Hi ,

I joined the forum last week and I am looking to buy a R56 MCS in the next few months. Since I live in Montréal, (by the way, as unbelievable as it is, we had a snowstorm last night... ) winter handling is important. I have read a lot of raves on the MCS handling on dry pavement but what is your experience in the white powdery stuff? My dealer says it is outstanding but I am skeptical.

Thx.

 

I saw some snow once. When was that? Hmm...

Anyway, I've heard it said for many years that front wheel drive is good in the snow. MINI's are about the best handling front drive cars around. I could see possible difficulties when going up steep hill in icy conditions. With the weight transfer to the back wheels, the fronts wont have much traction. The LSD and ASC should help with that.

 

I had spider spikes and 15 inch wheels for snow driving on my old MINI. With all that tractiion, it worked very well on snowy hills, was almost unstoppable. I think the R56 will do fine if you are using the 16" wheels with all season m+s tires. I would not have only 17" wheels in Montreal, winter and summer wheels/tires are a must if you want to get the most out of your MINI.

 

Thanks Z3bum. I would definitely get winter tires either ont he same 17'' rims or on new wheels.

 

The more narrow 16" wheels will cut through the snow better, and the tires will be cheaper.

Nokian is making runflats in Mini sizes.

 

I go way too fast in the snow because its so much fun , but get skinny tall real snow tires.DSC is a must also, unless you slow down to SUV speed

 

All the answers you need, from your very own MINI Canada website:

MINI Winter - straight up info
MINI Fun (click on "Dominate Winter") - a bit more... risque

(some of the pages were from the 1st Gen, but the same technology carries over, so it is still relevant!)

 

Thanks edge,

I especially liked the dominate winter part...grrr!

 

S.n.o.w...is a four-letter word.

 

Driving the MINI in the rain is like having a dry road. It handles amazing on any surface. Haven't tried much on gravel though. Even dirt roads are great. Just watch those 17's on potholes.

DSC is amazing in the snow too. I have no idea why _anyone_ would buy a car without DSC. But that's for another thread. Us in Canada have the DSC decision already made for us anyway.

 

Welcome CrazyPete! We spend every spare moment we can in Montreal. We stay on Carre St. Louis most of July and often a week in February. We never have a MINI though (sans MINI). Someday we will make the run in one of them and spend an entire summer. We sure miss MINI Mount Royal. We used to walk up and visit the MINIs while in town. Now they are just too far away from the Metro!

 

If you put 4 proper snow tires on you shouldn't have any trouble in the snow. Once it gets very deep, say 7 inches or so then it will drag & push the snow.

My car without DSC does just fine in the snow. I do run 185/65/15 Hakka 2's though. The right tires for the conditions are very important no matter what car one drives.

 

Exactly! I'm still astonished why some people wonder if their xxxxxx car will do OK in winter. It's all in the snow tires. Even AWD cars should be running winter tires during those months.
I've been driving a RWD convertible for 7 winters now in some of the worse winter conditions you can imagine. It is a joy to drive in winter and is very solid and competent. Yes, I use snow tires. Surely, a FWD Mini with snow tires should be able to drive rings around me all winter long.

 

Lot's of good advice in this thread. I want to add one thing. Narrower tires do better in the snow that wide ones. If you have 17"s that are 7 " you may want to consider 15" or 16" that are perhaps 6" in width. You loose some bling, but gain additional traction.

 

Just to correct a small misconception here. A rim's diameter does not dictate the width of the tire. It is the width of the rim that does. Whatever 17" summer tire you're running, you simply get snow tires that are one size narrower (if that's what you really want). You can still stay with 17" rims. On the Mini ordered with 17" rims, that would come from the factory with a 205/45/17 tire. If you wanted to put on winter tires, you simply go with a 195 size (in the appropriate aspect ratio). This will give you a 10mm narrower width of tread (less than 1/2") which is what's recommended for winter duty. Of course, if you go with 15" or 16" rims, you still run a 195 winter tire, but in an aspect ratio that will maintain the same overall wheel/tire diameter in order to keep your speedometer correct. The 15" or 16" winter tire will usually be cheaper than the comparable 17" winter tire.
Some people live in areas that don't have snow covered roads all winter long and elect to keep the same sizing for winter duty so they can keep some handling when the roads are dry.

 

Thanks for the input. I definitely agree. I have 4 winter tire on my current car even if it is AWD, it is the only way to go. By the way, AWD cars do not stop any faster hence the importance of winter tires: they make the difference. Since I have a cottage in the country that has a sloped driveway, I wanted to make sure I could park all the way down even if my next car is a MCS.

 

So let's say I decide to keep the standard 17" rims and tires that came on my Mini. Winter comes and I decide to buy Spider Spikes for them. Will that work as well?

 

Thanks for the link....it will be very helpful to me & others here who have snow in U.S.!

 

Your dealer is correct. The MINI is fantastic in the snow. But, only when you put the proper shoes on it. I would highly recommend getting the LSD and some, either 15x5.5" or 16x6.5", wheels and the narrowest dedicated snow tires you can find. The narrower tire will penetrate the snow and slush better than a wide tire.

The LSD, Limited Slip Differential, is a tremendous help in the winter on either snow or ice. It definitely is well worth the money. The combination of LSD and DSC is even better.

Whether or not you decide to get studded tires is up to you. I love my 15"x5.5" 7-hollies with studded Nokian Hakka2s. They transformed my MCS into a little tractor, just point it in the direction you want to go and step on the loud pedal.

I don't know what gets left in the roads up there in Montreal but down here you will always find large clunkers of hard packed snow or ice left in the travel lanes. I invested in a skid plate to protect the bottom of the motor(cast aluminum oil pan), the steering rack, and steering pump from hard things.

JOHO

 

The good news is since we get lot of snow, we get very good at removing it. on the other hand my driveway at the cottage and the road around the lake is always on snow.

Thanks for the feedback it is hard for me to consider anything but quattro drive but I feel better about it now. I am trying to be a bit rational but the MCS is growing on me so much that I will justify just about anything in order to get one...

So I will go with narrower snow tires, LSD and DSC...and keep smiling while driving a mini in the snow!