Other than size, what is the difference? Comfort, Performance, style?

 

The smaller the wheel size, the fatter the tyre, thus the greater the comfort and flex; so the handling suffers relative to the others. And many think the style of the bigger sizes outweighs their disadvantages.

But for road use the 16s are probably the best compromise, which is what I have and don't regret.

 

That is the fatter the sidewall of the tire is usually.

the larger the diameter (16", 17" 18") the fatter the tread width is.

example 16" tires usually range from 5 to 6.5 inches and sometimes up to 7" tread width where 17" is usually 6.5" to 8" and 18" usually about 7" and up.

 

Smaller wheels, better ride.......smaller wheels, not as nice to look at

Bigger wheels, choppy ride, probably heavier and 17, 18" tires will make you cry when you have to buy tires, especially if your car is lowered and the camber is not correct and you wear them out in about 6k miles. But the look of Large wheels, to me, is the best look possible.

 

Yup. "Fatness" means sidewall depth to me - and the more the better for comfort.
"Width" means the amount of rubber on the road - and the more the better for dry-road grip. But the less the better in snow and slush.

 

Well going back to my days with a muscle car "fatties" were very wide tires, many time as close to a slick as you could find. but then again back in those days no one had even conceived the idea of having a very very narrow side wall on a tire unless you were running bicycle tires on the front of your T-Bucket, and those tires were only about 2-3 inches wide. Something like this




And, No this is not my car but I am hoping to start on a project car of this type in the next year or two now that the house is completed.[IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/ESCHAT%7E1/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg[/IMG]

 

uhmmmm.....no

In general, the most common size for all of those diameters is 7 inches wide.....the diameter has very little to do with tread width. You can find a 16x8 just as easily as you can find a 17x8.....and 90% of the time when you find a wheel it will be 15x7,16x7,17x7

Smaller wheels are generally a bit faster. If you run slightly shorter diameter tires it will also improve the gearing of the car which in turn speeds up acceleration. Their weight distribution is much closer to the center hub which also aids in a quicker acceleration. If having a slammed car is part of your style, the way to get truly low is to run smaller wheels and tires as it avoids rubbing.

Big wheels "look better" according to some people and they allow you to easily fit a big brake kit. As noted earlier, their tires are a bit more expensive and fitting wider wheels becomes harder due to the rubbing concerns of larger wheels when lowered.

 

I don't want to start an argument here but!

Then explain to me why this is different than what mini states for their OEM wheels.

All 15" are 5-1/2J x15
All 16" are 6-1/2J x 16"
All 17" are 7J x 17
and the one 18 is 7J x18

Also explain to my why when i was looking for new summer rims for my BMW that they all were as follows:

16" - 16x7 or 16 x7.5
17" - 17x7.5 or 17x8
18" - 18x7.5 to 18x8.5
19" - 19x8.5 to 19x10
20" - 20x8.5 to 9.5

and then for my 93 dodge pickup

16" - 16x8
17" - 17x8 to 17x9.5
18" - 18x9
19" - 19x9.5
20" - 20x9.5
22" - 22x9.5 to 22x10


It seems to me that most of the time you jump up in diameter then most of the time you jump up in width. even if only slightly.

 

im running 225/45/R17's and they perform nice on the turns (no sidewall roll) and are decent on the road as far as comfort. it depends on what type of ride you are willing to put up with. I like to corner fast and drive hard, so my next set will be 18's with 40's.
but you'll feel lots more road imperfections. Which when driving agressive is actually a good thing to feel the road.

 

Yes....for OEM wheels they jump up the width. I was just referring to aftermarket rims. In general the wheels made to fit MINI's (honda offset/width/bolt pattern) will be 7" wide.

Just browse through the "show me your wheel thread".....I'd bet that 95% of the wheels are 7" wide no matter what the diameter. It's rare to find someone running 7.5's on a MINI and even more rare for the few of us running 8" and 9" wheels.

