I find that there are only a few things I truly dislike with my Mini. Everyday I drive her the TERRIBLE harshness of the Sport suspension. I mean it was so bad that when you hit an expansion joint, the car would lunge over a few inches (1-2). It actually caused me to loose control, not bad, but I lost my line and could have hit a car next to me.
Today I did something about it, I put new tires and wheels on the car. Normally I wouldnt post about this BUT OMG WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot believe those runflats are that hard!!! I compare those runflats with driving on solid steel rims.
I got my Stud conversion from Texas SpeedWerks, so the wheels went right one. And excellent customer service, I was a bit put off at first with the directions (a bit over worded) but Jeff hooked me up and now like so many NO MORE CRAPPY HARD HARSH riding runflats!!!! hmm now about that flat kit

 

For many of us who dump RFs for performance tires here is the inflator of choice (due to being TPS friendly and compact self contained)>>>



Michael

 

Sweet does it come with the cup too?

 

No, no cup.

The other thing some of us carry is the Dynaplug kit, and a pair of long-nose pliers.

 

Matty, what tires did you go with?

 

Sounds like Matty had the factory Continental run-flats....they suck

 

Well it also looks like you went with a thicker tire and a smaller wheel... I'm assuming you had 17's... That will most definitely make a difference...

Plus changing out your shocks/struts will help...

 

It is bizarre how different wheel/tire combos interact with sport suspension in regards to ride quality, personal preferences aside. I have heard some strange stories about this. If all the wheel/tire/suspension options were at the showroom for test driving, one could better dial in their preferences from the factory, but this will never (and should never) be. Very glad you settled things to your liking, but I would never go so far as encouraging folks to ditch the runflats en masse. It didn''t work for you, but it does work for others. It's all about dialing it in to suit.

 

What makes it TPS friendly?

 

hmm I considered ditching the run flats - but I guess they're tolerable, I mean I wouldn't know the difference if I imagined it. I'd like a quieter ride though, performance tires provide less road noise right?

It wouldn't be a bad idea to keep the stock wheels and RFs for the winter time when it snows in CT right?

Summer shoes and winter shoes - any one do this?

 

The sealant material is water based and can be washed off from inside tire after use and according to Continental the sealant will not damage TPS. Just the messenger here since I have not had to use it to date (have it in my C6... the runflats were slick as sn*tt and with over 470 rwhp rear end was way too squirmy...went the performance tire non RF route and got Nitto Invo tires.
Michael

 

Performance tires tend to be softer/quieter but they have horrible tread wear life...

 

Surfblue says: My MCS is pw/pw, and I like it fine, but I must say your black car looks very slick, very cool. The aftermarket wheels reallys set it off, too. IF I read correctly, you downsized to 16's? Or did you have 16" all along? The move from 17 down to 16, from what I read, is going to be an improvement in ride harshness right out of the gate, and the non rf's and lighter wheels are the icing on that cake. I am running 16" bridge spokes and rf's but I have to pull the trigger on some lighter wheels and non rf's. The setup on my car, as stock, doesn't bother me that much, but I'm guessing if I rode in a similar Mini set up with the aftermarket wheels and tires, I'd be moving faster. Again, NICE MINI!!!

 

A few factors that affect ride quality are:

Sidewall stiffness - runflats tend to have stiffer sidewalls than non-runflats.

Sidewall height - Since the tire O.D. (24.5") stays about the same on MINI, wheel size affects sidewall height. The 15" wheel having the tallest sidewall, and the 18" wheel having the shortest sidewall. I find 16x7 wheels to be a good size (factory provides 16x6.5). With 16x7 wheels I use 205/55-16 tires which give me the same tread width as the facory supplies with 17" wheels, and a tire O.D. of 24.9" for a comfortable sidewall height.

Wheel/tire weight - the lighter the wheel, the better the ride. Most tires for the MINI are within a few lbs. of each other. So, most of the variation is found in wheel weights. When a heavy wheel encounters a bump, its greater inertia causes it to transfer more force through the suspension to the body of the car. Lighter wheels will also brake quicker, and accelerate faster. Whether the differences are very noticeable has been subject to debate here. I recently switched from 16.6 lb. 16x7 wheels to 13.9 lb wheels of the same size. The same tires were transferred from the old wheels to the new. At first I was astounded at the ride difference. Then I thought to check the tire pressures and found that Discount tire had only put 30 psi in the tires. Oops. With 36 psi, it was much harsher, and difficult to compare because of the intervening 30 psi ride. Factory wheels tend to be quite heavy. The popular Crown Spoke and Web Spoke 17" wheels are 22.5 lbs. each. Smaller wheels tend to be lighter. MINI probably uses heavy wheels because they are easier to make strong, and therefore cheaper -- in spite of the increased cost of aluminum.

Tire pressure - There is a noticeable difference between running 34 psi and 38 psi in the tires. However, running too low a pressure will cause the outer edges of the tread to wear prematurely, and can increase the likelihood of a pothole impact damaging the rims. In extreme cases, a low tire can lose its seal with hard cornering and cause an accident. This has been blamed for the infamous Ford SUV/Firestone rollovers and recall.

 

I realized this would be a problem for me before I ordered my MC, so I opted to get the 15" wheels with all season tires, and ordered the sport suspension seperately. So now my car handles wonderfully, but the ride is not too stiff. Although those of you ordering the MCS don't have the option of 15s. But in general, the sport suspension has very little affect on ride quality, as ride quality is almost all determined by the wheel/tire combo and the springs.

 

Thanks for the compliments Surf Blue, To answer the tire questions I started out the 205/45/17 CONTINENTALS W/ crown spokes 23.5 lbs After 9 laps at HockenHeim I needed something different. The new tires are BFGoodrich G Force TA's 215/50/16. The rims used are 16x7 Kazera's weighing 16.5 lbs. I do not have the TPMS, I guess its in the brake system.
I converted my hubs to use studs using parts from Texas Speedwerks: M14-M12 Stud Kit
Our stud kit, converts from M14x1.25 to M12x1.5 and use special tuner lugs, thanks Jeff for your help AND FAST SHIPPING
The car is now perma glued to the road. And the car has a nice ride finally.
Before I changed, The car was absolutely terrible when it came to ride harshness. In complete honesty, I never rode in a car as harsh as it was with the runflats w/ 45 profile and sport suspension. In highschool I had a 4x4 toyota w/ 38 in tires and a 12inch lift, it rode better,thats no lie. In fact when I hit a lump in a road and the car actually came off the ground I was appalled, I took it to the dealer, but they said that was normal. All in all, Im pleased the way it turned out, I wish the runflats where smoother, do you guys think a 16in w/ a 55 or 60 profile would be smoother? I really wish I could show how rough she rode before, but some of you probably already know.

 

Matty good choice and they look great on your MCS

I will switch out from the standard runflats after they wear down and go with regular performance tires.

 

+1