How are these tires? Has anyone got first hand experience with it? im hoping that its a tire that grips pretty well, especially off launching?

Also have another concern. I currently have 215/40/17 all round, and i was looking at changing the 2front tires only as the back are perfectly fine. Hankook doesnt make 215/40/17 only 205/40/17. would this be fine having the 215's on the rear and 205's infront?

 

Sorry, wrong thread. Mods can you please move it.
thanks

 

I just put a set on my R56S. They seemed good. I only had them on for about 1k miles before I switched to winter tires, though, and my car hasn't been at full power (long story).

You really should put a full set on though (saw your other thread), especially if your other two are runflats and are a different size. These are pretty cheap tires, don't super-cheap out and crack up your car doing something stupid because you don't expect the huge different in grip front-rear. I got the whole set for $330 from TireRack and my dealership mounted them for me.

 

I wont be combining them with runflats, will combine them with Non-RF. I dont see why i need to change the rears. I just need decent grip in the front as i do drag racing sometimes and dont do track/circuit racing at all.

 

and as i mentioned, the hankook has exactly the same profile (40) as my rears. Just that the rears are slightly wider (215) where the hankooks are (205). But I dont think that would be a problem.

 

i had these on my car in 215/45/17
theyre not the best obviously, but they grip pretty well. Also, they're not very attractive which is why i think theyre often overlooked. you will be happy with these tires, especially for its price range.
on a side, i liked the ventus rs2 better...but those got discontinued i think...

 

how do they grip compare to the more expensive tires? what rating would you give this tire and what rating do you give the more expensive tire?

 

well the ventus rs2 was hankook's next highest tire, and there is a pretty big difference between the two, i would never compare the two tires, the rs2 is in a diff category.

for daily driving with fun on the streets***out of 5,

evo's would have been a 4.5
the rs2, which were in 16's i would rate a 4.9 (nothing is perfect)
i also had parada spec 2's (noisy *** tires) and i would have rated those 4.6 against the evo's

im currently running s.drives (noisest ****in tires ever) since thats what came with the wheels i bought...theyre crap. like i said, for that price range, i think the evo's are a very good tire, but are overlooked.

 

Just chiming in on the RS2 (i.e., Ventus RS-2 Z212) being a great summer performance tire (and a whole league up from the V12 Evo) - if you can still find stock. Places that still have them in stock are giving them away very very cheap (a friend scored a set from Tire Rack 4 weeks ago) and they really are a very serious performance tire so the value equation is off the scale. They are also very good in the rain, wear well, and breakaway at a high limit, but more importantly, in a progressive and "no surprises" fashion. I have run these exclusively on my miata for the past 3 years and on my MINI as well past 2 seasons (enough tread left for a third season). Can't ask for much more than that.

The RS3 is the replacement and it has gone up to a price more befitting its performance, sadly (and has cheesy flames molded in the tread). :(

 

Drag race a MINI?

The V12 EVO K110 is a Max Performance tire, it has higher tread wear, extreme summer tires have better grip and lower tread wear (softer). If you are stuck with the 17s you can go with what others suggested, the 215/40-17 RS2s at Tire Rack for $75 a tire. Also in 215/40-17 Dunlop Star Spec, Falken RT-615 or pricier Yokohama AD08. Your wider tire may be better suited in front, for drag purposes.

I don't know much about the drag scene, but what I would assume is that gearing is imperative. Meaning you may post better times with 15x8 lightweight wheels with 225/45-15 sticky tires in front. The 2 inch shorter wheels is essentially shorter "mechanical" gearing to get you going faster and 8 inch wide track will lay more contact patch to the ground. If you have lowered your MINI you may have some negative camber (like this / \) in front (good for auto-x, track work or canyon carving) but may not be good for Drag Stripping cause it gives you less contact patch up front. If you could align as close to 0 camber in front it may help. (like this I I) Keep in mind if you drive hard in the twisties, your tire's outer edges will wear fast with 0 camber.

What I do not know is if you could just put 15s in front and leave the stocker 17s in the back and still have as advantageous gearing compared to 15s all around.

But I would bet a staggered set of 15x8 w/ 225/45-15 in front and 15x6.5 w/ 195 or 205/50-15 in back, the ideal set-up, would net the best results. Try asking the draggers in NAM's Drag Stripping Section. I would stick to a cheaper soft tire like the RS2, RT-615 or even older cheaper RT-215, since you are gonna go through them like butter. Here is a post surveying some of the better "Extreme Summer" tires, and even these you can find inexpensive tires like the Dunlop Star Spec, Kumho XS, and Hankook RS3s. Street Tire Shootout although auto-x times are a bit irrelevant to your needs, but still they are the stickiest street tires.