My '05 MC is on the boat and decision time for wheels is coming up.
Many MINIs here on NAM have 16s or 17s, mostly for performance reasons, beacuse thats what MINIs are all about. They are also all about turning heads, and a MINI with 18s will surely do that!:smile:

So after months of browsing online vendors and looking at thousands of posts here, I've narrowed down to 2 wheels.

HP Racing Evo 18x7.5 8 hole, darksilver (probably on 215/40 r18)
http://www.wheelsnext.com/product.p...=&inum=&large=1

or

Volk Racing Gram Light 57S 17x7.5 silver (probably on 215/45 r17)
http://www.forperformance.com/rays/...glights57s.html

There it is! I'd like to keep a more "classic" look with a mesh wheel or a multi-spoke wheel (if you can call either "classic").

Now it comes down to... 17s or 18s?!?!?!?!?!?!

 

Indeed a mini such as my MC with 18s is nice to look at but the ride is pretty poor.

 

18 has the look! but - defenitely overrides the +, it's heavier than 17s, larger rolling diameter, speedo could be out of sync, cost, tire cost, jarring ride especially with lowering....

overall... i love my 17s, its large without being comically so....

 

Thanks for the input! Still not an easy decision, though. Just to pull up to a sea of MINIs on 17s and have your honey rolling on sexy 18s is worth alot of bumpy-ness. If I could only find 17 & 1/2s...

Mdsbrain- nice wheels! Do you have springs or just stock suspension? Still sits nice...

 

You might want to consider getting a big brake kit if you go with 18's...
some wheels including 17's (not all) reveal so much gap between the
rotor and wheel rim that it's embarrassing to see... imo.

It reminds me of an xB running 18's with those ugly rear drum brakes.

 

HAHAHA!

Your right. I'm leaning towards the 17s anyway, but I just want to be a bit different. Plus, I'd have to spend another $1k for a big brake kit anyway!
Or I could just get a set of brake dust covers...

The one thing that bothers me is that I've seen someone else with a black/white MC, and Gram Light 57Ss here on NAM. Is it blasphemous to have someone else's setup?!?!?!

 

sandtoast500,
Unless that MINI with the same wheels is your next door neighbor, it's not a big deal to have the same or similar wheels. There are so few MINIs out there no one will take notice unless you come out to a national MINI event.

Your original post mentioned that you are getting a new '05 MC- do you mean a base MINI cooper, not MCS or cooper S? This makes a difference since the power in an MC is only 115 HP and the heavy 18" wheels would be a disadvantage and in fact for the MC heavy 17" wheels are not without an effect on performance.

Assuming you are getting an MCS then either wheel would be OK, the heavy 18" wheel looks nicer to me and in dark silver would be:

Which is similar to the anthracite finished 17" R90 MINI wheel.
I could not find a weight on that rim but it's likely to be heavier than the Volk Gram lights which at 17.2 pounds each for the 17x7.5" rims is not that light either. Many very light 17" rims are less than 14 pounds.

Usually 18" wheels for the MINI use 215/35-18 tires Not 215/40-18 which would be too tall to do well in the wheel well. For a 17" wheel the 215/45-17 is a good size for performance and ride comfort. If you are using 17" runflat tires then the non runflat 18" wheels with 35 series tires would be similar in ride roughness.

If you are using the MINI for street driving then you'd not likely get that much more performance out of the 18" wheels in terms of cornering advantage. Acceleration and braking would be worse with heavier wheels.

If you have an MC not MCS then good 16" wheels would be the way to go- good street performance and much lighter with good selection of styles and tire sizes. Light wheels help acceleration and shorten brake distances.
I have seen 16" wheels and a slightly lowered MINI look as good as ones with 17" wheels.

No one makes light 18" that are affordable that I have found so far. If the prices are better then the wheels are usually quite heavy. While that is OK for cruising it takes away from driving fast- you should try a set of really light 15" wheels to feel the difference.

 

Thank you! I'm honored to have Minihune and Kenchan's 2 cents!
I think it's going to be the 17s!
I don't think I'd be able to live with myself if I went down to 16s or...gulp...15s. I feel I'm already comprimising at 17s. Ride and look. So key.

 

If you have any plans of lowering the car and doing any type of track days or autocross or even hard canyon driving you most likely would have a good amount of rubbing issues. As was mentioned by others earlier your performace will suffer do to the larger rolling mass and weight as well. 18's for show 17's or smaller for GO.

 

Did you place your order? Volks are expensive.
An alternative to the Volk Gram Light 57S (bronze pictured)- 7 spokes


Would be Rota wheels like the Attack (copy of gram lights but only 5 spoke)

17x7.5" et +45mm 16.5 pounds each $540 per set of 4 shipped.
Comes in silver, white, bronze, steel grey

Rota Grids (6 spoke design) only come in 15x6.5" et +40 mm or 16x7" et +40mm (14.5 pounds and 16 pounds respectively). $445 or $500 a set of 4 shipped.

 

Those 57S in bronze look very nice on the MINI.

 

I've never been a fan of 18" wheels on MINIs; I always thought they looked too big. However, I have recently seen two cars (1 yellow, 1 Indi Blue) with the JCW 18" wheels and I may be starting to re-think my position.

