I really want my MINI to be racier looking but still get the thumbs up from the ladies, what would you reccomend me doing getting bigger wheels or lowering my MINI slightly.

PLEASE Specify which one, and what type to get. (If I lower it I only would want to a little bit)

Thanks in Advance
Mikey

 

Strange thing happens when you get larger diameter wheels - the car looks like it NEEDS to be lowered - the gap between the fender and top of the tire looks huge. I've had a few car with upsized wheels and had to lower them all due to the "covered wagon" look you get with 18" wheels or larger. So I say if you can't budget for both, just lower the car or just buy wheels no larger than 17's. If you can find the cash, I'd buy the larger wheels (18's) and lower the car about an inch. That should get you where you are going...

 

I vote for lowering it. Switching to larger wheels mean lower profile tires and a harsher ride with an already harsh stock suspension. The M7 springs totally transformed my MINI. The wheels are standard size 17 x 7

 

I'd do BOTH, lowering springs are fairly inexpensive and if you're going 18"s it just looks bad ***.

check out the link in my signature, I've got SPAX coilovers (mucho overkill) and 18"s

Plus, as far as the ride, I'll take my 18"s over those hard, rough riding run flats any day of the week

 

I was looking into the M7 springs and the JCW Springs. Have you ridden in a car with the JCW Springs? Also I want a softer than stock ride on the road but when cornering I still want it to be just as aggresive if not more aggresive than stock, are these right for me?

 

I haven't tried the JCW springs - I thought they were the same as the sport suspension springs, which is what I did have. The M7s are progressive so they are softer when driving around down but firm up during hard driving/cornering. Adjustable control arms allow the rear camber to be adjusted after the car is lowered, so this adds to the overall handling if they are done correctly. I am not a super aggressive driver but I can feel the difference big time.

I agree with the above post about the run-flats. I have them on my car and they do create a harsher-than-needed ride. But I like the run-flat feature and feel that it is worth the trade off.

 

I had read somewhere that for run-flat tires to function properly there needs to be an additional small ridge on the rim. Is this incorrect, do they function the same no matter what wheels (standard or after-market) are used?

 

Lower with some H-Sports. They drop it about an inch, so it's nothing huge, but does make that subtle difference that it sounds like you're after. That's what I did and I think the car looks really good, even with just 16's on it still. The bit about the wheels needing a special lip to accomodate runflats sounds like a pant load to me .

P.S. Rick- What wheels are those? Are they missing the center caps or is that how they are made?