i have an 03 cooper s with a few mods and my dilemma is this...when in 1st going slowly ill hammer the gas ( so not to spin tires from a stop ) and ill start to pull pretty hard and about 5500 RPM my front tires begin to just spin. im not getting the traction i need. i liked it at first but now its kinda annoying cause i cant feel the full "pull" of the cooper. it does it on dry clean warm pavement and i have newer ( 5MM ) Kumho Ecsta Runflats 195/55/16.
do these tires suck this badly? ive read many posts on here and on tire rack and cooper owners seem to love them. i believe its the tires and i think they suck. my other thought ( which is probably not true but i like to think it anyways ) is that my cooper has alot of power now and not weighted well in the front end so ill spin any tires i get.
anyone else get this or wanna comment thatd be great. If it is the tires i was wondering about a tire that will give me crazy good traction and solve this annoying but still funny issue. i say funny because i will go by someone and already be moving and start to light the tires up and theyll look at me like i did a Twurbo kit. ha. anyways thanks again.

 

i understand this is a pretty lame post but i would fell much better about it if someone else has this problem especially since everyone seems to love the kumhos. i got them for free so i guess i cant complain, but if its all tires, there going in the trash. i cant compare them to my previous tires because #1 they were at 1/2 tread when i purchased the vehicle and #2 ive done all my mods right after i put the tires on.

 

The first thing you should do is get a significantly wider tire, like 215 wide or more. The second thing is to toss those runflats; there isn't a single good sticky tire that is also a runflat. Kumho makes an excellent summer tire, it's called the MX. Anything else is just "meh" from them. If you're really serious about traction, get an "extreme summer" tire that is in 235/40-17 size; that's about as wide as you can possibly cram under the R53; but you'll need some help to get the correct wheel offset.

Another thing you can do is lower the car; that lowers the roll center geometry and gives the car more forward bite.

I hope that helps,
Ryan
P.S. what engine mods do you have?

 

+1

But in general, 205/215 high performance summer's seem to work fine for me (ala Ziex 512's). Plenty sticky for the street, decent tread wear...I've felt no need to go to RT612's due to lack of traction (only on a closed course would it be beneficial).

- Matt

 

Sounds like you need more power Matt! LOL

 

Glad to hear those are plenty sticky, however. They are an all season tire no a summer tire. I am running the 912's and am anxious to see their warm weather performance.

 

the 912's are an all-season tire in name only. I've got them in 215/45/17 and my car was just about undriveable in 1" of snow two weeks ago. I went three blocks away for the 'oh crap, it's snowing...I need milk/bread/eggs' run and almost didn't make it back (slight uphill).

I'd say they are more like a summer tire with winter compound, meaning they give up snow traction for a compound that's usable in lower temps but excellent summer performance (we'll see...).

I had these in 205/45/17 and they sucked. 215/45/17 rocks.....hard to break loose and I've got enough power now to make driving interesting.

for a summer tire, it's hard to beat the Kumho MX for the price. I'm running Bridgestone RE01Rs in 215/45/17.....they've set the bar for me for handling and traction.

 

Are you sure it is your tires spinning and not your clutch slipping?

 

Budgetary concerns > mod list.



1st only can I break it in a straight line. Then again, my mod list has been limited to the basics all around.

Yeah, the 912's are the update to the 512's (now discontinued, and in no way a winter tire). I had concerns about tread life, and considering I don't make too many high-speed/autocross/track runs, I went with sacrificing grip for tread life and went with those (over the RE01R's...I've heard you don't get them for mileage...). I think EdgeRacing has the 912's in 215-45/17 for ~$70 a pop right now.

- Matt

 

"i got them for free so i guess i cant complain, but if its all tires, there going in the trash. i cant compare them to my previous tires because #1 they were at 1/2 tread when i purchased the vehicle and #2 ive done all my mods right after i put the tires on."

Remember the First Rule of Life: You get what you pay for.

 

With just 'a few mods' i find it extremely hard to believe that the tyres are starting to break traction at 5500 rpm (especially in the dry).
Sounds much more like the clutch is slipping to me, infact i'd bet on it.
Maybe the looks you are getting are 'look at this fool hammering a car with a stuffed clutch'.
Do you know what a burning clutch smells like as opposed to burning rubber ?

 

FWIW, when I added my IE fixed camber plates, my nearly totally worn out (thanks to Autocrossing and 15,000 hard miles in 4 months) 512s felt like I had just put on new rubber. It was a huge night and day difference in performance. Since I live in California, high performance summer tires with acceptable wet performance is all I need, so the other "budget" tire I'm going with are the Nittos Neo Gens.

Richard

 

I would say I have to agree with that. I had some Conti Exteme contacts and they actually did pretty well in the snow (except for the fact that they were wide 215). The traction was adequate and I never gut stuck while other cars would get stuck all over the place. We had 8 inches last year and I made it just fine. I don't think the falkens would go anywhere in that snow.

 

"when in 1st going slowly ill hammer the gas ( so not to spin tires from a stop ) and ill start to pull pretty hard and about 5500 RPM my front tires begin to just spin. im not getting the traction i need. i liked it at first but now its kinda annoying"

It's a front wheel drive car and your "hammering it in 1st gear. I have Falken rt-615 tires 215 45 17's and have that problem in 3rd gear. It's just the way it is with a front wheel drive car.

 

i was sure id take a little heat for this post but surprisingly only 1 jackass . thanks a bunch.

 

Sorry that I came off as an ***. Guess I was just answering a stupid question with a stupid answer.

 

my car does the same thing......but I like it because I want to burn the runflats off With me, it's not the clutch only the tires spinning

reasons: power curve in the higher RPM, the tires are runflats and dont stick

 

i didnt mean you ministupid fun!!! sorry for the misunderstanding. my bad. i was talking about steve11. forgive me?

 

Not problem jhud, steve's post is kinda ducshy. I have no issues with you sir

 

I find 195/60/15 to be a perfect size tire, I have no traction issues.

 

Perfect size tire....for cruising like ole grandma!

Just playin' around, if they work for you then it's less money wasted on tires for you!

 

I like to be able to get the car out of shape at the limits. It also helps with the speeding issues I used to have. Plus I have better steering responce than with the wider 205/50/15 I used to run.

 

I liked my 205/50/16s for a size, they were large enough that at moderate accel. they kept grip, but they didn't follow road irregularities as bad as my 215s. I imagine a 225 or 235 on the street would be a PITA, depending on the condition of your roads. So I would definitely try stepping up one or two width sizes with stickier rubber. But run the free tires till they wear out. Wheel spin is cool, yo.

 

I am having the same issue, but only because I am running 175/60/15s. Come summer, when I put the 205/40/18, or better yet 215/35/18s, the issue goes away! :-)

 

Seems odd that you could spin the wheels on dry without a very sudden burst of power or a shift. I agree with the others who have suggested that there is likely another drive train problem, even with run-flat 195's.

Certainly something to have checked out before you ditch free tires for some you have to pay for.