I've now put about 800 mi. on the Hankooks and here are my impressions:

1) Love the queit, smooth ride. The car is much more civilized on the highway.

2) Fianlly got some rain - we're in a bit of a drought right now. The tires were remarkable in the rain, it didn't even "feel" like the roads were wet. The car turned, stopped, accelerated almost as fast as in the dry. I'd like more wet weather time to get a good feel for the handling capabilities in the rain. But initial impressions are that these are very good rain tires.

I am quite satisfied with my choice. In fact, I'm looking to buy some more S-Winder wheels and will shoe them with the same tires. This will give me 2 full tire/wheel sets to choose from when rotating. I will probably rotate tires every 6 months or 5,000 miles, the same as my oil change interval...

 

I just finished painting my wheels last night
And wanted to order today.

I think I will get these. My stock 195/55/16
Have plenty of clearance so when I do the math
and see that 205/50/16 is .37 inch shorter
than stock and 205/55/16 is only .43 inch taller
I see no reason why these would be too tall as TR
says.

 

Just remember tire age plays a factor...... Having 2 sets of tires might get into age before any are worn out.... The MINI owners manual recommends 6 years for example....

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...jsp?techid=138&

 

I put the Conti DWS on the car ... what a difference ... from the word 'go' ... I had the Bridgestone Pole Position on my STI ... Very good tire as well ...

 

I can tell you, for sure, that the tires are a very good fit. There are NO issues with rubbing. And because the 205/55-16 is taller than the 195/55-16 the infamous speedo error is almost eliminated...

One more thing, I saw posted somewhere that these tires (Hankook Ventus V12) do not have rim protectors - WRONG. They most definitely do have rim protectors built-in to the tire.

 

I went with the Yokohama Avid Envigors. Ride is much better than the Conti runflats I had, handling is at least as good, and fuel economy seems about the same. For reference, mine is justaClubman, so performance is leisurely anyway. I also have a spare tire, so I didn't need the runflats.

 

Conti DWs on mine now. FANTASTIC grip!

My drive to work takes me through a roundabout that dumps onto the freeway, and the transition from roundabout to on-ramp is over the crest of a small hill. My run-flats would slip if I nailed it before I got over the crest, but the DWs just kept sticking and launched me down the ramp!

And, since there were a few puddles to drive through yesterday, I'm happy to report there isn't any detectable hyrdoplaning in smallish puddles!

 

I just ordered the new General GMAX AS-03s for Oxley. Getting good reviews around the net. Hope it wasn't a mistake. Can't wait to get rid of these dang RFTs.

anyone want some? =P

 

Well, I now have about 1200 miles on the tires and I wanted to give y'all an update. We had a heavy downpour last night - hooray! we are in a *severe* drought right now - and I had a good chance to put the tires thru their paces on very wet roads. The result? In a word, FANTASTIC!!

The wet grip is almost unbelievable. I have some tight suburban roads near my girlfriend's house that I pound quite regulalrly in the dry. Last night I got a chance to hit them in very wet conditions. The tires didn't budge an inch. The turn-in was remarkable, the car just simply went wherever I pointed it. There was virtually NO sliding on turns where I know for a fact the original Conti runflats would have put my *** into the weeds.

These are, quite simply, the best wet weather tires I have ever had. I was shooting down Southern Blvd. at about 20 over the limit (55 mph) and just for grins I threw out the anchor. The car did not slide one bit. It just hunkered down and STOPPED! Truly remarkable adhesion to the road surface.

And they are very quiet and smooth-riding on the highway. The Hankook Ventus V12s are *remarkable* tires and I strongly recommend them to anyone looking to ditch their back-pounding runflats...

 

I purchased and installed a new set of Michelin 215-45-17 Pilot Sport A/S. I have only had my Clubman for 370 miles but knew I wanted to get into different tires right away. I researched the different tires mentioned in this forum (Conti DWS, Hankook, Etc) and quite frankly if you asked 5 tire retailers the same question, you got 5 different answers. My wife drives the clubman so the most important factor was ride, grip and mileage in that order.

We went with the Micheilns in a slight bigger size 215s and have loved the difference. The ride is much nicer and the seams in the roads arent nearly as harsh. My wife even noticed the difference and I didnt even tell her I changed the tires out.

Very happy with my choice.

The very fresh Conti runflats are still for sell

 

HANDS DOWN

Street/Daily Driving: Continental DWS - plenty of grip, driving through the rain is like driving when it's dry and they last a while too. For what they do and at the price - unbeatable.

Track: Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec - it's incredible esp. with upgraded sway bars

 

Well I just ditched the run flats as well so I figured that I'd chime in. I went in to Discount Tire planning on getting 4 Hancook V12 evo K110, but they couldn't get me them in time, so I made the decision to pay the increased cost and purchase 4 Michelin Super Sport in 215-45-17. These are the new high performance Michelins that are replacing the PS2, that all the automobile journalists love. Anyways all I can say is that I love these tires. On our interstate drive home, these tires drove way better than the conti run flats, and the grip has increased. While I used to be able to spin the tires lose in second gear just through accelerating, I have a hard time doing it in first around bends now. I can't wait to test them out at the track this summer. The only two small downsides that I have come across, I think that I lost about 1/2 a mpg, and the rear tires seem to wander on grooved pavement. I'm gonna play around with tire pressure to see if I can cure this.

 

I also purchased (4) new Michelin PSS 215/45/17. Ordered them on Wed and received them from TireRack yesterday (Friday) . Total cost was $607 shipped plus I will be getting a $70 pre-paid Mastercard (offer has expired) later on in the mail .

These tires are getting great reviews on TR's website so I have high expectations for them. My Conti 3 SSR run-craps are pretty much done at 27K miles.

Non-RF tires I have had on previous MINIs:

- Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 (GREAT tire wet and dry)
- Dunlop Z1 (BAD, noisy, rough riding, wear out rather quick but grip well)
- Dunlop Z1 Star Spec (same)