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i live in the silicon valley. i already need new front tires after ~25k miles (i sort of expected it). i am thinking of ditching the run-flats. any experiences/stories? i have AAA platinum, so i'm covered there.
I run the Dunlop Drizza DZ102. Only about $100 per tire from TireRack. Summer performance tires, low noise, good grip, high tread wear rating. Good for a DD.
Get a tire repair kit that includes plugs, slime sealant, and a high flow air pump so you don't have to wait for AAA.
Sounds like you didn't rotate your tires. This is a must to prevent uneven wear. I rotate every 5000 miles.
For more info use the NAM search feature, there are lots of threads out there with good tire recommendations.
Hint Michilen Pilot Super Sports are probably the highest rated, but more expensive with shorter tread life.
Just put non run flats on my car. They are winter studless and replaced run flat winter studless. They are slightly less punishing over speed bumps and rough pavement. Almost as noisy, cost wise you are better off with non run flats. I'm not driving at the limits of my tires so can't evaluate tire performance in that regard.
Mine came with ContiProContact runflats. They are in an enclosed trailer waiting for me to decide to buy the car or return it at the end of the lease.
The link below has a writeup on switching to Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3. I would expect good things from the BF Goodrich g-Force Comp-2 AS at less cost.
Continental DWS 06 is the ride king with acceptable handling.
Bridgestone RE-71R has extraordinary summer only grip but pays the price in treadwear.
Bridgestone Driveguards or Potenza RE960AS Pole Position RFT provide better ride while retaining runflat convenience.
You can easily check out the characteristics of these and other tires at TireRack.com. See the tire tests and consumer reviews.
So many good tires out there. I tried a set of Pirelli Cinturato P7 All Season Plus (non run flat from TireRack) on our daily/long trip car and can say I really like them. Don't know if they make this tire in Mini size, but if they did, I'd be interested in trying them on the Mini. Would not be an autocross tire, but it sure is comfortable, directional and quiet. Might be a tad soft in the sidewall, but would be interesting to try out in a 215/45 17.
I found them to have excellent predictable grip in the dry and are really good in wet conditions at highway speed.
Tire choice for this car really depends on how and where you drive. General road conditions need to be part of the equation. We have a fairly tough climate, so roads degrade quickly. For me, it's watching for broken bits of pavement and dealing with roads that would compete with ocean surface conditions in high winds. Probably totally different from conditions out in Silicon Valley. That's really a nice part of the country, so probably looking more for a Summer performance tire?
That Pirelli has an attractive treadwear warranty of unlimited time and 50,000 miles.
Summer tires can be used all year in the San Francisco bay area if you don't go to the mountains but they tend to ride harsher over poorly maintained roads and tend to wear out as fast or faster than runflats. Michelin Pilot Super Sports (17+" only) and Continental ExtremeContact DW (16+") are popular summer tires for enthusiastic driving on public roads. Personally, I find the better allseasons quite up to that task these days with better ride and longer life.
We put about 8-9k miles on the Pirelli Cinturato P7 Plus last year... Spring to Fall time period. A little over 5,900 miles of that was a trip that lasted into the heat (big heat) of Florida's Summer. They still look like new. Only rotated once so far. They don't feel mushy or floaty at all and behave better than any tire, all season or Summer tire, I've ever installed. Again, I don't autocross, so a slightly more relaxed tire probably wouldn't bother me too much. The fact that they run very quietly is another plus.
I'm not nearly due for tires on the Mini yet, but I'll have to go on the tire sites at some point to see if the Cinturato P7 is sized for the Mini, out of curiosity.
Ditched the run flat in less than a month of ownership for a set of winter and true summer tires.
Winter aside, I runned 17" Michelin Pilot Super Sport. I love those tires, the way they feel and stick to the road, but they were bold on the inside corners after not even 17,000 mile. I have them on our other car and they're holding okay, so now I don't know what I'm going to do in the spring . . .
Ditched the run flat in less than a month of ownership for a set of winter and true summer tires.
Winter aside, I runned 17" Michelin Pilot Super Sport. I love those tires, the way they feel and stick to the road, but they were bold on the inside corners after not even 17,000 mile. I have them on our other car and they're holding okay, so now I don't know what I'm going to do in the spring . . .
Any suspension modifications? Tread was gone on the inside edge of all 4? How often did you rotate? What tire size were the Pilots?
I runned 17" Michelin Pilot Super Sport. I love those tires, the way they feel and stick to the road, but they were bold on the inside corners after not even 17,000 mile.
The Michelin PSS has a tread wear rating of 300 which equates to 21,600 miles the tire would have achieved during certification.
Given the MINI's tendency for uneven tire wear 17,000 might not be unreasonable.
Although I to am curious about frequency of tire rotations.
I rotate every oil change or every other , dependent on wear. Oil change at about 7,500. Sometimes sooner when I dont have 2 MINIs to work on at once. When the oil getting changed its good to inspect the tires. I am lucky they last 20-25K. I did get 45 K out of 175/65/15 on the R52 once.
