Alright, I’ve been struggling a bit on what to do with wheels. I really could use some help from more mini knowledgeable people.

The situation:
Good or bad decision, to limit the $ damage when we ordered the car in the end of last June, I didn’t pick any wheel upgrade. Living in the US north east and through its winter conditions I likely would have wanted to put some winter tires. My plan (as I did with my other car) was to order with stock wheels. Use those for the winter – possibly sale the all season run flat - which keeps it open for aftermarket summer wheel choice. Of course that’s before I though it through about the run flat tire dilemma (no spare tire in the trunk = limited tire selection).

Should I even bother with winter tires over all seasons that come with the car on a mini? Obviously I’m new to mini…
Should I run on the all season this year throughout the winter and not look at new wheels until next spring when I would have had time to get a better feel of the car?


Wheels selection:
Assuming for a minute I move forward with my initial plan, I’m not quite sure what to pick anymore at this point. The car is Kite Blue and though trendy gloss black wheels would work harmoniously as we ordered black strips and black mirror caps (maybe a mistake?) I’m concerned the car is now getting too dark next to the kite blue and with all the black rubber wheel well trims. I wanted this mini to stay fun and bright. I’m looking at silver R112 JCW wheels but I’m not sure either if that would be the best for this car. I want this car to feel well put together. I’m considering painting the brake calipers the color of the car body as well.

I found the mini to be soft and round so I’m not too keen on wheels that are overly sharp or square in design, too tetchy or rugged. This is going to be my wife’s primary car so she picked the color and interior. But I’ll be driving it every weekend and I’m also trying to regain some sporty feel, slightly more aggressive, so I would rather stay away from rounded spokes like the R85.
To give you some baring my favorite styling wheel is the HRE P40 but not only can’t I spend that much money on wheels but more importantly it may not be the best styling choice in this instance.




I think for my pot hole driving condition I’m going to have to stay at 17” (especially since my wife won’t be diligent enough to be careful all the time) but I wouldn't mind going wider 7.5”.
I won’t be making any fender role on this car so I’m not sure how wide I would/could go with tires safely. I see most here are staying within 205mm. Weight is probably a concern as well and I’d rather not impede negatively on car dynamics.


What wheels do you guys think would work nicely on this car (considering the paint color and stripes)?
Shoot me wheel options . . . much thx!

The car:

 

wow, trying to pick my jaw up off the floor. Every time I see an HRE wheel I fall into a trance and forget who I am for 30 minutes or so....most incredible wheels in the world, but like you I just have never been able to pull the trigger on them...for that kind of money there are lots of go-fast parts I can get

I would defintely ensure the choice is an alloy or polished finish-no black base or highlights-I know everybody seems to want black wheels nowadays, which I personally do not understand.

I completely agree with you that with the dark blue paint and black stripes, the wheels really need to pop. Nice ride !

 

Ha ha . . . lol, it's staring at them too long that get's me when finally I wake up. They are beautiful, almost Art pieces . . .


So you need to give me some wheel suggestion

thx for the compliment btw.




.

 

bumpity bump . . . I guess it's not a popular topic for a wheel and tire section

 

Have you looked into the OEM R90 Cross spokes? They are 17x7 with ET48.

We offer them for $356.96ea, normal list price being $419.95 each. Shipping is additional and looks to be about $150.


here is a direct link to them on our site:
http://www.minipartsmass.com/parts/i...xt=36116777968

a quick google seach yielded me this picture:

 

I'll check them out. . .

What's the weight?

 

My catalog shows 10.16KG each which google roughly translates to 22.5LBs each.

 

thx!

 

There are lots of decent options out there for the mini in a 17". Almost all of them will be lighter than the heavy stock rims and cheaper too. I would look towards the aftermarket.

There isn't really any fender rolling with the mini because the fenders are plastic. You could trim them if you wanted but it wouldn't gain you much and on stock suspension you won't have any issues with rubbing unless you go with some hella-poke low offset rims.

 

check out the NM wheels, they only weight 15lbs each
http://www.waymotorworks.com/nm-engi...ght-wheel.html

 

IMO look into the Enkei wheels as they are light and strong or like Way said the NM wheels.

 

Hmmm, wow these are light! I've always been ambivalent about this style . . .

I did looked at the Cades wheels again (in the UK). They have a nice Y spoke I like similar to what I run on my other car but 17x7 instead of 18x8. The only thing is that they aren't really light 10.2kg (almost 22.5lbs).

I wish I knew what the OEM wheels weigh . . . the one we ordered are 16"

 

Enkei RPF1 are 14.6lbs for 17x7.