actually that's just question #1: 205/55 so3 vs. kdw2. i know so3 are a great tire. i know they're a bit heavier than most. and i know they're a bit more expensive. but i'm a bit worried about the tread life. what are your experiences? and i know kdw2 are a little too new to really get a good feel for. so3 appear to be a little more proven.

#2: a local store - atomics (on kalakaua at the same hand car wash place as atomic car wash) can get kdw2 for $610 including mount and balance and taxes. can i trust such stores that we really know little about? or should i go tirerack route and get the tires mounted and balanced at a more well-known tuner car shop? btw, tirerack will cost $506 total, but then i gotta find a shop to mount and balance. probably another $20 per tire? if comparable pricing, i'd rather go with tirerack, as i highly trust them and alex has been a very helpful guy.

#3: price-wise the total cost is actually fairly comparable as so3 from costco will be ~$560 total, according to their website, not sure about taxes though. plus the benefit of free rotations. so so3 for $560 vs. kdw2 for $610. surprisingly it seems that the so3 are actually a bit less expensive and it includes free rotations with the additional benefit of a physical presence locally for any warantee stuff. so...should that be the deciding factor here?

#4: but i'm a bit concerned with costco's handling of my nice rims as they're not exactly a car specialty shop. would there be any concerns with having them mount and balance relatively wide 205/55 tires onto a 15x6 rim, which should fit comfortably per tirerack? plus any concerns with scratching my wheels?

i got my new wheels and am ready to order tires to match. any help would be appreciated.

 

Just note that COSTCO will not install any tire that is not the standard size for your vehicle.

 

Kyle - Did you check out Sam's Club? They have the KDW2 online for $106 each. That makes your cost for tires $424. Shipping is included, but installation is $9 each. So, if you want to go that route, your cost would be @$480 out the door.

If you don't have a Sam's Club membership, I can take you there.

 

hmmm...if costco won't install non-oem size tires, that'd be a problem. and i'd assume sam's would be the same?

any input from the guys who got their so3 from costco? i'm still a little wary of the treadlife.

thanks

 

I'm not sure of Sam's policies, but Costco will install non-standard sizes, but you really have to push them. I had them install larger tires on one of my BMWs and I had to prove it ot them that it would work. However, since you have extra sets of tires, you can just take your wheels down in your truck and drop it off for installation.

What will help is if you can bring down a MINI that is running the 205/55s to prove it to Costco that it can be done. Then they will usually mount them for you.

If not, you can always go to Voytek and have him mount and balance the tires for you.

 

bgrpph (Barry) got plus-zero size S03 from Costco in the past (215/40-17) without a problem.

 

bgrpph has Centerline RPM 17x7 rims and ordered Bridgestone Potenza S-03 tires in 215/40-17 (non stock size) which were mounted and balanced by costco.

I have the same rims and got S-03s recently in 215/45-17 ordered online through costco and mounted and balanced in Waipio Costco with no problems. And yes definitely much better to have costco do the install, free rotation and balancing every 5000 miles, fee flat repair, shipping and disposals. Mounting and balancing per tire at Hypersports or Eurosport is about $20 per wheel or more.

Since you know your rim size talk to Costco and let them know which tires you are interested and in what size and they can tell you if they can mount them with their equiptment. I took 205/50-15 victoracers to them to mount on stock 15x5.5" rims and they refused- said it would break there equiptment and they thought it would not fit besides. Went to Hypersports and got them mounted no problems.

Bridgestone S-03s are very good tires. You do pay more but you get better ride quality, much better handling, and they are versatile for street, bad weather, autocross, or for driving events. If you do only street driving and don't go nuts driving fast then they should last about 20,000 + miles or about 2 years. If you do regular track events, lapping sessions monthly, autocross monthly, and drive harder than those guys on the Italian job movie then the tires will last about a year to 15 months before one or more tires will be worn a bit too much.

When I switched from Yokohama ES100s to S-03s it was very noticably better with the S-03s.

