I have a 09 Clubman S on the way. After much debate and reading on the forum I decided to to get a set of dedicated rims and snow tires for Roxanne. I drive between Detroit, MI and Rochester, NY on a regular basis through Canada and can get hit by storms. The reason I hesitated was that I did order the all season tires and I am only leasing for three years. That being said based on the life of the tires it still made sense. I purchased 4 rims (Daisy wheels, cheapest they had, I will paint the center cap white), 4 donlop snows recommended by Alex at Tire Rack, 4 TPMS, mounted, balanced and delivered for $950. I will have the wheels before I get the car which is at the distribution center. Can't wait to give her a wirl.

 

Smart move. I've been through plenty of Erie and Ontario lake-effect snows - they can dump massive amounts of snow if the wind is right. My nightmare? The plows mistake my stuck, snow-covered mini as a large clump of snow. Bang! They wouldn't find me 'til the spring thaw!

 

Actually, I think that the DTC is the replacement for the LSD and the two are not going to be available together.

I have the DSC, LSD, and winter tires. DTC was not offered in 2006. But traction control is incorporated into the DSC. It works great, much better than my 2002 MCS with the DSC and winter tires but without the LSD.

MINI recalibrates the DSC settings when the LSD is installed allowing for more wheel spin before the electronic 'nanny' kicks in.

 

All-seasons just don't do the job as well as snows in winter. We've tested them back to back, same courses, varied wintry conditions from ice to slush to snow to cold wet. Snows are noticeably, measurably better in wintry conditions - that means ice, snow, slush, and simple COLD, due to rubber compound formulated for the conditions. It's an eye-opener. It doesn't repeal the laws of physics, but it's the difference between dress shoes and lug-soled winter boots.

Should you buy them? Well, how much is all-weather mobility (primarily braking!) important to you? Seriously - if you live in North Carolina, you may not have to deal with the same stuff they get in Minnesota, and would be willing to curtail travel or travel very cautiously if the conditions are bad. That may or may not be an option.

ABS/ASC/DSC: If you can feel ABS/DSC kicking in, you're losing traction. You can likely travel the same conditions without ABS/DSC kicking in if you have winter tires.

Cost: Compare it to your insurance deductible, because that's what you can save, consider also hassle costs.

 

I'll chime in here now.

I had the standard all-season tires on my clubman (continental ProContact). They did 'ok' in the winter, but not great. I actually got stuck on the highway coming home one day as I couldn't make it up one of the hills.

I now have the Dunlop Winter Sport 3D tires on, and they make a HUGE difference. We have had an usually snowy/icy year here, but still, the tires are worth it. The car is much more stable, and responsive. The big key to me is the ability to STOP, and TURN if you need to. So I am now an advocate of good tires. At the very least, I would say get a set of all WEATHER tires (like the Nokian WR). These are as close to winter tires you can get with out being true tires. We have these on our other car, and they work great, much better then the all season tires on the MINI.

So do yourselves all a favor and get good tires for the car, or leave it parked in the poor weather.

 

Heli guy, glad to here the Dunlop Winter Sport 3D's are working well. My set of 4 showed up today and are sitting in my office patiently waiting for my Clubman to be delivered. It's nice piece of mind to here from someone who is using the same tire and is happy with their peformance.

Thanks

 

My 09 Clubman is the 5th car I've owned in my lifetime (kept selling them and going car-less upon life events occurring...) and this is the first time I splurged on a winter wheel set - I'm totally sold on winter wheels now and will always use them on any car I get.

In the snow, the Mini really is a beast if you have snow tires. As others have pointed out, the only problem is that the car is fairly low to the ground and thus can get stuck in really deep snow. Also, after the deep tire ruts develop in snowy roads, your Mini will be scraping the big blog of snow in the centre of the lane. As long as it's snow, not a problem - but if it's very hard and borderline-icy then it might be?

I have Yokohama AVS 195/50/16's as my winter tires on r84's. These are a little smaller in terms of overall diameter than the stock 195/55/16's. I would not recommend you get the same tire size I did...stick with the stock ones since they'll give you a little extra clearance off the ground. I'm pretty pissed at the Mini service centre that sold these to me but I was in a time jam and was too busy with work to go back down there the next day and chew their ears off. Although with these 50 profile tires, I can still corner like nobody's business, and the smaller diameter has resulted in noticeably better braking/acceleration.

Note: there have been a few instances where I've had to go up a steep, snow covered hill in reverse. A handy little trick for the rare times when you get stuck.

Final note: If I did not have snow tires, I would have maimed a pedestrian on Christmas Eve. I was driving through Vancouver's downtown east-side and a "street person" (for lack of a better term) came running out of nowhere to cross the street when I was driving up a one-way street to a green light to make a left turn onto another one-way street. I slammed on the brakes and stopped about 3 feet shy of her. The car stopped pretty quick and I'm sure it would've taken longer with the factory all-seasons.

 

No, you're fine. The changeover happened in July 06. I have a September 06 build, and have the "2nd gen" thread like you.

All it means is you can use wheels from both gens!

