yesterday i motored from Memphis to Oxford, MS to check out William Faulkner's house. Oxford is a great little town... good places to eat, great bookstore, and if you like Faulkner, it's a must see.

onto things more mechanical... the two highways between Memphis and Oxford are terrible... they are regular highway, but of the heavily rutted type that make you feel like you want to hurl. i'm sure in any car, these would be unpleasant, but in my MINI with 16'' runflats it was not an enjoyable drive. not to mention i felt like i was destroying Grover. i did this drive about a year ago in a Mazda 626 and i don't remember it being this bad.

after the trip, i serious wondered about my purchase (sorry Grover and please no flames... i'm looking for support here, not hate). i love the MINI and as soon as we are on better roads it was smooth sailing, but for an hour or so, it was not fun. i can't imagine driving across the states (something I want to do) and hitting bad roads maybe half the time.

during my regular daily driving, i've noticed that whenever I go over a bumpy part of the road (an imperfection, a patched area, etc.) I definitely feel it. And because of all of the scary shock tower mushrooming stories, I feel particularly worried about hitting these too fast (my M7 plates are FINALLY supposed to be delivered today, btw).

would regular tires have fared better on these rutted roads? or is the Mini just so low and stiff that i'm going to feel this with any tire?

what to do? i hate the idea of having to buy new non run-flat tires now, plus keep a spare in the car for the regular tires, but perhaps that's my only choice.....

 

Non-runflats will give you a slightly softer ride.

 

As someone who has done a fair amount of miles on both, lose the runflats.

 

If ride is you major concern... go with a 16" wheel ( looks like you may have that ) with the non run flat... OORRR,, if you are not concerned so much about the stance.. go with a 15" wheel with a good all-weather tire giving you much more side wall

 

Hopefully, I'll be switching from the run-flats to regular tires early next year.

I'll carry a Slime kit w/ a compressor in the boot cubby (actually, I already do) for day-to-day flat problems. I've got a donut spare and a bag from the bag-lady for road trips.

The run-flats have very stiff sidewalls (what makes them run-flats... they need enough rubber on the sides to roll on with no air pressure). These stiff sidewalls are not only heavy, but they transmit a lot of the road bumps and bruises through the car, making for an uncomfortable ride at times.

Switching to a regular tire will help. Increasing the amount of sidewall you have will help with ride quality as well (going from a 205/45/16 to a 205/50/16 tire, for example), but it may make your turning not as razor-sharp.

I just had new springs installed (soon to be released at www.texasspeedwerks.com - in the next week or so) that dropped the car a bit (5/8" in the front - 1" in the back) that made the ride slightly more comfortable, drastically reduced brake dive in the front and made for much flatter corners. For $199 (if you do the install yourself), it was well worth it.

PS: Grover looks great! I love the HB dash. You need to paint the speedo rings red to add the splash of red and get him looking more like his namesake.

 

If you do swap off the run flats, you dont need to lug a spare with you, you can bring a bottle of the flat tire slime and a air pump. That will solve most problems enough to get you to a somewhere that can make a more perminant fix. Unless your tire is slashed or run into a curb, you should be able to 'patch' it with the slime.

 

16's? You should be thankful you don't have the 17" run-craps. I drove my MCS from Florida to Texas, about 1300 miles, and trashed one tire and bent one wheel . The entire trip was strictly Interstate driving.

I won't be going back with run-craps. Like agranger, I'll get the "slime kit w/ a compressor in the boot cubby for day-to-day flat problems and a donut spare" for road trips.

 

lol... yes, this is one reason i didn't get the "sport" package.

thanks to all the replies so far... more are invited. looks like i may need to investigate 16'' non run-flats. i can't afford new tires AND new rims, though... will anyone actually buy the run-flat tires?

 

having driven on the interstates for years in the South, there are a few interstates that I would dread in my MINI....now that I have one.

 

I-10 was the culprit on my journey .

 

in case any run-flat users want a warning, it was I-55 going down and I-7 to I-78 coming back north. both were bad... I think I-7 to I-78 were worse.

 

Get some Koni FSD struts... they are supposedly a big improvement w/runflats. Do a search in them in the suspension forum to find out more...

I've never really had issues with my runflats, but then I don't drive freeways very often in my MCS. The few times I am on the freeway, though, I do notice the ride is pretty poor (and L.A. has the 2nd worst roads in the U.S.). Anyway, I'm getting the JCW springs + Koni FSDs installed tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to checking out the difference...

