Hi all new b here, just bought my Cooper S couple day ago.Now thinking of changing to new wheels. Anyone here experianced with 225 tires on the 17/7.5 ET40 wheels and what the best tires profile for that set up? By the way I thinking to lowered my car at the same time when I buying the new wheels. Any rub problem?

 

fwiw I run 215/45 on 17/7.5 ET40 wheels on a car that is lowered approx. 1.5" and had to do some pretty serious dremeling to get rid of tire rub...

 

225/45-17 is OK but will rub. Just trim the rear inner plastic wheel well areas with a dremmel tool.

et40mm will not be as good for a lowered MINI but you have 17x7.5" rims which are slightly wider than stock.

Best bet on tire size would be 215/40-17 for clearance- this is slightly less than stock sized outer tire diameter and will fit your rims. It's not as smooth riding for daily use so if your roads are very bad then 205/45-17 would be a good choice. 215/45-17 will fit but is slightly larger than stock so rubbing in the rear is likely with any lowering of about 1" or more.

If you lower with adjustable coil overs then you can adjust ride height.
If you do an alignment to increase rear negative camber you can get a little more wheel clearance. Rear camber can be about -1.0 to -2.0 degrees.
The earliest MINIs did not have any adjuster for the rear camber but the newer ones have a small adjuster at the lower control arm.

 

I think I really like to give a try the 225/40/17 on my 17/7.5 rims. What I can see the 215/40 the tire look a bit slim on the 17/7.5 ET40 rim. By the way, any of you have this set up?

Tire size calculator between 205/45/17 and 225/40/17
Stock tire. New Tires
side wall 3.6in----- 3.5in
Radius 12.1in----12.0in
Daimiter 24.3in----24.1in
Circumf 76.2in----75.7in
Rev/mi 831.0-----837.0

 

I run 225/50/16's @ stock height no problemo & a great ride & handling. I found 17's with GY D3's on the 17's to be a bit harsh for a DD but good with the 16's. What's the big deal with lowering? If you want a lowered car get one that's designed to be low, like a vette.....

 

There is a simple reason why MINI owners are not using 225/40-17.
A search for that size at Tirerack.com and edgeracing.com finds no tires available. So tire companies are not producing this size and your selection will be very limited.

That is in contrast to 225/45-17 which is very common but a bit too tall.
If you have the ability to shave down the tire you could consider 225/45-17 but reduce the tread a little to fit. If interested contact Alex@tirerack.com.

 

I have found some tire company do make 225/40/17

http://www.alltheweb.com/search?cat=...rys=0&itag=crv

 

Nitto tires lists in that size NT-555 Extreme ZR for about $128 each
Z rated, 300 treadwear, A traction.
Read some reviews-
http://www.1010tires.com/tirereviews...e_reviews.html

Nitto's top end street tire is the Neo Gen (asymmetric tread pattern)
V and Z rated, 280 treadwear, AA traction
Not available in 225/40-17.