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I'm in West Michigan, 20 miles from Lake Michigan and we have been getting hammered w snow so I just added new winter wheels & tires
Firestone just released their Winterforce II's so I thought I'd try them. Only $90/ea and so far they are performing just as well as my Blizzaks did AND at almost half the price!
Not much road noise at all and much smoother than the run flats! lol
Instead of steel wheels, I paid $10 more each and got some Focal Alloy wheels from tire rack.
Loving the performance and the look so far!
those look mean as **** man, are they 205/55/17?
they look bigger
Im dropping the scuttle surrounds off at a body shop to paint match to the roof- going White and painting the inserts red- surprised I cant fiind a red inseert anywhere. can find pink, green, orange, union jack, black jack, blue- but no RED!!!!!!!! Absurd i tell you, absurd.
oh hey BlakeC------- Im from the UP, so i gotta give you a bit of a hard time,,,,,, TROLL!!!!! lol.you call that snow..... thats a dusting. lol
This past Wednesday my wife came home from work a little shaken and said she hit a gnarly pothole on the freeway. Inspected it and found one front wheel to maaaybe have a small flat on the backside. Still drove fine, so not a huge deal.
Then Thursday I hit my bookmarked Craigslist wheel/tire search and boom... a set of nearly new Drag Dr37s with 225/55/17 Blizzaks. $250. Sold. Bolted right up. Perfect centerbore and all. Not my favorite wheel on a CMS, but the et42 helps. Might just be the Blizzaks looking like truck tires.
Some unflattering garage pics....
However, the ride is FANTASTIC. Screw runflats. I forgot just how crappy they are.
This past Wednesday my wife came home from work a little shaken and said she hit a gnarly pothole on the freeway. Inspected it and found one front wheel to maaaybe have a small flat on the backside. Still drove fine, so not a huge deal.
Then Thursday I hit my bookmarked Craigslist wheel/tire search and boom... a set of nearly new Drag Dr37s with 225/55/17 Blizzaks. $250. Sold. Bolted right up. Perfect centerbore and all. Not my favorite wheel on a CMS, but the et42 helps. Might just be the Blizzaks looking like truck tires.
That’s a great find and sweet deal. However the 225/55 on the 17’s are big. If you want to match the OEM stock diameter then drop to 225/50
I run 225/55 Firestone Indy 500 Summer Tires on the OEM 17’s and they are beefy. I might drop to 225/50r17 to match the OEM diameter
Yeah, they are certainly larger, but on the plus side the speedo is now accurate. if I keep the wheels into summer, I may downsize the sidewall. Since they are 7.5" wide maybe Ill look into 235s or something. Not a whole lot of room left in there though
Got my side scuttle trim back from paint, I rattle can painted the insert part as close to Chili Red as I could find, the body shop I think did a great job on the scuttle surround.
Finally got around to installing my APEX Race wheels, studs, 5mm spacers and Firestone tires. I also installed VIP Custom Parts rear control arms. I'm now waiting for the coilovers to arrive. Once those arrive i'll also be installing the M7 25mm rear sway bar and replacing all bushings (available to purchase) with PowerFlex race bushing. we'll see when the coilovers go on, but as of right now there is no rubbing. I may put up to 12mm spacers all around, it will depend how much room we can make with shavings the inside fenders and without going too extreme with the camber (no more than -2.5).
I'll also be vinyl wrapping the car in matte black with matte bronze accents to match my coffee company's branding.
A note on the current height: the car came with the OE sport suspension, so the isn't typical of any MINI stock. The car has raised over time since I have dropped a little over 250 lbs of sprung weight off the car.
Wheel specs:
17x8.5" et40 wheels, 17 lbs each
---> Added 5mm spacers all around, new et is 35 (sits same distance away from strut as stock 18x7.5 wheels)
245/45-17 Firehawk Indy 500 tires, 25 lbs each
---> About 0.3 inches shorter in height compared to the stock 225/45-18 tires
Weight savings from stock: 30 lbs (rotational mass)
Tires
How the car looked before...
How the car looks now.
A few other angles.
Front left
Front left
Front left
Rear left
Rear left
Rear left
Acceleration has definitely improved and the added traction has really woken up the AWD system around turns. Need more power now!
Last edited by AWD_Rally; Jan 20, 2018 at 07:31 AM.
Matte black wrapping is complete. Still need to install the coilovers so that when my company's side logo is put on, it's level.
Looking into painting the headlights gold, to match logo color. As we as the handles, and possibly the side marker surround.
If anyone has any suggestions, specifically a place to go to in the OC, CA to get the headlights done and the other part painted, I'm all ears! Anyways, here's what it looks like now.
The Countryman looks amazing in matte black! The coilovers will definitely help with the look. You definitely need more low on to bring her down to the right height. Would the company that wrapped the vehicle not wrap the other items in gold? I know you mentioned painting them, but it sounds like this is going to primarily be used for a company vehicle, so wrapping them might be a better option. I think wrapping anything that is or was chrome in gold would look great. The grill and emblems and handles and also I would say the side scuttles and the mirror caps might also be a nice touch to wrap gold to continue with the accents.
Doing the Headlight/Tail light Trims, the Grill Trim, the Brake ducts and the Side Scuttles in gold would definitely pop.
If the parts are Chrome you are better off wrapping, its difficult to keep paint from chipping and flaking off the chrome. Unless you strip the chrome off first which is a costly endeavor
If it’s plastic, a good scuff and self etching primer would keep the color coat on and a couple of layers of clear would keep it safe.
I did the Brake ducts which were plastic and they have held up for a couple of years now, but the chrome grill trim needs a coat almost monthly
The Countryman looks amazing in matte black! The coilovers will definitely help with the look. You definitely need more low on to bring her down to the right height. Would the company that wrapped the vehicle not wrap the other items in gold? I know you mentioned painting them, but it sounds like this is going to primarily be used for a company vehicle, so wrapping them might be a better option. I think wrapping anything that is or was chrome in gold would look great. The grill and emblems and handles and also I would say the side scuttles and the mirror caps might also be a nice touch to wrap gold to continue with the accents.
Originally Posted by MannyJimenez
Doing the Headlight/Tail light Trims, the Grill Trim, the Brake ducts and the Side Scuttles in gold would definitely pop.
If the parts are Chrome you are better off wrapping, its difficult to keep paint from chipping and flaking off the chrome. Unless you strip the chrome off first which is a costly endeavor
If it’s plastic, a good scuff and self etching primer would keep the color coat on and a couple of layers of clear would keep it safe.
I did the Brake ducts which were plastic and they have held up for a couple of years now, but the chrome grill trim needs a coat almost monthly
You all ready my mind. I want to do exactly all that, the gold accents on all those parts. They wouldn't wrap those parts because they couldn't guarantee that the vinyl would stick to the chrome and plastic parts. Maybe powder coating?
Living in Orange County, I know I have a lot of options, so that's nice. it's just time consuming to look for places since I'm also busy growing my business.
