Hi, We live in Green Bay, the edge of the Earth, and my wife has a 2001 Volvo S-40 and a 1997 Mazda Miata. She drove a Mini Cooper S Convertible the other day and is thinking, this could be one car that does both. Any experiences in the winter with a Mini. We need it to make it through snow without a tire change over. It has the Dunlop runflats. Let me know.

Thanks,
Perry

 

Buy a second set of (cheap) 15" or 16" wheels and four snows; you'll be fine with them, but the runflats have about as much traction as a hockey puck on snow and ice.

 

I drove my MC through a blizzard for 2-1/2 hours, and while other cars fishtailed on the highway, the front-wheel drive kept my MINI exactly where I steered her, even up a steep curvy hill. I did not put snows on her.

My sister-in-law got a MCS because of the front-wheel drive and loves the way it handles in the snow. She has runflats and hasn't complained.

 

I agree with jsharra. I run 17" S-lites for the summer and I use the 15" steelies with Blizzak tires and had no issue with loss of traction during the winter.

 

While winters in central Indiana aren't terrible compared to some places, I've gotten through three winters without tire changes- S-lites and started out with All-Season Run-Flats and now have Kumhos. I've been able to get through some winter weather closed counties over the holidays passing the SUVs stuck in the ditches.

 

I had a 2001 Volvo s40 when it came out and it was fine in the winter. My BMW e90 (RWD) was not good in snow until I got an extra set of rims and tires. I bought the Mini in November and hoped it would do well, but it did terribly until I replaced the tires. I would get a extra set of rims and winter tires if you can.

 

The issue isn't runflat technology... in fact, it has almost nothing to do with it.

Runflats can come in all types - summer, all-season... and yes, winter snow tires.

I have runflat snow tires for the winter on my MINI, and they perform beautifully.

All factory tires on MINIs are runflats, true... but they could be either the summer or all-season variety. In areas without really heavy snow, the all-seasons are probably OK... but if your MINI came with the summer performance tires, you're definitely going to want something else in the winter!

 

Havent had any problems driving through any of the storms we had up here near the Berkshires of MA. Except with the traction control on, i got a little over confident turning around (with the e-brake) on an unplowed road during a storm, had some difficulty until i shut it off. Now i shut it off in the snow. I have the stock Dunlop 16 runflats. Passes some of the idiots in the SUVs that dont know how to drive a 4 wheel