my car has approx 17k miles, I got it three weeks ago so I don't know prior service history.

I am aware of unsprung weight issues and hoped the lighter non runflats will help a touch, Obviously new wheels would help more. I have mentioned I cannot go to new aftermarket wheels without going "modified" on my insurance, I live in the UK and it is quite strict, otherwise I would go right to lightweight 16s.
I am only looking for a bit of improvement, we took the car today on a very smooth road and it still had a case of the jiggles. Even tiny imperfections seem to jar the car quite bad. lets try step one with the new tyres and see how we make out.

I have had those memory foam cushions in the past, quite nice, thanks for the tip.

peter

 

Man they must be strict...my insurance agent would never know/recognize anything "different" about the wheels.....of course he wouldn't care if he did.

 

They ask you again and again if you have any non stock items on the car, after you have a prang they ask you again and again as well. I had a tiny fender bender in my wifes rav4, they must have asked me 5 times if any modifications from factory were done when I was making the claim.

I know of plenty of folks who have put on all sorts of kit and not worried but I would not want that kind of stress if an accident happened, or god forbid I hit a pedestrian and they were looking to get out of the claim.

Peter

 

Tires will help quite a bit. If the spare cash comes around, FSD will help quite a bit more.

Hard to imagine that they would consider a factory option wheel to be "non-stock", or even notice.

Of course, this his sounds a lot like our insurance companies trying to get out of paying for costly health procedures by disqualifying you any way they can...

 

pmustang,
it's the runflats that make these wonderful autos harsh on the road. I also have a 2006 S. I got it new with run flats. I had to replace two of them at different times for $300 each. Then I bought four not very expensive somewhat sporty Falkens. The difference is like night and day? The run flats were harsh and NOISY. The Falkans are compliant and quite. The new conventional tires were mounted on the original wheels, which previously had the run flats on them. The tire man that mounted and balanced the Falkans on my old wheels said the wheels are not unique for either tire. Make this change now! You'll be glad you did.

 

My r53 came with the dunlop runflats on 16's. that was a rough ride like pmustang has described. I switched to Goodyear NCT runflats - much better. My understanding is 2-gen runflats (stock on the r56) have a better ride than what came stock on the r53. The Goodyear Excellence is one of those 2-gen runflats.

+1 for Koni FSD's. They do tame the small undulations.

don't forget, the r53 only has 2 inches of suspension travel. The car is bump stop active. you may want to check the front top strut bushings for any tears.

 

The guy at the tire shop said the latest run flats would ride better but still not as good a non runflats, He said that the changes in tyres is so rapid that models go out of production constantly, He said if the tyres that were cutting edge five years ago were used on cars today they would be spinning off the road as the performance and HP boundaries are so much higher.

Peter

 

I cannot believe all of you that are recommending lowering air pressures on your street tires. There is a reason that placard is on the door sill! Lower air pressures are unsafe and contribute to poor fuel economy and reduced tire life. Does anyone remember the Explorer/Firestone problem? The main cause of that was low air pressure causing sidewall failure. Hence the mandated tire pressure monitoring systems, because just a 5 psi drop was enough to cause the sidewall to break down. That 38 psi on the door is there for a reason, you wouldn't use a different torque setting then what was stated, would you? Remember, tires are the only thing in contact with the road but are probably the most neglected part on your car.

 

New tyres will be installed either tommorow or the next day at the latest, Excited to feel the difference.

I have craven plates arriving shortly in the mail so they will be installed

Then the windscreen crack is covered by warrantee, they said stress crack so thats going to be fixed.

I have also figured out a way to drive that actually works with my big darn ole feet so that problem seems to be solved

Excitement all the way around I would say.

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions folks. Peter

 

I also have Koni FSD struts and would add another enthusiastic endorsement. There are many more UK owners on the MINI2.com forum, and FSDs have been discussed there. Search on MINI2 concerning vendors and prices in the UK.

 

16" wheels for sure. If you have the Sport+ suspension, then moving to "sport" suspension may help as well. Check with the aftermarket Mini shops there in the UK, as a lot of times the take off parts just take up space in the shop. You may be able to pick them up for cheap.

You can address understeer by disconnecting the front sway bar, or moving to a front bar from a Cooper, not the S. It's the relative stiffness that's important, and softer up front does the same as stiffer in the rear.

Then even under a very tight inspection, the only thing that will be seen is stuff with Mini/BMW part numbers on it.

Matt

 

Well the verdict is that the change is quite good. I have dunlop 9000 non runflats now and the car certainly seems to have lost the harshness on bumps, You still feel them but it would not be described as jarring now, More of a bump than a crash! I think it was money well spent and I don't dread the ride to work now. I do feel the car might slide a bit more in the fast tight corners but its worth the difference in ride.

Many thanks to all who offered suggestions, if the car ride starts to bother me again I will look into the struts.

Thanks for the lead on the UK sight, Since I am a USA expat I like this site.

Cheers. peter