I'm sure those of you that have been trying to find wheels for their R56 have faced this issue. Wheels that will mount to the M14 studs.

Most wheels out there are for M12s. Some have mentioned that boreing out the M12 hole to a M14 hole. Is this actually safe? I have huge reservations on doing this, especially to Forged wheels.

 

yes it's safe. Just keep drill speeds slow and use a cutting lubricant (sewing machine oil works)

 

Any further advice or info? I recently purchased a set of slightly used Enkei wheels for the winter and the bolt holes are smaller then the wheel bolts. I can't really see a slightly larger drilld-out bolt hole causng any problems, but I'd like to be sure.

 

You have at least three options if you have M14 bolts (Late model R53 and any R56)

Keep OEM rims or buy current OEM rims

Buy new aftermarket rims that can fit- many are available from wheel vendors on NAM, just tell them you need M14 bolt sizing.

Use an older rim (M12 sizes) but get a shop to drill it out for you to make each new hole perfectly centered over the location of the originals. Wheels need to be centered or they can wobble and/or wear your tires faster.

 

with a 60 degree cone seat hole, it doesn't much (obviously it's good to be on target but we're not talking about precise machine work needed here). The bolts will automatically center the wheel.

 

can't he just get stud conversions?

 

That's an option too - I did that for my late 2006.

The cost of the conversion lugs was more than the cost of having one set of wheels professionally drilled out, but less than the cost of having two sets drilled. Of course, if you're comfortable drilling wheels yourself, that's pretty much free.

 

Thats what I was planning on doing.

I bought the wheels today from an 07 Cabrio owner. It wasn't until I got home that I remembered that the 07 Cabrio is based on the R53 Mini and uses different sized bolt holes. I'm still a new Mini owner and just learning the differences between the years. When I did a test fit, sure enough my 07 bolts were just a tad too big. Otherwise, the wheels fit perfect.

I thought of drilling the holes out slightly so the bigger bolts fit. They are aftermarket wheels and from my experience, most don't fit 100% perfect anyway. Even the OEM wheels have some play in them until the bolts are tightened. As long as the bolts are torqued down correctly, I can't imagine there will a problem.

 

The '07 owner you bought the wheels from must never have used them on his car, or else he had a stud conversion, because by the 2007 model year, *all* MINIs, coupe or convertible, used the exact same 14mm bolts.

Still, you're right - if you carefully drill out the holes, you shouldn't have a problem using the wheels on your car.

 

I see. I thought that the convertibles being R53 based used the smaller bolts. Could his car have been older or used the 12mm bolts?

Older guy, very distinguished, Benz and a huge house. Didn't seem like he was trying to deceive me in any way. Told me his was trading the ini in and didn't ned the wheels anymore.

 

The lug bolt switchover wasn't an R53/R56 thing - the entire MINI line had already transitioned to the 14mm bolts before the R56 came out.

If his car was built after mid-July 2006, (which any 2007 would have been), then it used the 14mm bolts.

If he used the wheels on his MINI, then he probably has the 14mm -> 12mm stud conversion kit. That's what I did on my late-2006 cabrio so I could use my aftermarket wheels without having to drill them.

 

Thinks for the info. I emailed him and inquired about the wheels. Maybe I'll get lucky and I can sell them back. I'm starting to wonder if maybe his car is older then he said. He didn't really seem like the type of guy to modify his car.

I dunno. My Civic Si is so simple compared to the Mini

 

Who sells the conversion kits? Be nice to be able to adapt wheels without drilling, especially since I might be able to borrow some.

 

If you go to www.txwerks.com, the conversion kit is the last page of the "wheel accessories" category.

 

whats this M12/M14 thing?? isnt that how long the bolts are? I know for a fact the 1st gen wheels will bolt to a 2nd gen mini and the other way around! I havnt found any that wont work as long as they are the 4X100 bolt pattern!

I personaly swiched to the stud/lug bolt kit because its safer! (wheel uses bolts to center not the hub) so I dont have to use the hubcentric rings!

 

mine is an early 05 and the wheels fit fine on an 08!

 

Yes, all of the OEM MINI wheels have bolt holes that are about 16 mm in diameter, so they'll work with either the older 12mm bolts or the newer 14 mm bolts. That's why you can mix-and-match wheels between any year MINIs (as long as the wheels clear the brakes).

The only reason the bolt diameter matters is that there are a lot of *aftermarket* wheels that won't work with the newer 14 mm bolts. In that case, you either have to drill out the wheel holes, or use 14 mm -> 12 mm conversion studs.