I was looking through this review of the R56 JCW, and one thing that struck me in comparison to US Spec cars was the lack of wheel gap. Now, the article is clear that the car has the standard suspension, NOT the sport suspension (which doesn't lower it anyway) or the JCW suspension. With 18's then, the gap should appear HUGE.

I clicked on one the close ups of the tires, and was quite surprised to see 205/45/18 written on those Goodyear NCTs. Not only does this tire not exist in the NA market, nothing of its size does, run flat or not.

This tire would be a full 1" taller than the standard 205/45/17. Since the tire size does not exist for any other car, it's fair to assume Goodyear developed that tire for the MINI.....wonder if we'll see it here, and I wonder it there would also be an increase in overall O.D. of the whole tire line, which really do look small in the new bigger arches....

 

normally MINIs with 18" wheels come with 205/40-18 tires

The article states-
Tyres

Please note that the packages above do not include tyres. It is recommended to use the following tyre size: Bridgestone 205/40 R18 82W RSC

But like you said the picture of the tire shows Goodyear Eagle NCT 5 in 205/45-18. (ther brakes in the rear look really small! )

Strange I do not find any 205/45-18 tires at tirerack.com

Goodyear Eagle NCT 5 is listed as a Grand Touring Summer Run on flat tire and doesn't come in any other 18" size except for 245/40-18 for $362 each
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....NCT5+RunOnFlat

So is the Goodyear 205/45-18 a special order tire?

 

I wasn't able to read the size off of the sidewall on any of the accompanying photos. The text of the article refers to size 205/40 R18. Perhaps you cought a type-o before it was edited? Special order size seems very unlikely in that it would require the making of a unique mold.

 

The photo does show 205/45-18 no doubt.

The article states in more than one location 205/40-18 and that was the standard MINI tire for 18" wheels in the past.

Maybe Alex@tirerack.com would know about a strange size as 205/45-18 since there are no tires like that right now.

 

I have begun the process of looking into it for you

Alex

 

Here's a closeup...

 

Goodyear North America says nothing in this size is currently made for the US. It may be a tire produced over seas that is not available for export.

Alex

 

Thanks for checking, Alex.

 

yikes, that's a huge gap:

 

Yep that gap is huge, but those wheels are nice. How much does a set of those run, without the runflats?