I've run Proxes R1s and R888s on my Sprites before and loved them. Now that I have a MINI set up and capable of AutoX, I'd like to put some good shoes on him (yes, its a HE ). I've seen that the Potenza R71R (?) was said to be top of the mark last year, but haven't seen anything about the Toyo Proxes R888s.
Anyone have experience with them on a MINI?

 

I think the best way to approach this is to find out what class you want to run in. The R888 is an excellent extreme summer street tire IMO but not very competitive for an R-comp in Auto-X.

You mention the RE-71R, that along with the Rival S are the two current top street tire class tires.

 

It kind of looks like a toss up, the R888s have a 100UTQG, which is minimum for BMWCCA Street tires, but the RE-71R has a 200. All of this is usually relative to not just the wear rate of the tire, but also the stickiness, or handling of same. Most of my fun, not commute, driving is done in the mountains, so handling was the name of the game until I bought the MCS- now I've got HP to go with it. The cost of the Extreme performance tires is quite a bit lower than the Track/AutoX (~$50 a tire).
I may be headed to Bridgestones this time.

 

The R888s are a "R comp" tire and will push you out of any SCCA "street" or "stock" Solo category. The limit there is 200 wear tires. The best is the RE71s; check TireRack, they beat the Rivals pretty handily and they have almost the same grip as the R888s.

On the track, the R888s can tram a bit in the back.

 

Thanks for the input. I've checked the TR comparison, so its going to be the RE71s. I ran a set of Potenza Rs years ago and they were crap, apparently they've gotten their stuff together.
Thanks again.

 

From what I hear, the RE71s are the ones to get. Let us know what you think of them after you get them and have a few miles on them to wear the release compound off of them.