 

Just got back from Sunapee. This would be my 3rd significant snowstorm I've been in. I've now logged over 8 hours in snow in the last week and I'm giving the Clubman

 

For those looking for pricing information I bought my snow tires and wheels from discount tire direct (discounttiredirect.com). They have free shipping (which is around $100 elsewhere.); they will match tire prices if you find for less; the TPMS was $44 per wheel ($176 total). Plus they seem to have specials on occasion of $50 off set of tires and or wheels (I got $100 off for buying tires and wheels).
So delivered was $805 for 4 tires, wheels, and TPMS plus mounting hardware since factory lugs wouldn't fit new wheels.

Got the Michelin X-Ice Xi2 which are very highly rated/recommended by several consumer groups.

I put them on myself, same as changing a flat tire. Expecting snow overnight so will see how they are tomorrow.

 

Zeddy: Whaddya think?

 

For those of you who got dedicated rims for your snow tires, did you get TPMS sensors as well or do you just deal with the blinking tire warning light?

also, did you get runflats or regular tires?

 

I got them with the TPMS and got NON runflats. Even with my first MINI which came with runflats, I chose not to get runflat snows for a variety of reason$.

 

I went with Dunlop Winter Sport 3D which are runflats. I went with these as i do not want to put a spare tire in the well as i use that space for much more than a tire would provide.

I also had the TPMS put in as i hate to have warning lights on all the time. It can cause a person to think it is normal when it is really not.

I have heard here in Mass the state i s thinking of making it a manditory check while you car is in for it's anuall inspection to check for the operation of your TPMS system. Not a law yet here but it may be coming.

BTW it is a federal law that any new car sold from model year 2008 have TMPS capability and be sold as new with it installed and functional.

 

Wasn't aware of this - thanks for letting us know, Schatzy.

 

Pipra loves her new snowshoes!

 

Very nice shoes, Pipra - and love your hat!

Had a great experience here in Pittsburgh on Sunday: The Super-HICAS AWD Acura in front of me was HICAS-ing away, distributing torque to all 4 tires. I could actually see each tire spin, then stop as another tire spun, then back to the first tire - torque was alternating side to side and front to back - without really moving the vehicle!

The look of surprise on the Acura driver's face as my little Mini (safely) drove on around was indeed priceless! I'd rather have two drive wheels with traction than 4 without... and my Mini has the same number of tires steering and braking as any AWD/4WD.

laurendesigns, did you ever find your snows? Check www.tirerack.com, or discount tire (www.tires.com). Also consider that the newer design of winter tires are about as good on ice as studded tires but without the noise and handling drawbacks on all other surfaces.

 

We've had 3 bad weeks of snow here in north east Ohio, and sadly my 2008 Clubman is the WORST car I have ever driven in the snow. I can't believe it. Turning off the DSC didnt make a bit of difference. There were times I just didnt move if there was any sort of incline in the road. There were 10 year old American cars passing me!! I've had plenty of small cars and older cars when I was younger. And back then I drove a lot of country roads that never get plowed well. I have never had the need to get snow tires before. I called my dealership and they said yes they encourage snow tires and they will run me $900 plus $150 dismount/mount each time. So $300/year. But they will store them for me. What a waste.

 

brecksville:

Your 2008 Clubman is not the worst car in the snow - it's just wearing the wrong shoes (tires). If you've got all-seasons they're "not great" in snow, and if you've got summer tires your dealer was plain irresponsible not to tell you they are NOT for cold weather driving, let alone snow! The rubber on summer tires hardens up at 35-40 degrees, and the tread & sidewalls are NOT designed for snow usage.

As for cost, don't buy tires from your dealer - VERY costly (as you've seen). You can buy a set of dedicated snows on steel rims (or cheap alloys) for less than that, store 'em in your garage and change 'em out each year for the cost of rotating tires (or do it yourself). Read the thread above for costs and experiences.

As for wearing them out, you're going to be wearing tires out anyway, winter tires just save wear on your non-winter tires, and give better traction to boot.

I hate seeing you not like your car when it's the fault of your tires - and don't like telling you that fixing that costs money. It doesn't, however, cost nearly as much as your dealer wants to charge you!

You may also be able to find used sets on the NAM marketplace less expensively than www.tires.com, www.tirerack.com, or Discount Tire in your area.

 

thanks for the advice! I will start shopping!

 

+1, and BTW running a set of Summer Tires (not all seasons) durring the winter will reduce the total mileage you can get out of set of summer tires by as much as 50%.

I.E. on my 525 BMW, summer tires go in April-May after the temps rise above 40 degrees continuously and come off in Nov and i can get a good 30,000 miles out of a set of 30,000 mile rated tires. But i found the year i did not take them off i only got about 18,000 miles out of them. This actually cost me more than if i had purchased a set of dedicated SNOW TIRES (not all seasons). With the winter tires rated at 25,000 miles i have now gotten about 23,000 miles out of them and will be able to get thru this winter (second winter) and probably have about 28-29K on them before having to replace them.

Now you are probably thinking only 30K but with Ultra High Performance Tires like i run you will not get the 60K that you can with others but then again you also will not get teh same performance out of the 60K tires.

Find some good snow and you should be happy

 

big plus one!
I went through my first winter with my '03 with the all season tires, it was marginal, here in Maine. Next season I got dedicated snows on rims from Tire Rack, and it is a regular mountain goat...the Mini is GREAT in the snow if properly shod.