I've had my Clubman for 10 months now and after a 1200 mile road trip last week I am finally fed up with the harsh and loud ride of the Continental run flat tires. I'm looking at replacing them with regular all season tires. I don't see any snow and I don't drive very aggressively. Just looking for comfortable quiet tires that are good in the rain.

I'm trying to keep the price around $100/tire and saw these got good reviews. Can anyone recommend one over another?
Cooper Zeon RS3-A
Falken Pro G4 A/S
Kumho Ecsta ASX
Bridgestone Pontenza RE760 Sport

Also my Mini came with 205/45R17 size tires and since I wanted a softer ride would going up to 215/45R17 make much of a difference? Looking at some stats it would be almost half an inch wider and almost a quarter inch more sidewall.

 

Tire Rack Survey ...



Since one of the tires on your list is a summer tire ...

 

I love my Continental DW's (summer tire) that I use on my primary car... I can't wait to replace the run flats on my Mini with them...

 

I run the Potenza RE760 Sport on my car in a 205/45/17; I'd rate them higher than what the TireRack chart above has them at - they're AWESOME in the dry/warm weather and great in the rain. I drove from CT to MD in October during the hurricane/HEAVY rains for about 6 hours at about 80 mph and the car never hydroplaned or behaved unpredictably.

I feel like I can't tell people how much I like them; I'd def. buy them again, especially in the $100/tire price point.

 

The local NTB's prices and selection match closely with what I was looking at on Discount Tire Direct. I've narrowed it down to these 3 and am going to stick with the 205/45R17 size.

Cooper Zeon RS3-A
Continental Extreme Contact DW
Bridgestone Potenza RE760 Sport

They all hover around $100 a tire and seem to get good reviews. I'll probably see what my local NTB has in stock and if they have any advice on one over the other. Really looking forward to a more comfortable and quiet ride.

 

Tough to compare them as the first one is an all-season tire and the other two are summer tires in different performance categories.

 

I've only driven SUV's in the past with all terrain tires so I'm a new to passenger car tires.

I drive mostly on the interstates and highways that have potholes and cracks. I don't track the car or drive very aggressively. We do get a fair amount of rain but no snow. Do you recommend an all-season or summer tires? Or a specific performance category?

 

Summer vs All-Season? If you don't drive aggressively, go all-season. You'll normally get twice the amount of mileage on a set of all-seasons vs summers. If you get best all-seasons ("Ultra High Performance All-Season"), they'll be comparable to the average summer tire. TireRack has reviewed the top UHP all-seasons and agreed the difference is negligible to the average driver. I drive spiritedly through the canyons of Malibu CA once a month, and when I switched from summers to ultra high performance all-seasons, apparently I still don't drive hard enough to reach the limits of either tire under normal dry conditions. In the wet, very predictable and a progressive breakaway in traction as you push them harder. I've went through several sets of summers, including the Bridgestone RE760 you mentioned. Good tire, but I wouldn't go back to summers.



I've filtered all the Ultra High Performance All-Seasons available from TireRack in your current size, 205-45-17. You can upsize from a 205 to 215, but going wider does change the way the car drives. I debated between the Continental DWS and the General G-Max AS03 (top UHP all-seasons reviewed by the TireRack team). It's odd that the user reviews are different from TireRacks own team reviews. The Contis, Generals, and Michelin A/S 3 were at the time of review the top team picks. Continental and General are now the same company, so tire compounds are generally the same, performance differences between the two negligible. Both these options are high mileage tires which was a huge plus. The folks over at DiscountTire/AmericasTire (whom I bought them from) send there managers out to the track to test them, and agreed that they handled almost identically, the Generals being cheaper in price but with slightly more road noise under aggressive driving. The MINI is a pretty noisy car as is, so I barely notice it. I've ran them for a year now and show little wear on the fronts, almost no noticeable wear on the rear. I'm running 215-40-18, and the ride quality has been equal if not better than the previous summer tires I used.

I've also driven them through the snow once, two inches with patches of ice underneath. Keeping things at a cautious speed, barely a peep from the DSC.

