I've heard for the last year-plus that its 50 mm for the base Cooper o.e. 16" wheels. I get to nationals and there are several HS MINIs running 44mm offset SSR replicas with 2mm spacers for a net offset of 42mm. Hmmm? That would be "illegal" if the oe wheels were 50mm offset, but just barely legal if the stock offset was 48mm.

What's the scoop?

 

When I rotated my tires 2 weeks ago I cleaned the crud off the inside of the wheels.

There are embossings on the inside of the wheels that are the manafacturers codes. Some of them are the width, diameter as well as the country of orgin.

My stock MCS wheels are the 16 in. x-lites.
They are 6.50 x 16 x 48mm made in Austria.

Although mine is an S, the other wheels should have the same information also.

Hope this helps...

 

ggp,
according to NAM threads and http://www.mini2.com/forum/faq.php?f...factory_wheels
The wheel offsets for both the 5 spoke stock 16" MC wheel and the X-lyte 16" MCS wheel are +50mm. I find no information to conflict with that.

The H-stock SCCA rules state that the wheels must be of stock width and diameter with wheel offset of no more than plus or minus 0.25" from the stock offset. 12.7mm = 0.5" so 6.3mm = 0.25" If you do the right math then wheel offset should be up to +43.7mm not 42mm so just remove the 2mm spacers. Since this is stock class, those spacers are not being used for brakes, therefore they are optional. Just run the cars with +44mm offset.
Anyone that is doing this can be subject to a protest and disqualification.

 

I know what the FAQ's say. I'm questioning whether that's right.

Who would go out of their way to get a 2mm spacer that makes their optimally legal wheels illegal? When they make you jack the car up and take off two wheels in impound its pretty obvious you have a spacer. You're not gonna get away with it. If you could get away with it why not just use the easy-to-find 5mm spacers instead of custom made 2mm ones?

 

The FAQ's are wrong... the factory 5 spokes are 48 mm offset. I have tried to get that corrected in the past. I didn't just trust the stamping on the inside of the wheels, i have actually measured them.

Keith, one of those running 44 mm wheels with 2mm spacers.

 

Motoring,
Will make a note of the correct offset from now on. You might want to let MINI2.com know since they have +50mm as well for the offset. I wonder what is the source of that +50mm number, maybe ask Miniac?

Do you think the 2mm spacer is necessary for avoiding rubbing or giving you some advantage? Or do you think it is good to run as minimal a positive offset as possible within limits of the rules? 2mm seems very small to make a difference unless it is to prevent rubbing.

 

************************************************** *******
Keith
IB/W MC with the really big checkered flag on top
2004 H Stock National Champion

************************************************** *******
^^^2004 H Stock National Champion^^^

WOW

Congratulations, Keith!!

 

According to MINI engineering drawings (listing sizes, weights and offsets for all the wheels -- from the spare to the 17"s) the offset of all wheels is 50mm. That is the information used to have Panasport and NZO build wheels back in 2002.

Now, the back side of the OEM wheels is embossed with several numbers, one of them being a 48. Some contend that the 48 stamped on the back of the wheels is the offset. It could be.... It could also be inspector #48, Manufacturing plant number #48, That #48 could mean almost anything.

 

We were contemplating a protest. If successful it would have moved my co-drive into the last trophy position. But the potential protestees went out of their ways to help us out Sunday morning and we decided not to file. We were reminded that this is a friendly sport and knew deep in our hearts that 2mm wasn't what was making them faster than us.

 

[QUOTE=MiniAutoXr]According to MINI engineering drawings (listing sizes, weights and offsets for all the wheels -- from the spare to the 17"s) the offset of all wheels is 50mm. That is the information used to have Panasport and NZO build wheels back in 2002.

Now, the back side of the OEM wheels is embossed with several numbers, one of them being a 48. Some contend that the 48 stamped on the back of the wheels is the offset. It could be.... It could also be inspector #48, Manufacturing plant number #48, That #48 could mean almost anything.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for this info. Now we have no real definite source for determining stock wheel offsets. Do we trust the MINI drawings which may be correct or maybe not since we are looking at production standards not just drawings. I don't think that "ALL" MINI wheels are +50 offset, that seems wrong. IF we look at the various MINI wheels we see offsets of +45, 48, and 50 mm.

