All,

I finally got the R81 15" wheel son my wife's MCS. I simply could not get over how friggn heavy the S-LITES w/ Perelli run flats where. Haveing put lighter wheels on cars before I knwo that there was performance to be had.

Well the R81's with 195/60-15 Goodyear Eagle GPH's are <1/2 the weight of the S-LITES! They the MCS now soaks up the road like a nice bimmer (E36 325is if you know what I mean) and they look right on the car. Yes many of you like th ebig wheel look. I do not, you don't see this stuff on F1, NASCAR or WRC and there is a reason.

Oh BTW the car now RESPONDS to throttle in a normal fashon. Even the wife is impressed. TO get an Idea have tow >150lbs folks in the rear seat. Drive around. Now kick them out and see the difference. This is similar to the difference going to lighter wheels.

Later,
Ian

 

can we see some pics please?

 

Most of the reason I'm running 16's right now is to mount the Falken Azenis tires to. For autocross I would be worried about the sidewalls of a 15" tire rolling.

But I did see a similar improvement (probably not as dramatic as yours) with going from the 17" s-lites/dunlop runflats to 16" v-spokes and regular tires (I have used both the AVS ES100s and the Falkens). There was a noticable improvement in ride quality and accelleration.

I'm glad you like your 15's. I really like the looks of the MINI 15's.

Dave

 

I kick everyone out of my car when I go motorin.

Later I let them back in if they need to go anywhere. This works well when I am driving my kids around and they need a ride.

Weight savings is important-and off the wheels is extra good. light weight 17" wheels would be nice.
There is certainly not much wrong with good 15" wheels. 16" in 6.5 or 7" width seems to be about the right mix of
lightness, looks, affordability, width, and performance. No run flats of course.

 

Are you able to post before and after pictures? I don't think I've seen a picture of an S with 15'wheels.



His, Chile RED all over, Madness intake, MINI-Motorsport Airbox Mod, Magnaflow Exhaust, BMP spark plug wires, RDR rear sway bar and Helix P/D 15% reduction pulley.
Hers, EB UJ on top and BONE stock.

 

I don't have a digital camera available, but you can go to MINI online and select highlight silver and the R81's. Otherwise I'm pretty stock. Here is a pic of the wheel however:

The 15"'s don't felx badly, infact the car now drifts in a very predictible manner. This I love over the rail like feel of the 17"'s

Ian

 

try again with the piX

 

I'll try and borrow the neighbor's camera tonight. The before picts would be stock MCS silver, black top and mirrors and stripes. Also a scoop grille I made and did a FIY on a while back.

Ian

 

a full pic of the s with those wheels would be nice

can some photoshop it?

 

Ian, do you have the actual weights of the new 15" wheel/tire combo vs. the 17" Slite/runflat? You say "150 lbs"...but I'd read elsewhere on MCO (sorry, can't remember where) that the weight difference between stock 16" wheel/tires and the stock 17" wheel/tires weren't all that dramatic. I'd say 37 lbs per corner is pretty darn dramatic.

I'm curious since I intend to eventually move to 16" wheels... but if you're able to save THIS much weight, I might consider the 15". I think the holey wheels look pretty cool.

 

I did the fat *** on the scale method (me and the wheel on the scale, then me alone). The 15" wheels came in at 21 lbs (tire, stem and wheel). The S-lites were 47!!!LBS.

Now I could be off by a few pounds as this is just a bathroom scale and not a tripple beam.

Ian

 

the >150lbs was just what I though the person should weigh. It's like driving a MINI without any passengers after having her "full up" with folks. Just feels more responsive, not having to wind up those big *** wheels.

The OD difference from 205/45-17 to 195/60-15 os -0.2%. So there is no real mechanical advantage to speak of. . .

 

thanks for the pics ian

 

By doing this "s-lites to 7holes" you are doing more than saving over 20 pounds per wheel.... you are reducing un-sprung and rotational weight which can have a dramatic effect on ride quality, how well the suspension works, and acceleration (in a good way)... performance wise the only limiting factor is the width of the 7 holes.. a bit wider would be nice. But!!! how fast do you have to hit the turns on the street to have fun??? I have 7 holes W stock tires on my Cooper (with SS+)for day to day fun... on race days (auto-X, H-Stock class) I use light 16" wheels in oem size(for the extra width only) and sticky tires... sure the car is better on the race setup yet for street use the 15" setup is choice... I can still take corners at over twice the "recomended" speed and I have plenty of warning if the car is going to loose one end or the other!!! It does not hurt that the 7 holes are the best looking oem wheel esp. in white... all IMHO of course!!

 

I noticed a HUGE difference going to lighter wheels/tires. My 17" "S-Lite"/Goodyear RS-A runflat combo weighed a whopping 50 lb per corner while my current 16" Enkei RPO-1/Falken Azenus combo weighs 37 lb per corner, for a total savings of 52 lb of rotating mass! One problem with the stock 15" rims is their width - 5.5". That's simply too narrow for most agressive rubber out there. My 215mm wide Azenis are about the widest I would go on the 6.5" wide rims.

 

Yeah, I came out at 37 lbs per corner too with the Azenis/v-spokes

 

Here is a shot of our MCS with 15's on for the winter. Running 175 65 15 stock tire from a MC.

 

I really like the stock 16" MCS rims. 17.5 lb ain't bad at all for stock rims! I like my Enkei's for the exclusivity and slight weight savings, but the V-spoke R84 look great, and are easy to find. Also, I dare say, the factory wheels look a little nicer (bigger) than my setup:

 

I'm in the process of "downsizing" as well. Alex at the tirerack just got me hooked up with 16x7.5" Kosei rims (15lbs) and tires last week. They should be here before my weekend fun run to Tombstone.

 

mine on the white v-spokes. Amazingly, it seems to be a very rare combination - DS/White with white v-spokes. :smile:

 

Yeah I know wha y'all are saying aout "big rubber" but 195's are only 2 cm narrower than 215's and the OD is the same (thus the speedo is correct) to the 17's that came off.

I don't feel much more body roll than before. The only real difference is that the car can now drift a little when going HARD through a corner. I can take them all at the same speed, the car is just more predictible. I always though that the 17's broke away too quickly.

Ian