Lets talk about winter driving conditions with the Mini.

What should I expect?

 

Do you have dedicated snows for your sled?

 

snow tires. I ran with my stock Pirelli RFTs last year and they sucked!

 

Yea I would think that is not pleasant to drive in the snow with the stock RFT, 4 dedicated snows makes a pretty big difference on these cars

 

I took delivery of my 09 Clubman in July. I just had a set of Bizzaks delivered yesterday from Alex at TireRack. I'm hoping that these will help me deal with the Minnesota winters.

 

Alex at Tirerack is great, the bizzaks are awesome I had them on my 300 C 2 years ago, they are a bit soft and squirm a bit but great on snow and Ice

 

Alex WAS very good to deal with at TireRack

I am really interested to see how the new tires are going to change the ride as opposed to the very STIFF RF's that came on the car.

I had a 325xit before this car. Now, I know that it will not be as good in the snow as the AWD car, but I see a lot of other FWD cars out there, so the Clubman should be OK. I did a little research and found that the ground clearance was about 1 inch lower than the 325. As long as I don't have to use it as a snow plow, I think that it will be fine.

 

I had the Conti All-Seasons last year. Not too bad, but I'm definitely get snows for this winter.

 

same here. the back just felt like it was sliding all over. does that in rain though too.

this year i got some Goodyear Eagle GTs on 16" bridgespokes

should feel a lot better. didnt get snows because ill do a lot of driving on dry pavement till all the salt is gone.

 

Take care of my old wheels!

I put Michelin Pilot Plus A/S on for this year. So far I'm pretty happy with the results. Last winter I ran the Performance runflats and they actually did okay. I am expecting much better traction this year.

Here in Cincinnati we don't get enouh snow to justify the cost of running snows.

 

I found the stock mini RFT to be acceptable...not horrible..but not great either. I lucked out because i had a set of blizzaks for my Focus SVT that fit the mini. The Blizzaks have been serving me well for the past 4 or 5 winters. Snow tires are the best thing you can get for winter driving

 

oh i will. they turned out pretty good for the shop giving me tires that were one size too big lol...but i think i like the look, so ill keep em



ok sorry to get OT lol

 

I'm a big fan of snow tires. Been running Blizzaks on most of my vehicles for years. My Mini is coming with "all seasons" and I'm told that they go ok in the snow, certainly much better than the performance tires. I'm hoping to run the all seasons to avoid the cost and hassle of snow tires. If I had performance tires then snow tires would be a must. Of course it always depends upon how much snow you really drive in. Here in NH we get quite a bit but they do an excellent job of clearing the roads. If I do get the snow tires then I'll upgrade my summer tires as well.

 

I have the Conti RFT as well. They are all season. There not bad but right now it's what I'm living with. Last winter I was a little worried as this is my first car(not a 4x4) for a winter. You just have to remember how low you are even at stock level and you can't drive like a nut. As soon as I have money for new wheels the stock wheels will most likely get snow tires for the winter.

 

We do not really get enough snow to justify winter tires here in NEOhio. Up towards Cleveland and the snow belt, probably need em.

There may one or two days of heavy snow, but once the plows make their rounds, a good set of all season work just fine.

 

I run 4 snow tires on all my vehicles, have for years. Snow tires are cheaper than my insurance deductible.

Be warned, once you have used real snows you will never want to use all seasons in the winter again.

 

+ 1

 

Everyone seems to like the blizzaks. Anybody out there purchased a winter wheel/tire combo from mini? I know they offer runflat snowies here as a package and apparently its covered under the runflats warrantee... Dunno which way I'm gonna go.. My 17's with the summer tires will definatly not be driveable come the heavy snows they're predicting for this winter

 

i got a set of studded light truck tires on 15 rims. looks kinda like a baha mini

 

Are you running the tires on "steelies"?

 

Check your tire warranty. When i bought mine it wasn't limited to "mini" tires. After market rims were covered too under the understanding it might be hard to find a replacement and if they can't they just write you a check.

 

Is that really so? I have seen so many sets of rims that I like better than my Webspokes (although when they're clean I just stare at them lol).

 

A set of Blizzaks permanently mounted on their own wheels is the only way to go.

ps Your regular tires will last way longer too!

 

haha no there on american racing rims

 

I am running mine on Sport Edition F7s and very happy with them