I'm planning on buying these MINI brand rims: R99 17" Double Spoke Polished. They look sexy, sporty, and I've never seen a MINI with them (probably because they're expensive) which is a bonus.

Yet I'm having a time trying to find a good high preformance summer tire to go with it. It seems as though Prestige may not carry the tire I need to go with it so I may have to buy the tire and the rim seperatly and have them mounted by a 3rd entity which could be a pain.

The size and type I need is: 205/45 R17 Summer NO RUNFLAT.

What tires of this type do you guys recommend? I'd like to get a tire that has an attractive tread pattern, one that handles corners well, relativly quiet, and one that has a decent life. Handling and grip is the most important.

I was looking at tirerack.com today and I saw something odd, the size for one tire was 205/45ZR17. I have no idea what the "Z" was since the speed rating comes after the R17.

I'm going to keep researching this, I printed out a bunch of stuff from tire rack today. I was originally looking at Pirelli because I just like the name (its Italian and Ferrari uses them) but the reviews for their tires were horrible!

 

Steve...don't do it.

From this past run, I think Manny had the best set-up for a daily driver...he bought Fuzion tires 195/60/15 on 15" black rims from Tire Rack and he was soaking up the pot holes...on his new Chili Red MC.

or

I would go with 16" rims with 205/55/16 tires...I'm letting you know from experience...

17" may look good...but you're going to hit a pot hole in this area really hard the first time...and you will get upset with yourself...you will feel the pot holes.

 

Steve - gotta agree with Loren. Round here, more sidewall equals better ride and less risk for expensive damage.

I was going to go from 16's to 17's this summer. Instead, I'm keeping the 16's and putting on 205/50/R16's. This size has a lot more higher performance summer tire choices (non runflats) than the stock 195/55/R16's.

I'm going with the Bridgestone Potenza RE760 sport. Great tire. Have on my BMW525 last summer. Very sticky dry, does a great job shedding water when needed and has decent treadwear.

Ifffffffff you decide to go 17's and MINI OEM wheels, check out Morristown MINI. They show a 12% discount online for the 17" polished R99's.

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...tegoryID=75821

Then check out Tire Rack and you'll see the RE760 sport are sold in 205/45/R17's.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSe...r=17&x=65&y=11

 

So the Bridgestone RE760 Sport is a good one, thats good to know and its only $106.00ea too which is a bonus. I highlighted this one on my print outs from that site already.

Yeah I'm dead set on the 17" size. I look foward to a rougher sportier ride.

If anyone else has any TIRE recommendations I'd love to hear it. I'm probably not going to buy till after the NY Auto Show incase something else catches my eye there.

 

i've been looking at yokohama avid envigors. they are brand new but looks like they are a great tire. try discounttiredirect.com also

 

I'm running 215/45R17 Nitto Neogen's on my clubman and I'm very happy with the ride and i've hit plenty of potholes without issue. I got them from discount tire direct and they are only $90.00

 

I ended up getting the "MINI brand" R99 17" rims (which are actually made by BBS) with Yokohama Neova Advan AD08s at Prestige last weekend. They look wonderful! Unfortunatly its 40 degrees out this weekend so I can't wash the car today w/o freezing. I may just take a damp rag to the rims later till it gets warmer this Wednesday.

Speaking of rims. When I was at the Prestige waiting room I was speaking to this man from Statan Island. He was telling me that the run flat tires that MINI pushes with its wheels not only ride really hard but due to the enforced side walls they also bend the hell out of the rims when hitting things like pot holes. This makes sense and its something I never thought of. I'm so happy that everyone is so vocal about how much the run flats suck otherwise I could have ended up with those disaster peices.

 

I'm late to the party, but for future reference Hankook Ventus V12 Evos 205/45/17 ride really nicely and are pretty sticky. Very responsive too. I'm hoping I can get two summers out of them.