BTW, the only real drawback to the FSDs is that they cost around $800 installed, so non-runflats may be a bit cheaper...

 

I guess I should be saving some cash here and there and be ready to swap out my shoes then. I ordered the 17's with Jerome, and I live in LA. This will be fun. I should probably bring a pillow for my butt

Can anyone recommend a good tire for the 17's?

 

Sometimes I wonder how many MINI owners are old enough to have owned or driven a 1960's-1970's muscle car that was somewhat modded. Pre-radial tire (bias ply) era.

The MINI's ride with runflats is nothing compare with some of them old cars. I'll also caveat my comments with the fact that I also own a Buick (family car) so I have comparison to between harsh ride & good handling vs super cushy comfortable ride & barely adequate handling.

I figure runflat technology still has some development (refinement) to do. But eventually, all tires will probably be runflat and cost less than they do today. That's just the cost of new technology.

You might consider ditching the runflats for now but maybe going back to them later. I certainly am thinking in this line but not for comfort but more for cost.

 

i had a 2001 bmw z3 hatch with non run flats- that was the worst riding ever.. my butt hurt after a long drive from all the bumps it would feel- very sensitive car..

 

As far as cost.. when i leased my mini i was offered a tire and rim package it was $400 dollars for 5 years and i adjusted it into my payments. it covers flat run-flats and my rims if i hit like a pot hole and they dent.. however it doesnt cover scrapes against side walks.. dealer said "we can tell" and it doesnt cover you if you just need all 4 tires due to balding or wutever.. i thought it was a good deal after my brothers 330i had gotten 2 flat tires on run-flats at the same time and nearly cost him $1,000 dollars!

 

I had 17" run flats on my car when i bought it and I never felt any issues... I swapped out to 16" non-fun flats for my "All Season" tires, and while I did notice a slight softening of the ride with those wheels (possibly because I'd heard over and over here that there would be "a huge difference"), it's certainly not what I'd classify as night-and-day. Honestly, I don't see why people complain about the run flats myself, and if nobody had set my expectations, I doubt I would have even noticed...

IMHO, naturally.

 

A set of 16" wheels and tires could cost you less than $600, allowing you to keep your wheels and runflats in the back of the garage. Add to that a decent tire repaitr kit for about $100, and you have a dramtically different (better) ride, turn-in and looking car.

 

I paid less than $400 for my X-lites with all-season non-RFs with less than 4k miles on the rubber.

 

I've found that so far, I don't really mind my run-flats. But that's coming from someone who's never driven the non-RFs. I'm thinking I'll probably just deal with them til it's time to start replacing them.

 

Yep, 17" runflats on our Checkmate, and I hate them. In addition to the rough ride, they are noisy (squealing even when not at limits of adhesion), and they don't have grip needed to avoid spinning tires. Love to get rid of them, but hard to justify replacing tires with only 3k miles on them.

 

on regular streets and well paved highways, i find the 16'' run-flats perfectly comfortable. the ride is great really. same on a good highway.

it's just when i traveled those rutty patches yesterday (and they weren't just occasional) it was very very noticable. and who knows when I'm going to come across another road like that.

yeah, i'm probably not going to have the money to sink into a new pair of tires. i'll probably keep them till they need to be replaced and make the decision then. more than likely i'll get regular tires then, too, since they are cheaper.

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checked the shock towers this morning and they are fine. also just got my M7 plates and will put those on.

 

Non-runflats will clearly be the cheapest fix, and will also improve performance some.

Also consider the Koni FSDs. I have been very impressed with them. They also improve performance a little: cornering is a slightly flatter, and understeer is a bit reduced. That they can do this and still be WAY more comfortable is a testament to their innovative design.

I was hating my runflats till I got the FSDs. I will probably still switch to non-run-flats, but only after I wear out my current set.

FSDs plus installation will be something like $1200, so its definitely a more expensive option. On the other hand, they do more than just improve the ride, and will allow you to get all the use out of your expensive run-flats.

 

There is an aftermarket for runflats... check here on the NAM marketplace.

I'd bet you can get $100/each for the RFs, as new ones cost well over $200/each... enough to finance most of a purchase of some decent regular tires.

 

Having just traded my 01 roadster for the MINI with sport package I agree, the Z3 was much worse, the MINI is a dream compared... except the stinking down tube makes my leg ache!