Hey fellas. Just wanted to share that my 7-month R53 restoration and modification project is 100% finished! Early on I did not see the build section on this site or I would have posted the progress here. I would love to hear what you think about the finished product:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/r50-r53-hatch-talk-2002-2006/365699-hyper-blue-havoc-r53-build.html

Now that I worked through a build like this, I feel a lot more confident sharing thoughts for others getting started and will weigh in a bit more. Love seeing these builds and how we can keep these amazing little cars going strong and better than before!

 

Well done. Love the wheels.

 

nice! Can you go from 16” to 17” wheels without having speedo issues?

 

Sure can! In fact gen 1 minis came with wheels from 15-17". Just google the factory tire size for 17s and the speedo should be pretty spot on.

 

Sorry, men, but the speedo is calibrated on the circumference of the tire and has nothing to do with wheel size.

 

oh ok so better leave it the same it came with the 16” tires, may be I can go a little bit wider may be 205 instead of 195, will they rub some where? I will have to try them and see

 

Beautiful car! Congratulations on all your hard work; it definitely paid off!

 

You can get tires in any size needed for 15, 16, 17 inch wheels and have your speedo still be accurate. I've had all 3 wheel sizes on 2 different minis. And you can also run wider or narrower tires than stock if desired.
There are several tire size calculators available online that make finding the right aspect ratio a breeze.