Buy through DiscountTire but through their eBay account vs their website. Buying through eBay means you don't pay tax and shipping was free. They also have occasional $100 instant rebate offers on eBay not offered on their website.

 

I've got the Continental DWS's and love them. I would buy them again.

 

Ended up going to NTB who had the Cooper Zeon RS3-A tires in a 205/45R17 at a good price.

I've put 1000 miles on them and so far I'm very pleased. The ride is softer and quieter then my Continental run flats and no more violent impacts from pot holes. MPG has gone up a little and the dangerous bump steer has gotten better. I overall enjoy driving the car more now that I don't wince every time I see a crack in the road.

 

I've read a little about the Cooper Zeon tires you bought. Please keep us posted with your thoughts on this tire as you get more miles on them. They seem like they would be a very good performer on a Mini and should just be starting to finish their break in period with a 1000 miles on them.

What tire pressures are you running on your new Cooper tires, and what kept you from going up to a 215/45 17 size?

Let us know what area of the country you drive. We deal with broken roads quite a bit here in Maine, mostly due to the freeze/thaw cycles. We also get our share of warm weather from June on through September, always with a chance for a quick shot of cool air at times. Tires can get quite a workout, to say the least. We ran the Mini almost to the end of December this year. That's why I'm looking at an all season.

I won't run the Mini on snow due to the incredible amount of salt and corrosive chemicals that this state loves to slather on roads each time we get even just a little snow. That tough duty goes to the Winter car on snow tires, the one I call the "sacrificial anode".

 

I have not checked or adjusted the tire pressure since they were mounted a few weeks back, I assume it's around 38 PSI. I didn't go up to 215/45R17 since the 205/45R17 were cheaper, in stock, and it's the factory size for 17" wheels from Mini. And going up a size may cost me a little fuel economy.

I live in Alabama and we have terrible road surfaces. I commute about 30 miles a day for work and take road trips so I typically put 16-17k a year on my car. The Cooper Zeon's have performed well in the last few rain storms but will likely never see any snow.

 

Thanks for the update and added info. Will help when it comes time for me to get new tires.

I would check those tire pressures when you get a chance. Tires normally lose about 1 psi per month and tire pressure is affected by air temperature changes, 1 psi down for every 10 degrees of cooling and 1 psi up for every 10 degrees of warming. Keeping the tires at optimum pressure does 3 important things for you: 1. gives you better fuel economy. 2. helps keep tire wear from becoming uneven across the tread surface. 3. provides better handling and ride.

We get huge temperature swings these days. Two days ago the temperature was 38 degrees, and this morning here it was 7 below zero. That brings our tire pressures down by 4+ psi in 2 days. The forecasts says our temperatures will be back into the lower 40s by Tuesday! I try to keep the pressures as close to recommended as possible. Sometimes, like this week, it's a pain in the neck.

The Cooper Zeons are sounding like a good tire choice.

 

I also purchased the Cooper Zeon RS3-A's in 215/45/17 back in September. I have put about 1500 miles on them since then... all dry conditions in Colorado. That being said I really think they are a great all season tire option for the price. They handle great without a overly stiff sidewall...which gives a little bit softer ride with out much handling sacrificed....they are much quieter than the run flats I swapped out. The only bad thing I've noticed is that in temps lower than freezing they aren't as sticky as I think they should be for an all season tire. I would still recommend to everyone seeking an all season non run-flat.

I paid just under 450 (installed) through Discount Tire which included a few rebates.

 

Thanks! Another positive review. Discount Tire's website is where I first read about the Zeons when I started looking around for non run-flat replacements.

Even with an all season, it's pretty normal to see some loss of grip when temperatures get really cold. Snow tires are the ones with rubber compounds that handle the coldest weather best, but when the temperatures warm up to near Summer levels, it's the snow tires don't do as well. Compromises.

 

There are plenty of good reviews in the Tire/Wheels/Brake section....this is where I did some of my original research....one in particular was here complete with a 2 year update. There is also a good review link in that thread comparing the cooper to a couple other tires.

 

Read through the thread. Love the info. Thanks! Chime in from time to time on your Zeons performance. Always good to get updates.

 

Good info. I bought my Michelin A3 at the local DT during the holidays when they were running $160 rebate.