With Michelin PSS you must rotate every oil change (5,000 miles). Mine look great with at least 17,000 miles. My last set I did not rotate and my rears cupped so bad I had to throw them out. I tried to go two sets of fronts to one set of rears, not smart.
All good points. I swap the wheels every winter and spring. But last summer we did a 2,500 miles road trip. It didn't dawn on me how much that would add to our average
I went back to my records and last summer we drove on those PSS for 9,320 miles. So yeah I definitely should have had a rotation in there.
The front tires where definitely the ones bold like rubber was starting to strip from it in small chunk by the corners. But it's not to say the rear were not pretty ripe. I would have done a rotation I would say I might have get a extra 2,000, or 3,000 miles at the very best, not making it to 20,000. What bugs me really is how they are worn. the main threads in the middle are fine.
They do have a 30,000 thread life warranty but since it's obviously not an even wear I don't know I have much ground.
I have to figure out if it is normal for MINIs to wear on the inside or if something is off with the alignement.
Of course they didn't say anything about that at my last oil change. They were more in a hurry to sale me new ones which I declined since I was changing tires to winter... Is a request for alignement part of the free 3 yr maintenance program?
The Pilot Super Sports are only available in 17" and larger diameters. 20k is a common wear figure. 30k is more common with a Continental ExtremeContact DW 16" and up. Those are max summer tires. I've driven Dunlop and Hankook extreme summer tires and prefer the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3 16" and up for the street. It is very popular here (hint:search). 45k treadwear warranty.
Less wear in the center of a tire can indicate routine underinflation. Check the recommended PSI on the label on the driver's door sill or the operator's manual. I wear the outside corners of my front tires due to exuberant cornering.
Less wear in the center of a tire can indicate routine underinflation. Check the recommended PSI on the label on the driver's door sill or the operator's manual. I wear the outside corners of my front tires due to exuberant cornering.
uh! funny if anything I think I was over inflating the tires which for a while made some sense and gave me a reason
Now I'm thinking the logic of under inflated tires makes a lot more sense but then than goes against what I did. I'm still a little puzzled by all this...
In the spirit of total speculation, is it possible that due to the light weight and small turning radius of MINIs when driving quickly in turns the MINIs can loose grip more so than heavier car and tend to rub the rubber more so than heavier cars that would retain more grip from their weight, especially (and this is important) on uneven pavement? I asking because I've noticed that on smooth pavement the MINI is more agile than most cars. But I've also noticed it tends to be the opposite on uneven pavement in comparison to my other heavier car I've driven... or maybe I just have had too much fun with this car on twisty roads this past summer
The combination of Mini suspension set up, spirited driving on uneven roads, and even just a little underinflation could easily account for the tire wear. Heavier cars generally tend to be a little tougher on tires than light cars, under similar circumstances.
Aggressive camber settings or cars that are set up for track work will scrub off a set of tires in little time, regardless of weight.
All good points. I swap the wheels every winter and spring. But last summer we did a 2,500 miles road trip. It didn't dawn on me how much that would add to our average
I went back to my records and last summer we drove on those PSS for 9,320 miles. So yeah I definitely should have had a rotation in there.
The front tires where definitely the ones bold like rubber was starting to strip from it in small chunk by the corners. But it's not to say the rear were not pretty ripe. I would have done a rotation I would say I might have get a extra 2,000, or 3,000 miles at the very best, not making it to 20,000. What bugs me really is how they are worn. the main threads in the middle are fine.
They do have a 30,000 thread life warranty but since it's obviously not an even wear I don't know I have much ground.
I have to figure out if it is normal for MINIs to wear on the inside or if something is off with the alignement.
Of course they didn't say anything about that at my last oil change. They were more in a hurry to sale me new ones which I declined since I was changing tires to winter... Is a request for alignement part of the free 3 yr maintenance program?
FYI: the PSS I have are 205-45-17
I agree with you on many points. It is the nature of the beast to eat tires fast from the inside and I believe nothing can cure this problem even regular rotations.
It may be far worse for those who install spacers and suspension mods.
Here's a poor picture of what 205/45 17 Continental Run Flat front left tire looks like after only 18,240 miles. It's a Tampa Bay area car, so definitely gets used on some really hot Florida pavement. It does look fairly evenly worn across much of the tread.
This tire was on a friend's 2014 Justa R55. He's pretty good about keeping the pressures up but would seem the tires may have missed a rotation or two as the rears had about double the amount of tread depth remaining. But, even then, the wear was fairly even across all tires. The car's driver did not go easy on this car... generally a hard charger from one stop light to the next.
It's the way most people seem to drive down there. I call it "digital driving". Just on and off, and in a huge hurry to get nowhere fast. Traffic light stops take away any time gained between them. Techs that do brake jobs must stay pretty darned busy in that area.
02-05-2016, 05:39 PM
When the oil getting changed its good to inspect the tires. I am lucky they last 20-25K. I did get 45 K out of 175/65/15 on the R52 once.
