Hi everyone,

I've been viewing threads on this forum for a while. And now finally registered and I have a few questions regarding tires selection.

I live in the PNW so its always raining besides a few months of sun shines during summer. I have a 2010 mini cooper (non S) with the standard 15 inch 5 spoke R100 wheels. I like to do a lot of backroad driving and I plan to participate in some autocross events. I would like to keep the cost down, but if there is a good wheel/tire package that really worth the extra $$, I might also consider it.

Initially I had my eye set on Conti DW because of their dry/wet performance. But then I figured out that they dont have tires for 15" wheels. So I would like some recommendations to tires selections.

Thanks in advance, and I apologize for my poor English.

 

When I had my Justa with 15" it would burn through tires every 20000 miles. I used the OEM Continentals which seemed to be pretty sticky in the wet or dry. I figured they had a soft, sticky compound which is why they wore out so quickly and that a higher mileage tire would offer less grip. That said, you might want to check out Tirerack.com as they will provide a list of tires in the same size with test ratings.

 

Pilot Exalto A/S


http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....omCompare1=yes

Potenza RE960AS Pole Position


http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....omCompare1=yes

AVID ENVigor

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....omCompare1=yes

 

I like davisflyer's picks for your primary application in the PNW. They should also work well on a wet autocross course.

If you get serious about autocrossing in dry conditions, you'd probably want to switch to more competitive Extreme Performance Summer tires in the 195/55/15 size.

 

I recommend you talk to Alex @ TireRack. Resident Tire Guru. I spoke with him about moving to 15" wheels/tires, and I live in Victoria, so similar weather, and I do alot of quick paced back road driving. I'm looking for a summer performance tire, as I run dedicated winters. The top pick for good dry handling and wet performance was the Bridgestone Potenza Re-11:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....&affiliate=EG9

Right now I have Yokohama S.Drives in 205/50/16, they're available in 15" as well, and are REALLY great in the wet.

Hope this helps.

 

thank you all for the informative responses. I have a question regarding buying from tire rack. Do i need to have them send the tires to my house, and bring them to shop(ie. Discount Tires) to have them mount tires for me? or should i go to Discount Tires and ask them to order those tires from Tire Rack?

I dont plan on having two sets of tires. And since all these tires are all relatively cheap (being 15"), I dont really mind if they dont last very long(less than 20k miles).

Sincere there are so many tires recommended, I would also like to know which one would you guys choose if you can only choose one(Good Dry/Wet for DD)?

Thanks

 

I would order from TireRack and take them to the tire shop. They might be able to ship them right to your installer though, maybe ask DT first if they're cool with that, get the address, and then order from TR.

The top pick around here SEEMS to be Continental DW (dry/wet) or DWS (dry/wet/snow) but again I would ask Alex@TireRack dot com what he recommends for your particular use.

 

I don't have any advice on which tire, but if accelerated wear is an issue, I highly recommend frequent tire rotation to get the maximum life out of each tire. I rotate mine every 5K miles each time I do an oil change and I have good tread life yet on original equipment Conti's with almost 23K miles on them. MINI's of all varieties will eat front tires pretty quickly, so frequent rotation helps. Just my observation.

 

To the first question, you can order them from the Tire rack and have them installed at an authorized Tire Rack installer near you or, if you have a Discount Tire near you, they will usually match Tire Racks price and you can just buy them there.

 

Although Tire Rack has a list of approved installers, I think they'll drop-ship the tires to any installer you choose; just provide the address.

 

I run Bridgestone Potenza RE960's on my 05 Justa. Very good tires for my daily needs, dry, wet and light snow. Do not know about autox, I run Bridgestone Potenza RE-11's, the best extreme performance tire, on Holies for autox, dragon and track.