How about a thread of pictures with mounted Panasports, MINILITES, or replicas...

I'll add my picture here when I get them on! They are currently on order...

 

You will find a few pictures of my MINI with ASA JH6 wheels in my gallery.

 

16" ASA JH6 from Tirerack with factory runflats on 2005 MCSa.



more pics in gallery... Much easier to keep clean compared to my factory X lites. they look great on the car.

I will be going with gunmetal 15" Rota RB's after i wear out my runflats on my 2006 RG/RG MCS.

 

Here's mine, also from my gallery . . .

 

I love anything that reminds me of the original minilites. Very nice wheels, both of the pics.

Are the original minilites still made?

YD

 

Yes they still are being made and you can buy them here: http://www.myminiparts.com/proddetai...od=MLW16&cat=8 They also sell the 17's if your interested but to me the 16 inch wheel, Minilite, Panasport or ASA JH6, is the right size for our Minis.

The 16 inch Minilites and ASA's, not sure about the Panasports, also fit the JCW brakes if that matters.

When running 17's the wheels wear the car and using 16's the car wears the wheels. Mind you this is just my opinion and every body has one!

Hope this helps...

 

Are there any wheels in this style that are actually lightweight?

Am I asking too much? :P

 

Depends on the size of course! My 16" Panasports are 18 lbs. each. So not light, but significantly lighter than the S-heavies...

Check out Rota. But some of the Rotas do not come in 16", and in my opinion, this style tire would look goofy in a 17.

 

Here are two photos from our 01/28/07 auto-x at Aloha Stadium (yeah, we get to race all-year long ). I was in-between R-compound tires plus the weatherman said it was going to rain so I ran with my street tires/wheels; unfortunately, it didn't rain and I was sliding all over the place. BUT, I love the looks for street.

 

I have a good picture of my 16" Minilites, but I'm too inept to figure out how to post it. At this point I can't find the instructions either. Any easy way to attach? Help? Thanks!

 

Here's my MCS with Panasports. It took many trips to and from a powder-coater and Discount Tire to get them done, but they are now bronze. Tip for future Panasport powdercoaters: don't coat the inside of the center hole, it is sized to fit the Mini perfectly and the coating makes it too small.

I think the bronze is a nice complement to my PW/B. If I had a darker car I would have kept them silver with the machined lip. I think they look great that way, but too shiny for my car.

 

Not the best pics, but here are my 16" Panasports:

 

Closer up. 205/50-16 tires:

 

Those wheels make your LY/W just pop! Very nice.

 

Thanks! I wish I had some pics that weren't so washed out. The silver center/polished lip really works with a yellow car.

 

I thought I posted this before, but I guess I didn't.

One option is 15" Konig Rewinds. They don't look as good as Panasports, in my opinion, but they are must lighter and cost half as much.

Another option is Miata wheels. I believe the original Miata wheels are the same bolt pattern and offset as Minis. Check out this page. http://www.miata.net/faq/wheel_weights.html

The original 7-spokes (Mazda went with 7 because 7 spokes are lighter than 8 spokes) were 14" and 12.3 pounds each. (Or get some 14" BBS wheels that are only 8.5 pounds!)

 

Add them to your gallery, or post a link to where they are on the web, and someone will help you (maybe even me!).

 

Will 14" wheels even FIT on a MINI?? I'd be really careful about brake clearance - don't think I'd want to go smaller than 15".

Besides, I think 14ers would look goofy. MINIs are made for bigger wheels.

On a semi-related note, I saw a red '89-ish Honda Civic hatchback last week with a set of white 15" 8-spoke MINI Cooper wheels. It looked sharp.

 

Panasports are pretty lightweight for 16s.

 

Anybody painted the centers of their Panasport/ASA wheels black, with machined lip? It sounds like a good comination for our newly acquired Hyper Blue w/Black Mini S.

 

Well, looks like I am going the ASA JH6 route. The Panasports are not even in the country yet. There is a delay at the factory in Japan. So I think I will just go with the ASAs. If the "bling" really bothers me, I can always get them powder-coated.

 

I have both Panasports...on my Miata...& ASA JH6's on my MINI. The ASA's are a wee bit brighter, but no where near blingie. The picture that Tire Rack uses is very misleading. If you get them you won't be sorry.

 

I have Minilites pictured in my gallery- love 'em.

 

The Minilites are very nice. One thing, well two really kept me from buying them. Cost was a big one & the other is the way the spokes go out beyond the wheel lip. IMO that was a recipe for scratched spokes. I have since seen some Minilites that exhibit those scratches.

 

This was my original plan with my Panasports. I wanted them to be powdercoated, but you have to powdercoat the entire wheel and then re-machine the lip. Painting was quoted at $150 per wheel. I decided to powdercoat the entire wheels bronze instead.