So, this is my first winter driving a MINI, as well as my first winter living somewhere that it snows.

I've noticed folks on this forum talking about putting on winter wheels and tires. Can anyone explain to me why you want to do this, what driving conditions make it a necessity (i.e. how much snow has to fall before I have to do it), and what kind of wheels/tires would be best?

The MINI is a daily driver, but we do have a big 4wd truck if conditions are horrible, so I'm sort of wondering if I need a winter setup at all, or if I can just tough it out and leave the fun car in the garage during the storms.

Thanks for any help.

 

In my honest opinion the above title is the proper name for tires referred to as "All Season Radials." They do not have the open aggressive tread of snows (which allow the tire to "punch" through the snow to the pavement, and because of their semi-aggressive thread they do not hold the road during the summer like "performance" radials.

For my summer tires I choose wide, low-profile tires to get more rubber on the road (205 45 17's). For my winter tires I get taller narrower tires, again to punch through the snow (195 60 16's). I see it as the difference between laying spread eagle on thin ice and standing on one foot.

That's my logic, flawed though it may be.

 

So, you are changing out the rims, as well? I assume you just leave the "summer" tires on their rims and stick them on a rack in the garage for the winter?

Thanks for the guidance.

 

Yessir,

Stamped steel rims were $50 each, hub caps $30 each, tires $125 each (Dunlop Winter M3, VERY highly rated), delivery to my home $104. Total just over $800.

 

It is easiest to have a set of rims for each set of tires but some people fit snows to their regular rims. I have my stack of snow tires w/rims sitting in my garage, waiting till the first threat of snow.

If you have a different (4x4) vehicle for the snow, I'd stick with that and not worry about snows for the MINI. I don't have another vehicle and I have Euphori@s on my MCS and found them to be particularly difficult in the snow, so I bought the Dunlop M3s for this winter. We hardly get enough snow to bother with it, but I just decided that I didn't want any white knuckle motoring this year. Winter tire&wheel packages start at $500 for the MINI, but its easy to spend closer to $1000 :-)

 

I drove last winter on the all seasons,was ok,never got stuck,well once but I just got the wheels spinning,got out, pushed the car,got back in and was fine.
I'm getting Perillie[sp] snows with new steel rims this week.Looking forward to the tires,not looking forward to the black rims.I hate hub caps more,so don't bother making the suggestion