 

Hey Kyle, As Dirk/Brad said i replaced my run flats with SO 3 215/40/17 from Costco- and had no problem. I did many track days, superlaps, autocross and they lasted over a year and about 15,000 miles (two were fine two were shot). I've only had the SO 3 for street and haven't tried anything else but you absolutely won't go wrong with these tires if you're looking for great performance in a street tire. i'm on my second set now and didn't look at replacing these with anything else.

 

thanks alot for all your input. i just ordered the so3 205/55-15 from costco hawaii kai for ~$138 per, which includes mount and balance. a bit more than the kdw2, but i might as well spend the money on the tires too and enjoy my mini. at least this way, i can kinda compare my mini with so3 and my brother's mini with kdw2 for future consideration.

btw, the big local guy who's always manning the cash register over there was saying that they won't even touch non-costco tires. this includes dismounting the oem tires. plus they won't touch runflats either. so does that mean mini owners who wanna replace their stock runflats with tires from costco are flat out of luck, as costco won't even dismount the stock tires? they can buy tires, but will have to find someplace else to do the labor?

and also, costco hawaii kai will be expanding toward keahole st., taking over the present brown professional building along the water. supposedly to open up a fresh deli and seafood dept, as well as relocate the pharmacy. but plans for a gas station is up in the air, as nearby space is at a premium. across keahole where the present drop off and ride lot is was mentioned but may create havoc with traffic.

oh yeah, and costco now uses nitrogen to fill up your tires, for the last few months now. supposed to be less maintenance and improved treadlife, as nitrogen doesn't expand and contract with extreme temps. also it's drier, so less moisture to possibly corrode your wheels. so less air loss and variation between tires, and therefore more even wear. at least that's the theory as explained to me.

 

I think Costco just won't remove your old tires and install new ones that weren't bought at Costco. If they won't remove OEM stuff that's pretty silly as that will severely limit their business. The reason they won't touch runflats is that it has a very stiff sidewall, as such, it is harder to remove them from the rim. Another thing to be aware of at Costco Hawaii Kai, they don't have the machine to install 18s. Well, at least they didn't have the machine last year. If you ordered 18s, they would install them, but I think it was A LOT of labor to do so as it was installed in the manual method.

 

got'em mounted and balanced and installed at costco, no problem. 205/55 on my 15x6 minilites. and they look cool. i have pics on my phone cam, but need to figure out how to download'em to here.

just drove last night to mililani, and the thicker sidewall (205/55-15 vs. old 205/50-16) certainly makes a difference in ride comfort. that bit of a difference is quite noticeable with regards to absorbing the bumps in the road. in fact, i would say going down in size from 205/45-17 to 205/50-16 to 205/55-15 has led to a progressively noticeable difference in ride comfort. probably end up giving up some cornering ability, although haven't really tested the new tires out yet. but our minis already do have some pretty darn good cornering ability. and these are perfectly fine for the streets.

unfortunately, i do have a complaint with the installation. while swapping out the wheel locks, i found the rear passenger's lug bolts to be ridiculously loose. in fact, so loose that i could nearly hand loosen or tighten'em! actually, while figuring out the bolt size, i originally thought the correct bolt size was oversized due to the fact that it was "spinning" with my hand grip. only after going thru all the sizes and rechecking, did i realize that it actually did fit but was simply not tightened up with a lug wrench, allowing me to freely spin it by hand! and it wasn't just one, but all 4 wheel bolts! very likely if i hadn't checked the lug bolts, that rear wheel woulda fallen off during my drive to mililani, some 50 miles roundtrip.

guess my lesson is...always check your nuts, or bolts in this case. after every re-install of your wheels.

 

kbseto,
Did you tell Costco that you found the lug nuts loose? I think they just forgot to tighten those on that one wheel. Very dangerous!

55 series tires are very good for street use and comfort so that is a good match for you.

40 and 45 series tires tend to be more expensive, much rougher riding, are pothole unfriendly but have a much better turn in response when cornering.

Now come out to our events and show off your new wheels!

 

kyle - Did you torque them down? If not, let me know and you can come over and torque them.

 

yep, got'em all torqued down to ~88 ft-lbs. had to buy a larger 19mm socket for the new shiny bolts that came with the wheels.

i am very happy with the new look and ride.