Looking at these tires 08 hatchback. Thinking about moving to 185/65/R15. Pros or cons on the tires?

 

(Non-MINI feedback)

I used them on my Miata, two sets, probably 80,000 miles combined, and the second set was still going strong when it went to its current owner. Quiet, smooth-riding, long-lasting. No issues at all. I was just looking for good commuter tires, and they fit the bill very well.

At that point in its life (100k miles and beyond) I wasn't pushing it around cloverleafs and such as I used to, however I didn't have any problems occasionally driving in a "spirited" manner. I'm sure instrumented tests would show less grip than more capable performance tires, but then the Solus are very reasonably priced and aren't competing in that market.

Just a data point.

 

Thanks for your input

 

So I got the kuhmo's and had them filled with nitro and inflated to 33. Nice smooth ride but didn't get to do any quick cornering till yesterday. I was pretty dissapointed. My go cart feel was gone. This morning I thought about it a while and then took it and inflated to 40 psi and I'm In love again. The seven pounds didn't seem to hurt the ride but stopped the soft wallering feeling on curves. Now it feels tight again and may be even better when the tires are broken in. Max inflation on the tire states 44. Will I cause any problems with excessive wear or anything else at 40? Thoughts?

 

You should be fine at 40 PSI. I'm surprised the ride doesn't feel harder, because that was one of the changes that I noticed. You may very well find that the tires last a bit longer at higher pressures.

 

I'm doing Ecsta 4X's on factory 16 inch wheels and am totally satisfied.

 

I have my Conti DWS tires at +5 lbs on my Mazda 5, as well as the OEM Toyos since new, trying for bit better fuel economy. No harm at all.

An aside, I'm a bit surprised of not reading more tire pressure stuff in the auto-x posts on this forum. Back in the day, everyone futzed with tire pressure, a LOT, trying to get cornering balance / feel / turn-in "just so" with the dog-bone Dunlops and Michelin X's of that era.