This will vary for cars like BMW's or Trucks because they can actually fit wider wheels so there is a larger range of widths to choose from. BMW's can fit 11" wheels in the rear since they're RWD....so naturally they will offer more width choices. When it comes to small FWD cars, the high offset related to the FWD setup leaves very little room for fitting wheels. Because of this the majority of the wheels will be right around 7".

 

It's rare to find someone running 7.5's on a MINI and even more rare for the few of us running 8" and 9" wheels.

How did you fit 8" ?
i would be interested in going wider myself.

 

By choosing the correct offset and stretching tires. I ran 8's and 8.5's on my last set of wheels and barely rubbed despite being one of the lowest ride heights.

I'm putting 9's on in the next week or two and using the same method to fit them.

 

is there a way of doing it without the stretched tire look? I really dont like it. I like the tire to be wider then the rim by at least a 1/2 inch

 

You should stick with tiny 7's then j/k

Joking aside...you can still fit 8's with fat tires, but you've gotta really find the perfect offset because there isn't THAT much room for it especially on the R53. People with the R56 have been able to fit 8's with 225's and 235s which will give you the balloon look you're going for.....the R53 has a little less space, but you should be able to make it work with careful planning.

The "stretched tire look" is used for a reason. It's the only way to avoid rubbing while still having deep deep lips and wide rims on these cars. I've helped 3 or 4 people with the wheel fitment in order to make 9's fit on their MINI's....but it's impossible to pull off without choosing the right size tire to stretch and avoid the arches. It's all about the stance

 

I see what you mean by tight space, I can get a fingers width on both sides of the tire before coming into contact with the strut or the fender flare. guess alittle trimming off the inside of the flare wouldnt hurt to much if i had to.
was wondering how much more steering effort is needed going into ruts on the road. my 225's are the standard size for most cars so its not noticeable. i had 10" on my 56 ford p/up and it was a little bit much to drive around town. manual steering and brskes didnt help much either

 

I can't be of much help on that one. The widest tire I've run is 205 on my 8's and 8.5's and never noticed a change in steering.

 

Does anyone have a link to the weights on oem wheels for the Clubman?

 

For the most part....all of the clubman wheel weights should be posted here (along with all other OEM MINI wheels).

http://www.mini2.com/forum/faq.php?f...factory_wheels

 

OK, Thanks everyone. I've been wanted to ask about the tires since we actually have an option with the Mini.

Thanks Again.

 

Also note, as a generalization, that the thinner cross-sections (like on the 15 inch wheels) will permit slightly better fuel economy (all other things being equal). The have less friction since the contact patch is smaller. But things like tire pressure, tire tread design and construction will also impact relative economy.

Fat tires look better, IMO. I'm running 295 rears on my M-Roadster.

Cheers,
Terry

 

But if you run a 15" rim versus say a 17" rim, the smaller diameter tire will actually spin higher rpm's. Only a couple hundred, but it still spins higher, which would actually cause a drop in mpg.
but you will get a little quicker accelleration. not noticeable on a street, but can equal tenths of seconds time difference on the track

 

Only if your tire diameter is different on the 15's. If the diameter/circumference is the same the gearing will be the same.

 

yes, this is true.

 

You lost me there, I'm not sure if I understand your point. Tire diameter is independent of wheel diameter. If you would want to run narrow tires on a larger wheel (17s), you would still have to reduce the aspect ratio to have a diameter close to the stock 15s (non-S). As a generalization, larger & wider wheels/tires still have to mantain close to stock overall tire diameter but I understand your point about overall tire diameter versus RPM.

Best regards,
Terry

 

I chose 16" S-winders which fit over my JCW brake kit. The 16s are perfect for winter tires (tho they were initially fitted with OEM all-season RFTs) and are much narrower at 6.5" than the set I chose for summer driving. I got the 18" JCW wheels with summer performance tires. They are 8" wide and so much better than the smaller all-season setup for dry road handling. IMO all-seasons are only good for cold-weather not really for snow or even wet (my summers work great in the rain).