Lets post pics of what we think would be the prettiest tire for the mini. Tire design would be the most important factor in this thread, while tire effectiveness would come in 2nd place.

 

Depends how you define pretty tire.

Tread pattern
Lower sidewall
Wider footprint

It's all subjective

If you look at popular tires for car shows-


BF Goodrich g-Force T/A KDW 2 Ultra HP summer tire


Yokohama Parada Spec-2 Ultra HP summer tire


Yokohama Advan Neova AD-08 Extreme Summer tire


Yokohama Advan A048 Competition tire


Fuzion ZRi Ultra HP summer tire


Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus Ultra HP All season tire


Kumho Ecsta XS Extreme Summer tire


Kumho Ecsta W710 Competition tire wet


Kumho SPT Colored red smoke tread Competition tire

 

Here is what I put on my MCS. Was really taken by how the tread looked!

 

hands down best looking IMO. great tread, simple nice sidewall without those ugly textured sides or gigantic lettering. Proven to be a good tire as well

 

I think its best to see how they look on the mini by posting real pics of minis wearing them, there one can really see how they really look like, company pics are not real life ones. Personally i like tires to be kinda cubic on my wheels, not having extra curves on the area between sidewall and footprint.

 

I'm speechless...

 

i vote for the KDW2's as well. I run them and they are a great street tire and the look great.

 

can you please post pics?

 

I love the sidewalls on my old Michellins, this picture does not do it justice

 

where did the rims go?
tires must be on rims so we can actually see how they look

 

SEXY TREAD:


Yokohama Advan Neova AD-08 Extreme Summer tire




But then I buy tires base on the brand and performance needs, never pay attention to the "looks" other than when the treads are asymmetrical.

I suppose most people buy soley what's on sale at any rate, seems even on this forum tire choices are often weighted by the price.

I look for a good all season tire with lots of molded in sipes and a low rolling resistance rating fpr MPG. Then watch for a sale if there is time. Bought the Michelins in my sig when the MINI was new last summer. Just landed a set of TireRack Pilot Exalto A/S Michelins for the kid's car and got the $70 rebate. Won't mount them until later this Summer, but knew with oil prices they won't come any cheaper. Have a set of Michelin LTX MS2 for the truck in mind, if the tough wearing Toyo H/T's ever wear out. Also have Blizzaks for the truck on dedicated winter wheels. So I am not stuck on a single brand, but you can't go wrong with Michelins, especially on sale.

 

If you are Rally driving in loose dirt then these are pretty tires



And fast too.

I have the Silverstone s525 (bottom pic) on my Rally MINI.

 

tread design by M. C Escher?

 

I alernate between three sets of wheels and tires , two of which might be touught of as interesting looking .

I like both the look and performance , especially in the wet of the BFG KDW/2







I also run the Falken rt 615's which perform even better than the BFG's and still look pretty cool IMHO.





The stickiest set are Toyo RA/1's but they are the most plain looking appearance wise .



randy
M7 Tuning

 

maxmini wow you really are into "rubber", thanx for the post

 

Randy's pics are great for showing the tires.

Examples with wheels-

KDW2

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/BigPic...=Parada+Spec-2
Parada Spec2

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/BigPic...VAN+Neova+AD08
Yokohama Advan Neova AD08

 

toyo proxes 4 .... great looking

or dunlop has also great designs

 

is there a scale thats featuring tread softness amongst different tire brands?

 

Yes,

For softness vs hardness of rubber it is the treadwear rating but this is not perfectly uniform for all manufacturers. So you cannot really compare a Michelin with a Kumho tire both with 300 rating but they are relatively close. You can compare two Michelin tires one 300 and one 600 with the 600 tire lasting about twice as many more miles than the 300.

You want a soft rubber tire then aim for a treadwear rating of 180 or less. Typically they would be competition R compound tires (semi slicks) and Extreme Summer tires.

See
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=48
A basic 100 rated tire may last about 7200 street miles.
Your actual wear will be different if you corner harder and brake harder.
Tire pressure is critical for tire wear.

Also if you were wondering the tread pattern is carefully designed with performance in mind.

see
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...jsp?techid=180

Symmetric tread- common and easily rotated. Treads are same pattern inner and outer sides.

Asymetric tread- Fairly common with more performance/handling in turns in mind. Outer tread pattern is more aggressive with more rubber in larger blocks to handle heat and give more grip. Inner tread blocks smaller to disperse water. Can be rotated front to rear.

Directional tread- can be combined with other patterns, tread pattern forms a V and tire runs in one direction only. Tread pattern moves water away faster and resists hydroplaning. Tire rotation is front to rear if tires are same sized.