I just bought my MC this may and the tires that are on it are all season continental contitouring and have crappy performance on wet surfaces. Winter is just around the corner and I want winter tires...any recommendations. Also how does the car do in the winter??

 

Not sure how the Mini handles in the snow as I have yet to find out. I would guess its decent or above average. With dedicated set of snow tires, any car will handle well in the snow. Blizzak WS-50s, LM, Dunlop M3 to name a few.

 

Click on the Tire Rack banner and you'll find lots of info and choices. A MINI is GREAT in the snow with a good set of tires!

 

First off...welcome. :smile:

The MINI handles fantastic in snow. Last winter was my first winter with my MCS (came from an Audi A4 Quattro)...I live in Maine and we had a great snowy winter. I put on Bridgestone Blizzaks...the car was awesome in the snow. I had Blizzaks on the Audi as well and have nothing but praise for them. The other tires that are highly recommended are Nokians...however I found them to be so much more expensive that if I replaced the Blizzaks every year I still wouldn't have hit the Nokian price.

I'm sure some others will have some recommended places to check out the pricing on Nokians (I've recently heard of some really great pricing on them)...Tire Rack carries the Blizzaks.

Hope that helps.

 

I use my 17" S-lite rims as my winter wheels and put Pirelli 240 SnowSports on 'em... Got them at the tirerack, and my MCS handles like a champ!!

 

Most the threads are old on the question of the best snow tires for my mini. Beau needs to go in the snow! Blizzaks still the best?

 

I have Blizzak WS-60's on my 2010 MCS. They are AWESOME. It is snowing really hard right now in CO and this morning was a true test of them. By my house is a very steep hill with a stop light. Well, the light was red and I went into a little bit of a panic because there was a UPS truck and two cars that couldn't go up the hill. All three were spinning their tires.

I was stopped on the hill, activated the DTC and when the light turned green, I just took off like normal. I had just a couple flashes of the traction light, but that was it. I took off with no problems while the other cars were sliding down the hill. The Blizzaks are awesome! OH, one of the cars was AWD! A Suzuki Aerio.

 

First snow of the year and my tires have much less tread then I thought. Getting to work was difficult.

I was quoted $610 for 4x Blizzacks and $710 for Nokians (including install) at my reasonablly trustworthy local tire place. Are the Nokians worth the extra $100? My thinking is it doesn't matter how much you drive in snow all that matters is that one time you really need the extra safety.

Generally I've heard Blizzacks are great but Nokians are better. I've never had snow tires before and I'm not a very good winter driver but I know it and drive accordingly...

 

I just got 4 Blizzaks WS60's for $540 installed, balanced etc. from local tire place. Got to use them today in 7" of snow and they were great.

 

I just bought 4 Hankook Winter iPike W409 from discounttiredirect.com for $414, including road hazard insurance. Unfortunately, I had them mounted on my spare rims today but because of a snow storm I was unable to get them on the car so I havent driven with them yet but on the discount tire direct web site they have received great reviews. I contacted the rep below and he has been most helpful. In checking inventory tonight they seem to be out of quite a few sizes but that may be temporary. Give Zack a call and see what he can get. Tell him Aaron sent you....wont give you any extra kind of a discount but it might earn me some benefit in the future.

[FONT=sans-serif][SIZE=2]Zack Taylor
Retail Sales Specialist
Discount Tire Direct
1-800-589-6789 Ext#51875
Tom.Taylor@discounttireco.com [/SIZE][/FONT]

 

For pricing I should specify
195/55-16
(stock 16" for an early 06 MCS)
I recieved slightly cheaper quotes (-$10 to -$20) on the Nokians elsewhere but I'm willing to pay that much for a place I can trust.

 

$57 each for General Altimax Arctic from TireRack (185/65/15). I'm using them this year after reading positive reviews along with first hand accounts from some friends that use them. I'm very happy with how they've performed on ice, snow, wet, and even dry conditions so far. Great value, and I'm happy keeping some extra money in my pocket (or probably to spend for Christmas gifts...). Blizzaks WS60's are $19 per tire more in the same size, for comparison purposes...

 

We just had 4 Blizzak LM-60 RFT tires, 4 Sport Edition F7 Rims and the TPMS delivered from Tirerack to our Mini dealer to install on our 10 JCW...just in time for the first real snow in the Chicago Burbs this year....
Our condo lot tends to turn into a couple inches of Ice and packed snow no matter how well our discount snow removal contractors do!
All I can say is that these snow tires Rule on the slick stuff the way the HiPerf summer tires do on hot asphault.
Spent $1475 on tires set, $150 for the dealership to mount the wheels and store our summer wheels at the dealership...best money spent and peace of mind IMO, that my wife will much safer this wiinter in her new commuter race car! I found myself driving more aggressively throught the winding roads of our subdivision before the plows touched the road....never doubted the car would go where I pointed it, or that it would not stop when i wanted it too. I am a convert to the church of dedicate snow shoes for performance cars!