. You will feel bumps more with the JCW suspension, especially the bad ones. But, its not too bad. Handling is good, not as good as with H-sport setup I had with my previous '05 cooper s. The H-sport springs & competition rear sway bar were tough to live with on a daily basis for me here in southern California, especially if you use your car for work as I do. I'm typically in my car 3 hours a day, driving around here in So. Cal. Anyway, the Parada spec 2's are good, nice and grippy, and a good choice if you want to go with the oem tire size of 205-45-17. These yokohamas have a unique type of tread pattern which doesn't seem to track every bad groove on the freeways.

Everyone, enjoy your mini cooper's! You know we all have one great car that makes the other cars seeming boring in comparison.

 

cool. I had the Spec2's on my previous (or previous previous) car
and I liked them alot. they reminded me of the old DunlopSP8000
tires which imho were one of the best street tires for the money.

Spec2's have a special silica compound and it grips pretty well even in the
cooler temps vs other summer tires.

 

or so they would have you believe...

 

yeh, they also lets you paddle over water.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

that is where one smarta$$ met another

 

yeh, but im more creative.

hi berky. how's that veeedub?

 

Fast

i am alright, it became my financial blackhole, i need to go back to my big diesel trucks again

 

Hey Paul's S,

Thanks for the info. Just yesterday I picked up my new '06 MCS JCW including/dealer-installed JCW suspension. Also took advice from Alex @ Tirerack, but went with 16" Avon tech M500 tires. But first, I drove about 40 miles on the OEM 17" RF w/s-lites, then switched to my Avons mounted on 16" Gram Lights. Wow! Same observations as you... smoothed out the car (No tramlining on the interstates) and considerably better turn response than the OEM RF's. My 16" wheel/tire set-up cut 11 lbs. per corner off the weight compared to S-lights. No more "nervous, twitchy" feel.

My MINI is also my daily driver which makes JCW, IMO, very reasonable in performance/comfort level for street use (lousy streets, half the time). The H-sports may well be better in some instances, but I'm very happy with the JCW packages on my car. They're a mellow blend of performance enhancements that make the car much more enjoyable, even on a daily driver basis. No... I did not get paid for that JCW endorsement.

Happy Motoring, and thanks to fellow NAM'ers for the great info., debate and humor!

 

the faster you go, the faster you go into your financial blackhole.

it's all relative.

dimini -umm, we're talking about Spec2's here. not some Avon lady tires.

 

Kenchan -umm, aren't we talking about tires & suspensions here? not some fiscally-burdened VW experiment? Besides, doesn't Avon make all this crap smell better?

 

no, we were talking about smartasses; and now we have 3.

 

Hey eveybody,

Dimini,

My '05 cooper s had the h-sport suspension, springs, comp. rear sway bar and control arms. Guess what, I had Avon Tech M500 tires on that car! Honestly, I liked those tires on my 16" X-light wheels. Those Avon tires were very quiet, wore well, and performed very nicely. Alex also sold me those tires. If you look on Tire Rack's web site, the Tech M500 tires do well against similar tires within its catagory. I'm equally happy with both the Avon Tech M500 tires and the Parada spec 2's. Dimini, you will enjoy you Avon tires, good choice.

I agree with you on the JCW setup. The JCW setup is good for your mini if you will drive primarily in the city or for long periods of time. I use my car for work, so I wanted a performance orientated setup, that wasn't too uncomfortable. The H-sport setup performed very well, better than the JCW setup, but at the expense of comfort. You give up performance for comfort and visa versa. If I took my car to the track, I would go H-sport, no question. Of all the aftermarket suspension offering I feel H-sport is the best.

I've got 1,300 miles on my '06 cooper s. The JCW suspension has settled in nicely. I'm very happy with the car. Enjoy you mini's everybody!

 

Great thing about MINI is that (in my case, at least) I can have one car that does it all: Feeds my "performance" hunger, yet hauls the junk that goes with daily life and work.

If my local streets were better, I would have bought the Spec 2's w/17"... but that's for another thread.

 

careful.....

 

thx Joel,

he is swimming in deep water