My first post on this forum. I have ben reading threads in this category for the last few days and am grateful for all the wisdom shared there. But I guess I am suffering from information overload and hope you forgive me for narrowing it all down to my personal dillemma, even though it most likely has been covered to death before. Pointers to old threads (and pictures) are welcome.

Living in Bergen, Norway, I am waiting for my first Mini, a Cooper S that will be delivered in March. I decided I wanted something different for my summer wheels than most have, and have almost decided on the Enkei GW8. (The Norwegian Enkei distributor doesn't sell them, so they probably will be quite unique here.) Reading on this and other forums Enkei seems to have a fairly good reputation.

Now the GW8 comes in two sizes: 17x7 and 18x7.5. The dealer recommended fitting 205/45R17 and 215/35R18 respectively, warning that the 18's might cause some scrubbing under hard driving.

So my questions are:
* Assuming that I do not want to perform any modifications to the car itself, how likely is the 18" combo to be too big? Where is the main concern: Bumps (we have a lot of them here) or sharp turns? Note that Norway have a general speed limit of 80 km/h (50 mph) on most country roads and I am old enough to not want to challenge that too much. (People might ask why then I buy an S and not a smaller engine, but I trust you will understand.)

* I have tried envisioning how this will look, but there are too many pictures and combinations in the galleries. Can someone point me to (or post) a couple of pictures that shows the difference between the 205/45R17 and 215/35R18 alternatives? Again, on a standard suspension Cooper S. I do want there to be some rubber visible between wheel and asphalt, and the car will also be driven by my wife who values comfort a bit more than me.

Hope those questions makes sense. Thanks in advance!

Geir

 

THe 18s would fit fine and you would have no issues with them but based on what you said I would go with the 17s. The 18 will ride rough

 

Thanks. I suspect that will be the end result. 17s are a bit cheaper too. But I want to be reasonably certain I made all the right choices for this car. (It is the first car we buy since the kids grew up and I don't have to compromise...)

Actually, since the car comes with the chrome packages, exterior and interior, my first thought was chrome wheels. But Bergen is rainy, icy and this winter they put so much salt on the road that they are already running empty on road salt. So chrome sounded like a short-lived glory even on the summer wheels.

Other comments are welcome.

Geir

 

Based on your description of the roads alone (bumpy) and your wife's desire for some comfort, you should definitely stick with the 17s.

18s might look good, but you won't likely be happy with them. That's my 2 cents.

Also, chrome is heavy and would negatively affect performance, but as it sounds like a vehicle that will be driven leisurely and not aggressively, if that's what you really want, then go for it.

 

Tanks BlackCamden.

Sounds like I should stick to 17 then.

Part of the problem with chrome wheels is that they are really hard to find over here, especially in Mini-friendely sizes. Due to the climate they are not really that popular, and the shops make sure no one buys them unless they have read the fine print about brake dust and rust.

But I do think that something like the TSW Cadwells would look good. (I am even considering buying a chrome bonnet scoop. Guess I miss the days when chrome was in style on high end cars, and they didn't look like they all came out of the same design studio. Fortunately, the Mini is still unique.)

Geir

 

Since the wheels have a 42mm offset you should be good with either wheel/tire combination. I run a 215/40x18 with 18x7 with 37 offset plus lowered a little and I do get some rubbing on my 06 MCS (Gen1) but you have a little more room in your Gen 2 MCS.
Why a 205/45-17 on the 17x7 wheel but a 215/35-18 because those are very different tire size thoughts (width and sidewall) so of course they will ride very different. Why not a 215/45-17 or 215/40-17? In your case I think a 215/45-17 would be a nice ride. Why not a 215/40-18 instead of the 215/35-18 to gain a little ride comfort on the 18 wheel.

The 18 will fill up the wheel well a little bit better for a nicer look. The 18 will also put the car a little higher than the 17 which might be good for your use.

