Have had our Clubman for 4 years now (I think the car has 17K on it). It is a "fun" car for the wife.

The ride has never been good and my only thought was "how bad are the 17s?". Recently we had a 2014 loaner (regular Mini, non Clubman) and the ride was MUCH better. I think it also had the Conti run-flats.

Questions..
Has Mini improved the suspension over the years?
Are the run-flat tires now that much better?
Is there a chance they never removed the shipping spacers in the car - or is a jarring ride just normal like we thought it was?
Do run-flats actually get worse riding over time?

My wife even commented how the ride was really starting to get to her and I figured we might as well put 17s on and lose the run-flats - but I'm curious what others say about the questions above.

 

I suspect you cart has sports suspension as it is the combination of that and runflats (particularly 17"runflats) that seems to drive owners to distraction.

I had a non-sports suspension Mini before and swapped between 16" runflats and non-runflats (got some winter wheels with runflats on them) and there wasn't a big difference in ride comfort. If you have 16s, swapping to non-runflats isn't likely to be a game changer.

 

Doug_999 - I agree with you the newer Clubman ride much better when I had a loaner. It is newer and new tires as well. I think they may have improved the suspension or newer shock.

If you think the ride is rough now and if you switch to 17' it will be worst with Run Flat. If you don't have the sport suspension then you may want to consider the Koni FSD shocks - It improves the ride a lot on my Clubman.

 

going to 17s will give you a harsher ride with all things equal. Stick with the 16s, go with a tire that has the highest aspect ratio and swap out the shocks for FSDs.

 

FSD's and a larger rear sway bar made a huge difference in ride quality. BTW get rid of the runflats. If you were to do both shocks and tires at the same time it will be like driving a new car.

 

Does your Clubman S have:

1. Sports suspension

2. 2010 OEM Performance runflat tires

3. Any other performance mods

I drove the 2014 Hardtop base model with 16" All Season Bridgestone Turanza runflats and it was comfortable & not jarring.

 

Has Mini improved the suspension over the years? I believe they have, but can't say for sure. It could be that they tried to save some money on the Gen2 suspension (cheaper shocks?) and found that most customers didn't like it. Even the Gen1 cars that I've driven ride better, even with run flats.

Are the run-flat tires now that much better? I don't think so...I've read that they are, but from my limited experience they seem just as bad.

Is there a chance they never removed the shipping spacers in the car - or is a jarring ride just normal like we thought it was? My Clubman with non-sports suspension and 16 inch wheels with non-run flat tires is very jarring....have had passengers scream when I drove over relatively minor expansion joints at the speed limit....it sounds and feels like I ran over something substantial. I currently have NM springs on it, but it's done this since day one, even with the stock springs.

Do run-flats actually get worse riding over time? I think that almost all tires get rougher riding as they accumulate more miles.... my original equipment run flats got harsher, or at least it it seemed like they did. I was anxious to get rid of them.

I'm not sure what my next steps will be.....will probably go with FSD's, the original springs, and stick with 16 inch non-run flats and just put up with the large wheel gaps. I've even considered going with Justa struts and shocks....my wife's 07 Justa rides fine....although it admittedly has 15 inch wheels with non-run flat tires, but that doesn't sound like a good idea.....might result in some sort of franken-suspension....

 

If you're not interested in upgrading your suspension to aftermarket parts, best thing to do is switch to non-run flats. The run flats have stiff sidewalls which allow you to drive a few miles without air in them without the need to install a spare tire. Unfortunately, that means that they don't soak up even the smallest of bumps.

Something like a high performance all season tire will offer more stability and better turning response, plus ride/noise comfort. They're also more than half the price of run flats.

With the some of the extra money, you can buy a spare tire; the clubman has a space under the trunk floor for one. Since your car was fitted with run flats from the factory, yours probably didn't come with one.

Check reviews on TireRack. You should be able to sort by ride comfort. Good luck!

 

Did that loaner have 15" wheels ? A lot of justas do. When I ditched the 16" run flats my clubman was ALOT smoother, so much so I had no fear switching to 17" non run flats and would say the car is still smother than 16" run flats by 25%

 

All
Thank you for the replies - I was not getting notifications on updates to the thread and just checked back.

To answer some questions
OEM 16" wheels on Non Sports Suspension Clubman S. Loaner had the same size wheels I believe (but was not a Clubman).

I will check out the FSDs as well as the spare option (did not know we could fit a spare in there!). Car has really not moved much since I posted this - we got a new driveway and the Clubman was stuck in the garage the whole time!

 

We switched out the 16" Conti run flats on our '09 for Pirelli all seasons. The ride is so much better and it did great in the snow this past winter. BTW, check way down under the package board in the back, there should be a donut spare even if you originally had run-flats.

DD