Hello All,

Can somebody help me decide on the wheels sizing.

I have an '07 Cooper S. I am looking to get the Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2's with these specs:

http://www.outmotoring.com/mini-coop...-pro-race.html

17x7 '38 mm' offset with 215/45/17 tires (would prefer a concave looking wheel)

Down the road, I am also looking to lower the car using lowering springs, so assuming they go down 1.4 inches, do you think I would run into rubbing issues with the above mentioned tire & wheel setup.

Opinions are most welcome

Thank you in advance.

KK.

 

I have a set of the same wheel but with +45 offset. No rubbing issues with 215/45/17 Dunlop Direzza tires and mildly lowered JCW suspension on my setup. I am not sure about possible rubbing issues with more aggressive lowering though.

 

I run enkei pf01 with 38 mm offset and 215/45 17 tires on a lowered car without rubbing.

Ps: I do run -2.1 front camber.

 

Just have enough negative camber front and rear to make it clear the wheel arch plastic or be willing to trim the plastic with a dremmel tool.

The taller the tire diameter the less the clearance and the wider the tire shoulder the less the clearance given that +38mm offset is aggressive and puts the wheel farther outside of the wheel well vs stock.

205/45-17 or even 215/40-17 are possible choices for tire size if you do lower your MINI later and get rubbing with 215/45-17 which is taller than stock by about 0.4".

With stock suspension you are fine, with 1" drop you are likely fine. When you drop more you have to fiddle with clearance. If you adjustable coilovers then you can drop to any amount to get clearance but if you use lowering springs then you get whatever happens.

Generally for better handling you want more negative camber in front than in the rear but the stock MINI comes with only about -0.5 degrees in front and likely -1.6 degrees in back OEM. You'll likely need more clearance in the back when you drop your ride height so if you don't get something to adjust or improve front negative camber you will be running more negative in back which increases understeer so handling on fast corners will be worse if you drive quickly.

In front you can get adjustable front camber plates or fixed front camber plates. The fixed plates from Ireland Engineering are less costly but don't give as much negative camber, while the adjustable plates tend to wear out faster and need replacement at some point depending on which brand plus they are costly.