Here are some tire diameter and sidewall height measurements in mm:
215/40R17: Dia=603.8 Sidewall=86.0
205/45R17: Dia=616.3 Sidewall=92.3
215/45R17: Dia=625.3 Sidewall=96.8

215/35R18: Dia=607.7 Sidewall=75.3
215/40R18: Dia=629.2 Sidewall=86.0

 

I think TSW does make a nice wheel, but the Cadwells don't come in the bolt pattern that you'll need (4x100). These are the TSWs available that would fit your car:

http://www.tsw.com/app_guide_results...i&model=Cooper

The Doningtons with a machined face are certainly nice and shiny though.

 

If you have 2nd Gen R56, 18x7.5 will be fine even with 215/40-18. 17's will provide more comfort with 215/45-17 tires and 17's will provide larger tire selection (especially winter tires) than 18's.

 

Thanks for a detailed response. Just the sort of info that helps an amateur. My problem is I really have absolutely no idea what combinations works on a Mini or not. You can read the specs, but in the end without experience to back them they become just numbers.

Simply because that is what the dealer suggested. When he wrote that 215/35 would cause some rubbing, I assumed that 215/40 - being taller - would have bigger problems. But that is why I posted here.

Yeah. I realized that. But that is an example of the look I wanted for a chrome wheel.

Thanks. I am looking into that now. I have to order the wheels from the UK if I go for the GW8s, and whether I should order them with tires or not depends on the selection they offer as well as how much that would bump the shipping cost. It might be cheaper to order just the wheels and have tires fitted locally.

Thanks again for all the advice.

Geir

 

I just seen these on Tire Rack and honestly the red trim on wheels will clash with spice orange, they did look nice on Black MCS and ok on Red MCS. There is an app on TireRack.com that allows you to see wheels on car, check out the wheels on Hot Orange 2006 Convertible MCS built after 05/06 it will give you an idea what I am talking about. They have not added spice orange. I think the oem JCW R105 would look nice on orange. Here is a pic of rims:

 

Thanks, and yes, red is not the ideal color. They do come with chrome inserts too, so either I will buy those instead, or I will buy the red ones, and then remove them and spray paint them in spice orange. AFAIK they are just plastic inserts, so that should work well.

Geir

 

35 profiles will definately run rougher. And for looks, you won't notice much of a difference. I'm running 215/40-18's on my 1st gen and they don't rub. But it seems you're getting a second gen so that info is probably of no value.

Unless you need all season or winter tires, I highly recommend Hankook Ventus V12 Evo's. Very highly rated. I love them.

 

I am going to put studded tires on the "Chili" standard wheels that comes with the car, so this will be for summer use only. (We had discussion on studded vs. plain winter tires, since there is an environmental tax on using studded tires here in Bergen. But safety first.)

The Hankooks seems to be great value for money. Thanks for the tip. This btw is another problem area, the various test results of tires seems to be greatly different. We have two main test institutions for tires in Norway, and they never seem to favor the same tires. (The expensive ones usually come pretty high though.)

Geir

 

Sounds like a nice set of wheels. I'd go with the 17's. The extra height and width will most likely cause a lot of rubbing in the fender wells whenever you're making tight turns into parking spaces, k turns, or sharp 90 degree turns. And that doesn't even take into account the rougher ride (although using non-runflat tires will help avoid this). It still sounds like a safer bet to go with the 17s.

 

Yeah. I guess 17x7 and 215/45 will be the combo I go for. Thanks for all the help, everyone. Will eventually post pictures when I have the wheels on the car. That is, when we finally see summer here.

Geir

 

I bump this to show the end result. I ended up with the Enkei GW8 in 17x7. The tires are Conti SportContact 5, dimension 215/45 R 17.

As you can see the triangles are chromed, which actually looks quite nice. But I also got the red ones which I will paint in the cars color (Spice orange).

The wheels and tires were a great fit and a smooth ride. Only problem I had was that the standard mini wheel bolt wrench was too wide to use on the narrow holes on the GW8, so I had to get a replacement wrench.

Thanks to every one who contributed to this thread!

Geir

 

Nice!

The spice orange looks good with the black. I think it'll look even better when you paint the inserts.