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General MINI TalkShared experiences, motoring minutes, and other general MINI-related discussion that applies to all MINIs, regardless of model, year or trim.
Alignment time? When is the last time you had it done? Seems like premature wear, no?
+2...
I installed a new set of the same tires this winter, though probably in a different size (R60 vs R5?) and likely with different vehicle weight, drivetrain, and road conditions. Put about 3000 miles on them and they looked almost new when I took then off a few weeks ago.
Last edited by BendersMINI; Apr 17, 2016 at 07:42 AM.
Reason: more detail
+2... I installed a new set of the same tires this winter, though probably in a different size (R60 vs R5?) and likely with different vehicle weight, drivetrain, and road conditions. Put about 3000 miles on them and they looked almost new when I took then off a few weeks ago.
R56. I truly don't know the exact date of the last alignment. I bought the car in September and put the winter wheels on in November. The summer wheels didn't indicate any issues when I took them off, or put them back on.
When I took the winter tires off, the wear was even across, however the fronts were worn halfway to the snow wear bars, and the backs looked very good.
The day after I cleaned up all the spilled p/s fluid from the engine compartment and underside of my beloved '04 R53 (post #17553), I took note of the odometer reading and pulled over to snap a pic...
Removed the Madness lower engine mount bushings and replaced with Powerflex... huge improvement over NVH and no difference in "solidness". If anyone wants more vibration from idle to 2k rpm, buy my used Madness inserts. :D
Also, fitted my new wheel/tire combo. Very happy with this.
Specs:
16x7 ET 38 (wish I had gone with ET30 ) Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2
Potenza RE71-R 205/50/16
The RE71R's are amazing. Even the wet weather performance is pretty darn good. Ive had a few sets of sticky tires on this car (Dunlop Star Specs, Hankook RS2's) and these are by far the best. The grip once heated up is much better than the Star Specs, and they were a 225! They also seem to take much less time to heat up and get into the sticky goodness, maybe because they are narrower?. They are much happier in colder temperatures than the other two sets I've ran as well, not like that is the purpose of these tires but hey, I live in Oregon.
What did I do today? . . . I had brand new Michelin PSS tires mounted in the morning. Spent 45 minutes meticulously swapping the winter wheels with these summer ones. Drove about 5 miles round trip to the grocery store and got a major flat on the way back.
Shortest tire ever driven. And guess what it is? A dam key of all things. There should be an award for this one: Weirdest flat experience of the shortest tire life span!
TG that sucks! Hope you got the road hazard warranty.
Yes, thankfully it came for free with TireRack but I've never had to deal with tire warranty before so we'll see... I still can't believe how short I drove. I get the feel the stickiness and newness of the tires made it pick up things more easily. I was so frustrated
Sorry to hear about your hood scoop. Hard to believe it came off like that.
) Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2
This "mod" is very important IMO because when I installed mine as I was pulling the stock dipstick out it snapped and almost dropped inside the pan. 
