Hello! Just picked up an R53 JCW (210hp) mini last night. Man, so excited! Reminds me of my MkII GTI I had as a teenager.

My car has a couple things to work through but is generally in very good shape.

I'd like to start by asking for opinions on tire/wheel size. My mini came with 15" winters which are great but it also came with some 18" summer wheels with very worn tires. I need new summer tires which has me pondering the following:

1) do I really want 18s ?
2) are the 18s I have rare and valuable (more on this below)
3) should I trade the 18s for OEM 17" S-spokes

Ok so the wheels my car came with have a JCW logo on the centre caps. I found them on this site and they appear to be the R105 JCW double-spoke and weigh 23 lbs (less than the 17 S-spokes). Are these rare wheels? Sought after? Good?

I found someone selling some 17" OEM S-spokes and my first thought was "should I offer to trade". Being new to Mini, the S-spokes look great to me now but I wonder if they are so common that I'll get bored of them and wished I just sold the 18s and spent the money on something else OR, kept the 18s and rocked em.

Just looking for thoughts/opinions on the matter. Thanks!

 

First off, welcome to NAM and congrats on scoring that nice R53 JCW!

Agreed, those appear to be OEM R105 wheels per LoM's wheel guide (shown prox 2/3 down in 18" section here).

Downside of 18" of course is even lower profile sidewall with corresponding ride harshness. From your single pic, those look in very nice condition. If were mine and if pristine with desirable tires (runflats or not?), I'd consider picking up a set of 17" if found at a good price while you evaluate long term acceptability on what you have mounted now. My car came with (2) sets of the common OEM 17" R85 "S-Lites" (not-so-lites) plus mounted Team Dynamics 17" as required to clear AP Racing calipers, now in combo with Mich PS4S 215/45R17 (+1 size) tires which provide a bit more ground clearance plus air volume than OEM 205/45R17 size tires and works quite well with my modded suspension.

Please tell us more about known history plus details and pics on your car!

 

Keeping the 18s while I evaluate is probably the right thing to do. After having just bought the car I want to spend a bit of time/money on a few things and was wanting to avoid shelling out for a third set of wheels. I'm not in a panic to get summer tires right now so I suppose I can defer this decision. Thanks @MCS4FUN

I'll make another post with a bit more detail on my car this evening.

Looking forward to hanging out here and learning about Mini's. Hooked already

 

Especially for long term resale value for the originality to the car and the desirability of those rims.

Plus, you know, they do look sharp.

 

if driving experience is your priority, ditch them for lightweight wheels. Bet those are close to 20lbs each. Losing 5lbs in unsprung weight per wheel will make such a dramatic difference in agility that it can't really be accurately described.

Edit: nvm, I saw those are 23lbs (holy **** so heavy). 8lbs in unsprung weight is like.....beyond night and day. Go to some lightweight 15 or 16's

 

Thanks @RjamesB8 . Weight is a consideration for sure. The 18" wheels I have ( JCW R105s ) are listed as 23.3lbs each.

I like the OEM S-Lite 17" wheels but they seem heavy at 25.1lbs. So I've ruled them out.

It's hard to know what the total weight will be with tires. Tire weight is not often listed?

Currently the plan is to do both.... keep my 18" JCW wheels (for the reasons @Daftlad mentioned) but also buy some smaller/lighter wheels.

 

Tire Rack lists weights for all the tires they sell. My tire and wheel package is around 30 lbs per corner, if memory serves.

 

Yesterday I picked up a set of OZ Racing Ultraleggera's wheels that only way 16 lbs. Really light and my new JCW lights up the tires while it didn't before.

 

Congrats on the new car. I recommend OZ Alleggeritas. Why? Because they are VERY light (~14 lbs per wheel) and virtually as strong as much more expensive forged wheels (e.g., BBS). As I'm sure you know (or others have already pointed out), 18s aren't great on the MINI due to poor ride quality, poor handling, and, IMO, they just look too big. I have 17s on my car, but many out there prefer 16s because they offer a bit more ride comfort. Any smaller and you start limiting your options if you want to upgrade the front brakes.

 

I prefer 15s because imo the car likes the smaller ,lighter wheels.. it helps acceleration ALOT actually.. I'm running mts 16x8 time attacks on my track car ( currently on the daily driver ) and mts 15x8 mt04 with just some ebay " performance " tires just because the tires have good looking tread pattern and protect from curbrash.. the black 15in mt04's and new tires should be here anyday then they go into my white mini and those white rims back onto the track toy mini.
Imo , these cars look best with a lipped rim and a chunkier tire. Btw , my mst 16s are 16lb and the 15in are 14lb only

 

Nice looking rides! Those 16x8 time attacks.... they speak to me. What offset and tire size are you running @MiniManAdam ? spacers? longer studs?

I'm looking to run stock r56 brakes up front which I don't imagine should be a problem with 16s ?

 

The OZ Alleggeritas look nice. 14-16 lbs ! I'm sure that would be noticeably lighter vs my 22lb 18s. I had a look through tirerack and it would seem that a 16" tire is at most 1lb heavier than an 18" equivalent. So all-in-all, a pretty good weight saving with the smaller wheel/tire combo.

 

Cool. I've seen your stuff on YouTube. Sick build!

 

et20 and I run a 5mm spacer but I have widebody flares.. they clear my r56 brakes no problem. They fit with stock lugs n brakes ect but I do run extended lugs on my fun mini.
My tires on the time attacks are indy firehawk 500s 205/45zr16..