About to order the S hardtop but want sure if I'd not be cheating myself by opting for all seasons. I'm in the northeast US so snow is likely - plus I'm wondering if the ride on the run flats is inferior to the all seasons. Thoughts our shared experience would beer vet helpful -thanks!

 

Its not a question of all seasons of runflats, you're going to get runflats with an S. The question is all seasons or summer tires.

When I got the all season runflats I hated them, they had almost no grip, I swapped them out for real tires at the first opportunity. A lot of people swap out the runflats for regular tires. The ride of regular tires is in general much better than runflats.

 

So they're BOTH run flats! Interesting. No non run flat options that I can see. Any thoughts on the performance vs the seasons since those seem my only factory choices? Are the wheels/rims still decent for non run flats or is that also an upgrade I should be prepared for?

 

Well all seasons suck just as much as run flats. I don't care what reasons people think that they are good but, they are not.


The real question more than run flats versus all seasons is the question can you handle the fact that if you get a flat are you willing to sit on the side of the road for help or to put a spare in the car? If you can not handle that then you do not want all seasons.

 

Mini runflats run on regular rims...
Runflats can be summer, allseason, winter, etc...
My mini was delivered with uhp allseason tires...after one winter, i bought a second set of rims and got winter tires....ultra high performance allseasons are a bit of a white knuckle driving experance in the winter....just good enough on plowed roads to kinda get there...

 

Yep, I bought a set of wheels and snow tires before I even took delivery.

If you can't afford, or don't have storage for another set of wheels, get the all seasons. If you get the performance tires, you will wreck the car the first time it snows. At least that way you can at least get around until you buy another set of wheels and snow tires. Then you can get some really good tires for the warm weather months.

 

I made it through 2 Ohio winters in my 2003 R53 on summer tires without any problems, other than difficulty getting up my driveway a few times. I wouldn't recommend it, but saying you'll wreck is exaggeration.

 

That was/is my plan. I ordered my MCS with 16's knowing I'd use them for a set of snow tires I'd buy. And also, then buy an additional set of zoomy 17's with summer performance tires of some type.

I did have MINI build the car with all-seasons, in the event I couldn't manage to buy snow tires for this coming winter (and, in case we got a surprise early April snow shower here, just after I took delivery). But I did that knowing that OEM all-season tires are just passable in snow, if that (based on the Toyos and Bridgestones that came on our Mazdas). Our CX7 and Mazda 5 were night/day in snow once I had some winter tires mounted.

Tire Rack has some all-season tires that get decent reviews for snow use, but these don't come as run-flats on our MINIs.

 

Then you were extremely lucky, and or drove very carefully. The things are downright dangerous when the temps are below 40F and there is snow...

 

My previous car was an '01 Miata and the performance (summer) tires were useless - no, make that terrifying - even in the lightest snow. So Richard's comments resonate even if they remain yet unproven here on the forum. Good all seasons turned my Miata from what many thought as a strictly summer vehicle into a very stable snow car as long as the 4" undercarriage could clear the accumulation. I remember I could climb snowy hills better than a lot of SUV's two winters ago (no snow last winter at all!).