So I have been looking for some civic steelies to throw some winter tires on to run for this winter. After a lot of looking a friend tossed me some rims of his old civic and said "tires are junk ... two have rub on the inside from riding to low and the other two are so so." So I meet up with him and damn if I was not crazy suprized to find out they were his Rota Slipstreams in flat black fitted with some Dunlop SP Sport FM901's. Well I scooped them up yesterday and today after work (midnight to 8am blahhhh) I tossed them on and DAMN if there isn't some negative camber going on. They also dropped the car by a little more then I expected and I'm really diggin it's new stance with it being a little lower and the rim tilt. I'm really diggin them and once off the car, I weight on a set of decent scales the difference between the two.
17" S Spokes with Pirelli Eufori@'s 205/45/17 = 48.6
15" Rota Slipstreams with Dunlop's 195/50/15 = 24.6

Well anyways I'm diggin it for now. I know once the winter tires go on they will be a lot taller and thinner, but for now, I'm loving the low.



Rear tire


Oh and yes, before anyone warns me about tire wear and what not, I have been tuning for a wile, so I'm aware of what this will do to tires. Once the winter one's go on it will be adjusted.

 

I run lightweight alloys 15's with winter tires on my s for the winter...
The light rims do feel very different when driving...almost playful...heck any racer will tell you reducing rotaing weight gets you the most bang for for the buck weight reduction wise...
In picking your new tires, if you keep the stock width, and then pick a size will matain about the same rpms as stock, you can get either slightly bigger, or slightly smaller...the stock just-a-cooper tire size in 15' is a bit to narrow imo for the hp of the s. What is the rim width of the rims you got...that will partially determin your tire size choice, but you should double check the rim offset...the civic does share the same boltpattern and hub size, but the offset tends to be different....

 

15x7 and these rims have an offset of 40. The tires that were on the rims were decent (two of them that is) so I put them on the front and they are freaking grippy as all hell. So the almost playful is very much correct.

 

Did the quick math and that's just 4 lbs shy of 100lbs off the car. I did want to know, what would you recommend for winter tires since it sounds like you have driven your Mini in the winter. I've lived in Maine all my life and been driving in the snow for 15 years now, however this is my first Mini and first winter with my new baby. Thanks.

 

I run perelli p210 snowsports...
it is a pretty mild high performance, speed rated snow tire...
good dry and fair weather performace, and good in the snow..not blizzack great, but i know i spend lots of time on dry roads, but wanted better than all season in the snow.
They are pretty quiet wear well...blizzacks are very soft, snd wear very fast, and a can feel greassy on a warm day....
they are a bit of a compermise, but have never had an issue.
i think they were discontinued, but i think a replacement came out.
the snowsport p210 looks a bit like an all season...
But deaper groves, softer rubber....got them at a VIP on sale pretty cheap 3 years ago i think...

 

PS
One tip/thing to consider...
running a radically different offset from stock is kinda like running spacers on rims, and from what i understand can put extra stress on thr wheel bearings, shortening their life. So free/cheap rims may actually come at a price...

 

Nice, I have been trying to find these wheels for a possible winter setup..

This is far from radically different offsets... simma down...

 

Dunlop Wintersports - 3 years of DD in Vermont snow (and a couple Ice Time Trials on a frozen lake), and I'm buying another set. I have the 3D; I have a fellow MINI buddy who ran the M3 and really liked those. Reasonably priced, too...