I have a set of 15x5.5" holeys and the offset is supposed to be +45mm and on the back it is marked H2-45 next to the rim size. I will check on other wheels as well.

Direct measuring of offset needs to be done by a professional- maybe tirerack? I think it would be easy to make an error trying to measure the difference between +48 and +50mm.

This also brings up another question and that is if we are having so much trouble determining stock wheel offset for the MINI, what about other cars and their wheel offsets? How can we trust any markings and claims from manufactorers? The only way to be truely stock is to run "Stock" wheels with no spacers.

Can anyone tell me what 2mm spacers in this application are supposed to do?

 

I agree it is confusing. Just taking a random shot, I went to MINIUSA.COM and sent an e-mail through the "Contact" menu asking what was the correct stock offset. The response was:

"[font=Courier New]If you are referring to the 6.5x16 wheels, they have a 48 mm offset (these are the wheels for the runflat tires)."[/font]
[font=Courier New][/font]
The answer seems to imply that the offset may be different for other wheels. I will ask for clarification as to other wheels. Let's suppose the offset is different depending on whether you have the 15", 16", or 17" wheels, does that mean if you chose to run 15" race wheels you have to match the 15" offset, or could you mix wheel size and offset? What fun!

I suppose in the end the best answer is...."shut up and drive!"

 

I got that same reply in June of 2002 (just checked an old post on MINI2)

 

Here is a further explanation from MINI:

Hi Jeffery, thanks for contacting MINI.

Yes, I do. I have listed them for you below.

Our MINI wheel bolt pattern is 4 x 100mm[/font]

Style R81 (7-hole) 5.5Jx15 - 1512458 & 1512459 = 5.45Kg (12.0152 lbs) Offset = 45mm
(Cooper w/ all season tires)[/font]


Style R82 (8-spoke) 5.5Jx15 - 1512347 & 6756674 = 6.9Kg (15.2119 lbs)
Offset = 45mm (Cooper w/ all season tires)

Style R83 (5-star) 6.5Jx16 - 1512348 & 1512349 = 9.1Kg (20.0621 lbs) Offset = 50mm
(Cooper w/ performance run flat tires )

Style R84 (V -spoke) 6.5Jx16 - 1512350 & 1512351 = 8.0Kg (17.637 lbs)
Offset = 50mm (Cooper S w/ all season run flat tires)

Style R85 (S -lite) 7x17J - 1512352 & 6757859 = 11.4Kg (25.1327 lbs)
Offset = 50mm (Cooper S w/ performance run flat tires or all season runflat tires )

Style R86 5.5Jx15 - 6755809 = 6.8Kg (14.9914 lbs) Offset = 45mm (Accessory wheel)

Style R87 5.5Jx16 - 6755814 = 7.5Kg (16.5347 lbs) Offset = 45mm (Accessory wheel)

Style R88 6.5Jx16 - 6755811 = 8.9Kg (19.6211 lbs) Offset = 48mm (Accessory wheel)

Style R90 7Jx17 Two-Piece - 6755813 = 10.95Kg (24.1406 lbs) Offset = 48mm (Accessory wheel)

5.5Jx15 Steel Wheel - 1511414 = 6.7Kg (14.771 lbs)

3.5Bx15 Space Saver - 1509164 = 5.75Kg (12.6766 lbs)

If there are further questions I can assist with, please feel free to drop me an e-mail.

LET’S MOTOR.
Amanda Cordell
MINI Customer Relations and Services
Representative
866.ASK.MINI (275-6464)[/font]

 

Hmmm, seems we may never know. Two reps at MINIUSA can't agree.

 

While I suspect the intent is that you have to be within .25" of the offset of the standard wheel that is the same diameter, the actual wording in the rulebook isn't clear on that point. One might be able to succesfully argue that a MINI can run 16s with an offset as low as 39mm since the standard 15s have a 45mm offset.

Jeesh. We ran o.e. 16" 5 stars with 5mm spacers. Heavy as hell, but undeniably legal