Quick question for roadster drivers:
Have you experienced unusual front tire wear?

So I came back from taking the car for service (oil change) and they tell me that my front tires are bold.

Good timing I guess since I was about to swap to winter mode.
I did so and indeed the inside corners of the front summer tires have no thread left.

They're Michelin pilote super sport 17-?
It's worth mentioning I have the same tires on my other car, though of a different size 225-45-18, and they seem to wear more evenly.

I've estimated that we drove on them between 14,000 and 18,000, which isn't much I thought. Is this normal? (I'll take a closer look at the mileage and report back later).
The service manager told me that it is normal for MINIs and they usually see tire change in the mid 10s.

I'm going to rotate more often than seasonally from now on...


ps: I'll take a shot during the day. it's too late now.

 

I look at my records and I did exactly 16,854 miles on them.

 

Inside shoulder front tire wear can be caused by too much toe out or too much negative camber or a combination of those two factors. I'd have a good alignment inspection done, if you haven't already.

 

Interestingly both sides are exactly the same and the car only has 26,000 miles on it so I don't know if it's an alignement issue. I might look into it though...

 

Above an beyond the alignment settings... what's your driving style? On a car like a Mini, you can scrub a tire pretty clean of any excess rubber in a flash. UTQG figure on the Super Sport is around 300, so not super soft.

 

You have to rotate every 5,000 miles and check alignment. I burnt up a set of MPSS the fronts where bald. Also tried two sets of fronts to one set of rears. That did not work as well. You have to rotate the tires, it's the only thing that works. You can get about 20,000 miles out of a set or more.

 

Interesting . . . This is our first MINI.
I've done easily 30k miles with most of my other cars. So I guess MINI do burn rubber faster...

btw, this car isn't driven very hard most of the time . . . most of the time I don't drive it.

 

Might want to find slightly harder rubber in a 215/45 17 if you can. At least with a UTQG of 500.

Have your alignment checked and rotate the next set of tires every 5000 miles at least.

Any lowering or aftermarket set up on your Roadster?

 

I like the Michelin A/S 3 a lot. I'm only at 2k on them but they have a 45k warranty. Just took Hankook R-S3 extreme Summers off and there isn't a world of difference on the street. Original Conti Pro Runflats understeer if pushed at all.

 

They tend to wear faster with most MINI and BMW's I had. Also make sure your tire pressure is up to the PSI on the door jam. Think the roadster was 41 psi with 17" tires on the rear.

 

Excellent point. Roadster door jam says: 41 psi front and 41 psi rear with 17 inch tires.

 

Yep. Thanks

 

And those pressures make a big difference with the Conti run-flats that came on the Roadstah and how they actually feel on the road.

Might not be as significant with other types of tires? I'm still planning to go with a conventional tire/air pump/fix a flat combo eventually. Need to find a good set of silver r112 "Challenge" wheels someplace. Might be a real "Challenge".

 

We have challenge wheel s here f you want new otherwise check the sale and classified for used. R112 , I have them tend to get a little road rash on the exposed edge when found used, so look out for that.

https://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/Challenge_Wheels/

 

Thanks. Will look out for that... but you guys need to have a big, huge Sale!

I have to go easy into all this. Wife is a little shell shocked about the not so MINI accessory prices. I'm gonna have to do this slowly and gently. She really likes the car, and I've been showing her what some of the forum members have done with their Roadsters. Like I keep saying... a work in progress. It's a lot of work. Will get there, though.

 

You are welcome. No OEM wheel sale anytime soon , and even though we had some recent and sold out, they are rare. Like every 4-5 years for one style.

MINI can be a work in process With prices sometimes higher then the BMW equivalent.

 

My original runflats lasted two summers, about 20,000 miles I think. I finished them off on the Dragon in 2014. All four were shot. I swapped them front to back every year as they went back on after the winter.

 

Which run-flat came on your Roadster originally? Mine are the Contiprocontact SSR. 20,000 miles seems to be the normal/average span for Mini tires.

 

They were the same Continentals.

 

What tire did you install on your 18" wheels, and are they run-flats or normal tires? And most importantly, how do you like them compared to the OEM set up?

 

Bridgestone Potenza RE-050A 205/40/18 run flats. I'm happy with them. Kept the sharp turn in feel, and ride quite a bit better, surprisingly. Just put my Blizzaks back on for the winter.

 

Full Summer high performance tire. Very nice choice. Now I might understand why you switched over to the Blizzaks already! As temperatures get cooler, do you notice that the Potenzas seem to become less grippy at some point?

I would imagine that this tire would feel sharp at turn in... slightly shorter side wall to bend around. Interesting that the ride quality improves... light wheels part of this improvement?

 

The summers have definitely been struggling on the 25-35F mornings the last few days. Getting away from traffic lights has involved quite a bit of wheelspin. The tire/wheel package (Breyton 18's plus the Bridgestones) is a few pounds lighter than the R112 Challenge Spokes I had, so that might definitely be part of it.

 

Yes, it has been a tad chilly these last few mornings. I still have a little snow left on the ground from the late Sunday night event that started around at 11 pm and shut off around 2-3 am on Monday. Accumulated only about 3/4 of an inch or so. Hopefully the warm up Thursday and Friday will wipe away the traces left.

I wondered about lower temperatures and dedicated Summer type tires. Thanks for all the info. I'm still looking at wheels. Will be looking for a while. Breytons look great on a Mini. There are a few other wheels that I also like, but am narrowing the choices down some.

Appreciate all the info. Really helps, thanks.

 

Winter tires definitely needed when temps get regularly below 40 degrees F. Ditched my o.e. RFs for Conti ExtremeContact DW summer tires....switched to 205-45-17 Pirelli SottoZero 3 Winter tires in early November. They've only seen a bit of snow twice this mild winter season but did well in the snow and grip the cold pavement. Am happy with both tire choices...and a local MINI club member liked the good deal she got on my 1,000mile o.e. Conti RFs....win-win deal.