This is my first winter owning a Mini.. or any car with low profile tires. I commute to New York City weekly and within the past 3 weeks have had two flat tires from potholes. I have the 17" wheels. Anyone else experience this? It's driving me nuts. I'm thinking of ordering a set of 15" wheels and beefier tires for winter months. Has anyone else done this with decent results?

Raad

 

low profile tires

and alloy wheels

recipe for trouble

don't feel bad tho, altho I had this set up for over 10 years on various cars

a 'pot hole from hell' just cost me $3500

two wheels, two tires and the entire right front suspension: hub/bearing, rotor, control arm, tie rod, steering linkage .... don't have the car back yet either so it could grow.

I remember the dealer offered wheel/tire coverage .... that might have helped but right now it is a collision claim on my insurance . . .

YES higher sidewall tires will help .. up to a point

 

Used to have a 09 VW GLI with 18's. As much as I loved that car, I had to get rid of it. It went through tires like nobody's business because of Houston's roads.

The answer is as you say. Bite the bullet and do it...

 

Ouch. $3500. Sorry to hear it.

It's funny I drive the same roads with both my Honda Pilot and my Mini, and with the Mini there are a lot of loud slams and bottoming suspension (and me cringing), while the Pilot isn't even bothered. Yet 9 times out of 10 I opt for the Mini on fun factor alone.

I just ordered 15" wheels and tires with a higher sidewall. It'll help but like you say it will only help up to a point. I do have the Tire 'N Wheel package that Mini offers, so after two flats it's more than paid for itself. I also have the M7 Strut Tower Braces to hopefully help with the mushrooming from all the roads up here.

Other than that I'm loving the Cooper and can't wait to get it back out on the street.

 

Winter = a set of steel wheels and winter tires. I need to do this next winter, as my car has been parked too long. Does anyone know of a set in 17 inch?.

 

I bought a set through tirerack.com. Tires, wheels, Tire Pressure Monitoring sensors and free mounting and balancing. All I need to do is throw em on the car when they arrive. Came to around $1100.

 

i went from the stock 225/45R18 to 205/70R16 for my winters

used mini oem 16 inch euro alloy wheels from ecs tuning

so far so good, no flats or dinged wheels

scott

 

Awesome. Hoping for similar results!

 

16"s. More Sidewall for More Safety over the craters.

Also less wheel damage.

Plus cheaper.

 

I feel for you...living in Upstate NY myself.

For the winter I run 16" wheels and runflat snow tires. I have hit some "beauties" that bottomed the shocks but no tire or wheel damage.

You didn't say if you had an S or not. The Gen 2 S can only take 16" wheels except for a very few aftermarket 15". If you have a base Cooper then go with the 15" and a 185-75 AS tire. Get stock rims. They are strong and inexpensive if bought used (check NAM Market - this is what I have done). Good luck with this.

 

So I ended up ordering the 15" Enkei M52s in black, with Michelin X-Ice tires in 195/60. With TPMS it came to $1180. I never thought ordering tires online could be so easy. They showed up in two days ready to bolt on. I was afraid that the 15" size would look too small in the wheel well, but with the 195 sidewall the diameter of the tire is the same as my stockers.

After a commute into NYC yesterday I was amazed at the difference. Yes these tires really numb road feel compared to my stock 17s, but the overall ride was so much smoother and the potholes I hit felt like no problem at all (with the stock rims even small potholes felt like bomb craters). I don't think I ever want to take these things off! I'll post a few pics when work slows down.

 

Nice

 

Raad,
I feel your pain.

I've been driving the same roads on 16" MINI wheels with 195/55R-16 Blizzak's for the last 3 years. It's not fun, but the wheels and tires have held up and remained round and inflated (the tires will be done after this season).

My other winter beater, 335ix with 225/45-17 winter tires, has just bent two wheels, one of them severely enough to be loosing air.

YMMV,
a

 

Here they are... stock 17s and new 15s with 195 size tires. Still can't believe how much nicer the ride is. The slight handling trade off is worth it in my opinion.

Raad

 

big rim and low profile tire = sucky ride

smaller rim and more rubber . . . .

BIG SURPRISE . . . NOT

 

Started as a tiny pinch mark thanx to a pothole on my LI -> NYC trip. Three weeks later when returning from NYC to LI, it blossomed to what you see. If it wasn't for the reinforced sidewalls of the runflat winter/snow tires I would have suffered a catastrophic blowout. This and an incident a 1/2 year earlier with my summer tires is why I went back to runflats, both winter and summer tires.

 

Geeeze! That's one scary *** bubble!

 

anyone know of a good source for used steelies? ie is there a et45 4x100 16" (i've got an S) overlap with hondas or bimmers (e30s i bet) that anyone's run across at a salvage yard?