Does anyone know if there is a mount for a spare underneath the R56 S that I could cram a spare. I have the runflats, but will be unable to keep them on in the winter (something about them in snow doesn't seem right ). Once the runflats wear out, I plan on replacing them with non/ rf anyways, so I'll need the spare eventually. Even a donut would be fine.

 

Most folks either buy a donut and ghetto-rig a mount or travel with a plug kit, compressor, and/or a can of seal-n-flate.
A few of our vendor-benefactor-sponsors sell the donut. They're not cheap.

If you do a rear seat delete it would certainly make it easier...

 

Then I'd really have an R56 GP

 

Mounting a spare under an MCS would require rerouting the exhaust, at the very least. Some people have mentioned carrying a spare in the boot, or just behind the front passenger seat.

I'm carrying a Dynaplug and Continental Tire ContiComfortKit.

 

scratch the spare thing then.

have people had good luck with the fix-a-flat kits?

 

There have been some threads about it. There are good and bad kinds of liquid tire sealant. IIRC, Fix-a-flat was not recommended. Talk to your tire place. Some wont repair tires that have had certain kinds of liquid tire sealant in them. Some can be easily washed out, some not.

Supposedly Goop, and latex based are OK. Best to check with a tire repair place to see whether they have issues with one brand or another.

Oh, and the plugs are supposed to be preferable, if you can find the nail, etc. causing the leak.

 

The Fix-a-Flat stuff will damage your tire and corrode your wheel so that even after putting on a new tire you'll have air leaks. Get the stuff with the latex sealant, it's easy to wash out and won't damage your wheel or tire.

 

Got a spare from an MC at a salvage yard and wrapped it in a sheet and kept it behind the passenger seat in my 04 MCS. There are nice, inexpensive tire bags with handles available from aftermarket folks. Now I have a MCS Cabrio and will probably do the same thing since going to non-runflats again. Bummer if you have two children or more than one passenger of any variety in the rear though. Also, if you have a tall passenger in the front seat you need to move the doughnut from behind the passenger seat onto the rear seat so the passenger can get some legroom. Or, if you are not that tall, you can store the spare behind you. I carry a SLIME kit and an air pump, but, as I said, will probably get another MC doughnut. Don't like waiting for AAA or MINI Roadside assistance or doing the Slime thing in the middle of the night on an unknown road. Takes less time just to change the tire rather than put in the slime and run a very slow filling air pump. I guess you could carry a can of slime and a 44 magnum????

 

Especially if you have JCW brakes.

 

I was considering the Sport-Link and a wheel carrier attachment (http://www.minifini.com/ShopDetail.aspx?id=16), if I order aftermarket wheels, I'd like to do non-runflats too. Tirerack also has a tire repair kit that seems pretty popular, but I haven't heard of any reports where someone has needed to use it with a Mini yet.

 

Another option, though expensive: get the tire insurance if your dealer offers it. It was $750 for 5 years. Covers both tires & wheel rims (potholes) against damage, including punctures. Covers new tire, balance, alignment due to damage, coming to get you, towing, etc.

I looked at it this way:
The MINI roadside assistance is good for 3 years or so, but doesnt cover any damage. This extends things for 2 years.

Run-flats are helluva expensive tires, so even if 1 is replaced over 5 years, that'll be $400 or so, which probably wouldnt include towing.

Run-flats are not recommended to be repaired for the long run. So, you puncture one: $250-400. If you have run-flats on, you would have to replace with a run-flat. No run-flat? Cheaper to replace but then you are still carrying around all of that extra crap.

You are gonna spend a couple hundred $ buying dougnuts and patch kits anyway.

I can easily say I had 2 tire punctures in the past 5 years. So, the probability of something happening is not close to zero.

Rims are covered as well.

Expensive, maybe yes. Probability of tire issue over 5 years, mmm, not so low. I am sure they are making money in the long run or else they wouldnt offer it, but I've had my share of tire issues and I bet I will get $400-500 out of this policy in the end. Not a bad price difference for peace of mind.

My 2 cents.

 

I actually got it with the car (the thought of R56 sized potholes in Boston terrified me into getting it)

 

What are you talking about? With the gokart-like handling, we all should be able to avoid nails on the road!

 

Ewww ok dont use fix a flat unless you really have 2 i worked for good year that **** is horrible half the time it doesnt work and plus you will do nothing but **** off the tire guy at your local shop cause that stuff stinks and it is really messy to work with...plugs are a huge no no specailly if you drive like most mini owners (taking them turns the way they are suppose to be taken)..plugs spread the metal tires in the middle of the tire making them expand everytime you run over it which is why after a while the plug starts to leak again its even possible for the tire to have a blow out..if you use a plug put it in and drive to your local tire shop and get it fixed the right way with the patch emediatly...but what i really would like to do for a spare tire setup in my car is do a rear seat delete and have kinda like a setup that the baja truck guys have...anyone ever think of something like that and if they make them for our cars can you plz point me to the link...Sorry english not that great so if i missed spelled bare with me

 

Geez...before you work on spelling, you might try constructing sentences. The period character is handy for that.

 

This tire pump seems rather expensive to me, is there something better about it than a cheap $30 unit? Just wondering...

Also, what would be the perferred, no corrosive "fix-a-flat type" liquid tire sealant goop to use with the mini?

 

Geez, cut him some slack. English is clearly not his primary language.

Anyways, back on track: I need to know more about brake clearance issues with a donut. Say I got one from a junked honda or MC. Will that fit over the stock R56 S brakes?

 

I'm not aware of anything between the $90 unit tirerack.com carries, and the cheap units at superstores.

Fix-A-Flat is supposed to be very bad because it can't easily be washed out of the tire. It is reported that many tire shops wont fix tires with Fix-A-Flat in them. The Continental Tire ContiComfortKit uses SLIME, which is supposed to be water soluble (easy to wash out) and wont damage TPMS sensors.

 

I got a Slime kit that includes a compressor at AutoZone for $20.

 

Saw this at the TireRack link for the Conti Kit: "This product’s sealant may interfere with the tire pressure monitoring sensors on vehicles with direct TPMS, possibly leading to error prompts and incorrect pressure readings. Use of this product on direct TPMS vehicles could also result in damage to the tire pressure sensor inside the wheel. Please contact your sales specialist at Tire Rack for more information."

I would think pretty much *any* foreign substance wouldn't be that great for the TPMS sensors...I guess you pick your poison.

 

I have MCS brakes on my MC and the donut fit fine with no contact.

 

Good to know. That's a nice looking MC, btw....

 

I saw a Cooper S out here on Long Island with an interesting spare tire fix. He had a Thule rack with the "safari" basket attachment, and then a spare secured up there. Anyone performance oriented will face-palm at the upward center of gravity shift, and it's definitely an acquired aesthetic taste, but clever idea none-the-less.

 

I've been considering the roof rack since I saw the same setup myself. Does anyone know how hard the Thule rack is to get on/off? I could live with it day-to-day, but would want to remove it for autox.

 

Unless it attaches in a completely different way than every other roof rack I have owned (Thule, VW OEM, BMW OEM), it is something you can get on and off yourself in several minutes.

EDIT: If you go on thuleracks.com, you can find the rack for your car, and they provide you with a .pdf of the installation instructions, so you can see what exactly is involved. Keep in mind a lot of the configuration only needs to be done the first time, and after that it comes on and off as a whole.