My friend and I just ordered a MINI Cooper yesterday, opting for the 15" Rotator Spoke Wheels which are only available with performance tires. Firstly, I don't understand why they only are available with performance tires, as the rims are the same size as the standard 15" five star standard rims.

Is the MINI website correct in restricting All Season tires to the 15" five star standard rims?

Will we have a difficult time in the snow with the tires that come as performance tires on the 15" Rotator Spoke wheels. We did see this wheel on the lot, equipped with Conti ProContact II tires, I think.

I checked the reviews of this tire on Tire Rack, and they are all over the map, as far as satisfaction and snow performance. Maybe it depends more on the car or the skills of the driver.

I am wondering if you cannot select an All Weather option with this rim because this is already an All Weather tire, as it seems to be.

 

I was in the exact same boat as you with the Rotator Spokes. I had to get the performance tires with the rims which ended up being Dunlop Sport O1s. There was no way to order them with all seasons. The snow rating for them on Tire Rack was N/A! What does that tell you? I changed over to all seasons and sold the performance tires here on NAM. I've heard that performance tires under a certain temperature change over to "hockey pucks".
Not real good for winter.

 

When I ordered mine, the MA asked me if I planned to drive it in the snow. I told him no, it would sit in the garage when it snowed. So, he asked if I just wanted the performance tires, and I said "yes".

Granted, I have a different model, but the question remains the same...performance tires in snow...

 

I have 17'' rims with performance tyres and the sports suspenson pack on my "S". Pretty much as soon as the ice light comes on (37 degrees), the tyres just do not work, just thank the MINI gods for DSC and ABS. Rain is fine, fun even, but ice snow and cold weather makes you concentrate more. But then us Brits never said we were good in cold weather lol

 

performance tires become hockeypucks around 40F.
I've had a Ford Excursion outcorner my Porsche 944 Turbo when it was 30F...

If you want those specific rims, you can either
A) get all-seasons to replace the performace tires and sell the perf. tires online.
B) get a second set of rims for dedicated snows.

do NOT try to "deal" with those tires if your winters are below 40F.

 

Summer performance tires = utterly useless in temps below 40 and in snow

 

If they do come with the Continentals, I sold a set of those to a fellow MI MINI and he said he runs them all year with no problems, loves them. I got a set of wheels and tyres for winter, 16" s-winders, and kept the 17's for summer.

 

you'd be surprised. I still have a set of Kuhmo ECSTA 712 on my Corrado. I drove on them all last winter while I was waiting for my old Jetta to get a transmission (long story). It wasn't fun, but I made it through the winter okay.

 

You can make it through a few winters by luck, but its gonna bite you on the *** eventually. I drove on performance tires for 3 winters, and on my fourth i totaled my car, if i had winters or maybe even all seasons, that would not have happened.

 

I am looking at a set of continental Contipro contact tires. They are all season, and run flats as well which are OEM for my 03 cooper S. The stock size is 205/45r17 do you guys think I couls get away with putting a 215 size on. Additionally can you put non run flat Tires on the mini cooper 03 with the tire pressure system. Any advice or personel experience would be much appreciated.

 

I got the performance tires for the same reason the original poster did - they were the ones that came with the rotator spoke wheels. I haven't driven in significant snow or ice, but I haven driven when the temp is well below 40 - lowest I think was around 14. I didn't notice a significant difference in driving, but then I was driving carefully and not zooming around, and the roads were dry. But the tires definitely aren't "useless" - they still work. This weekend will be the real test though - cold temps and snow.

I don't have a space to keep a spare set of wheels or tires, so I plan on replacing the tires with all seasons next fall (since winter is almost over).