I'm sure this has been discussed, but I'm having a hard time finding a definitive answer.

Car's in the shop for routine service. Shop calls me & says one of the tires is worn to cords & not safe to drive out. The other three are worn out but no cords showing. I hadn't planned to get tires, but okay, no problem. We "only" got ~40K miles out of a set of Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires, and he also recommends switching to a more normal all-season tire for longer life.

The car has stock 17" wheels. I happen to have a set of 16" wheels, apparently new, that I picked up so cheaply I couldn't say no, but they're in the attic.

So the question is: will they fit? (should point out that the motivation for switching is we have really crappy roads around here and while we try to avoid potholes, hitting one feels like a brick wall. the car is a daily driver.)

I don't see a part number cast into the 16" wheels, but they say E-6.5Jx16 EHZ IS48.

from this site: https://minicooper.fandom.com/wiki/OEM_Wheels_and_Tires they appear to be style 84 wheels.

Thanks in advance.

 

From the same site: https://minicooper.fandom.com/wiki/W...ons#Brake_Size

MINI doesn't "authorize" the use of R84 wheels on R56 MSC models. There are people running them but caliper clearance is "tight".

 

Thanks. Do you think I'd be making a mistake trying this?
The TPMS photo doesn't give me enough information to tell if a sensor will fit in these wheels--anyone know?

Thanks again.

 

Style 84? X-Lites? Those will fit 2nd gen R56 no problems. Here they are on my R55 S:

 

I run 16” MINI wheels on my 2012 R56 S, no problem (they came on the car). Not sure which model wheels I have but I have 2 different sets of MINI wheels (summer and winter sets). I use 16” the same reason, bad roads, and for the improved ride, and there is no real loss in handling on the road, with a quality tire. Also, note that while the taller sidewall of the 16” will help with the crash into a pothole, you will still get some crash as there is only 2” of compression in the MINI suspension and the MINI shocks are crap for controlling this.

As for going to a higher mileage AS tire over the Michelin PS, you will likely feel a difference. The PS tire is a cut above most tires. An AS tire can be good, but I wouldn’t expect to be as good. I would go with the Michelin AS tire if that is what you are looking to do.

 

Thanks for the confirmation.

I ended up ordering the 16" tires and running the wheels over to the shop. They're going to fit one up & let me know if they're good with it. If not, we'll try to catch Tire Rack before they ship and change the ordered size.

I always thought I'd swap between summer and "winter" tires, but I've never really gotten around to it, so this will be the experiment.

 

Thanks, but do you have an R55 (not S) or an R56 (S model)? I'm given to understand the brakes are different.

Does your have the TPMS transmitter in the wheels?

 

With TPMS. My Car is an S. I run those wheels in the winter with 205/55-16 snow tires.

 

The MINI TPMS units need to be pre-2011 (could be pre-2010) to work on a 2009 car. MINI/BMW made a switch in that timeframe. If you don’t know for sure, just go into the reset menu on your tach display and see if the computer reads it. If not, most tire places have “universal” ones that will work. That is what I am using on my 2012 on a 3rd set of wheels (that is another story... LOL)

 

I have 2 friends that built their R56 minis for SCCA Street touring and both used 15x9 Avanti Storms on the front with no issues. That being said 16's should not be a problem, unless your car is a JCW with the larger brakes.

 

Careful... The R56 came with 3 different brake setups in front and 2 in the rear. The S uses a larger rotor than the base model and, with that, the caliper is moved further out radially from the axle with a different carrier. Typically these need a 16” wheel to clear them. They both use the same rear brake setup. The JCW uses a Brembo setup in the front, which require 17” wheels, and uses a larger rotor in the rear from what the base and S models use.

In MINI wheels, a MINI 15” wheel won’t clear the S brakes up front, without spacers (I am not sure if even with spacers they can be made to fit). Some 15” aftermarket wheels will fit the S brakes, but, agin, they need big offsets and/or spacers. But, on an otherwise stock car, there maybe clearance issues with the tires and the fenders on the rear with large wheel offsets. I am thinking that the SCCA race car example may be less than an ideal example for what the OP is looking for.

 

So you just verified everything I just said. The question was will 16's fit, they will unless you have a JCW.

 

It appears I may have missed part of the issue with comparing a non-MINI wheel to a MINI wheel, which the OP was looking to use. Some of the MINI wheels are tight on the clearance between the wheel spokes and the outboard edge of the caliper. When downsizing wheels, this can become an issue. Even though there may be clearance radially, the spokes on some MINI wheels curve inward in the area close to the rim of the wheel, which is where the caliper is located. With some of the curved spoke wheels this clearance could get tight when switching to a smaller diameter wheel. A typical aftermarket race wheel doesn’t have this issue. The spokes are typically set further outboard to clear larger aftermarket brakes. So stating that because a smaller non-MINI wheel fits, doesn’t necessarily mean a larger MINI will fit.