Anyhow, the JCW 18" package uses a 205/40R 18 tire, which is different than what most people here recommend. I don't have any first hand knowledge, so I can't comment as to the pros & cons of the various sizes. Just offering it up as something else to consider.:smile:

 

Right, AND the JCW 18s come on runflats. Can you get any rougher?!?!?!

Thanks for the alternates, too, Minihune, but I've literally looked at every single 4 lug wheel on the market and the gram lights are it. 7 spokes. 7.5 wide. H sport springs. Astro Blk/white with the silver/grey wheels. mmmmmmmmmmmm.

 

They only come with runflats if you choose to buy the runflats. And if the roughness is a problem, 18" wheels probably aren't for you.

 

I disagree on all points based on my experience.
My current two sets;
17x7" et42 Exel Vega with 205/45-17 snows, 42 pounds
18x7.5" et45 Exel TZ-10 with 215/35-18 summers, 37 pounds

The 18's are shorter in height, as well as tucked in further, resulting in less rub than the balloon-sidewalled snow tires. You can also see, the 18" set weighs markedly less. On the road, the 18's superior steering resolution and greater contact patch yield far superior dry-weather performance.

...and again; tire rubbing is NOT a function of ride height, but wheel offset, tire shape, and camber settings.

 

OK-

So, it will either be:

17x7.5 gram lights 57s, et42, 17.2 lbs rim, plus 205/40 17 or 205/45 17, or 215/40 17.... anybody know average tire weights? Alex?

or

18x7.5 HP racing Evo, et40 (I think, only avail.) weight unknown (20-24????), plus 215/35 18 tires... avg. tire weight?

I will be running h sport springs, so the lowering/rubbing issue shouldn't be a problem either way. I'll keep the silver holeys for winter.

 

I have No probs with my ride. rides real nice. I road in a cooper with 17" and the ride was not that much different . l like the look of the 18 and was even thinking of seeing if l could fit 19". look at the pic of my ride . My car rides smooth and the handling is great! besides, l don't want to get cought some where out on a run with on spare . theres not much room in my car for onealos, l find that theres no rubbing and very little bounce in my 18". the tires are dunlop runflats 205/ 40 R18 "7.5wide" and thay fit real nice under my lowered car. everone has there own idea about the tires and the feel of the ride. l'd say, lf possable, go for a ride in someone else's mini that has new tires and see how it rides.you can also ask the guys at "the tire rack". the works

 

"superior steering resolution"

I like how that phrase sounds.

 

Tire weight depends on which tire you choose. The range varies with brands with Falken ZE-512 and Toyo Proxes T1-S being the lightest for a given size.
Check out the weights across various sizes with these specific tires.

205/40-17
Toyo Proxes 4 19.4 pounds $74 300 tread
Toyo Proxes T1S 18.5 pounds $122 280 tread

Pirelli Pzero Nero M/S 18 pounds 400 tread $96

Falken Ziex Ze-512 17.6 pounds $60 360 tread

Yokohama AVS ES100 20.9 pounds $86 280 tread

Bridgestone Potenza S-03 21 pounds $179 220 tread

205/45-17
Toyo Proxes 4 20.5 pounds $104 300 tread

Falken Ziex Ze-512 18.7 pounds $90 360 tread

Yokohama AVS ES100 21.5 pounds 280 tread
Yokohama Parada spec 2 22.5 pounds


215/40-17
Toyo Proxes 4 20.3 pounds $88 300 tread
Toyo Proxes T1S 19.6 pounds $127 280 tread

Pirelli Pzero Nero M/S 25 pounds 400 tread $108

Falken Ziex Ze-512 19.8 pounds $77 360 tread

Yokohama AVS ES100 20.9 pounds $86 280 tread
Yokohama Parada spec 2 22 pounds

Bridgestone Potenza S-03 22 pounds $186 220 tread

Goodyear eagle F1 GS-D3 22 pounds

215/35-18

Toyo Proxes 4 20.3 pounds $118 300 tread
Toyo Proxes T1S 19.6 pounds $154 280 tread

Pirelli Pzero Nero M/S 22 pounds 400 tread

Falken Ziex Ze-512 22.2 pounds $98 360 tread

Kumho Ecsta MX 27 pounds

Yokohama Parada spec 2 21 pounds

Prices are for comparison purposes and approximate.
Weights from tirerack (Alex's post on tire weights-see sticky) and from edgeracing.com

Some of the best performing tires (Bridgestone potenza S-03 and Goodyear eagle F1 GS-D3 are quite heavy)

Load ratings for the stock 205/45-17 and 215/35-18 are good but the other tire sizes have lower than recommended load ratings for use with the MINI.

 

It's like automotive **** at its finest, IMO

 

Ooooh...automotive ****! Me like!! We'll have to join forces at the Dragon and combine some Food **** with some Automotive ****, eh?

Clover

 

You're on, Clo! We'll **** it up in the Party Cabin at The Dragon for sure

 

OMG! It will be the Dragon **** Party! Woo hooooo!

Clover

 

I may have to look into going to the Dragon this year...

 

Alex