WILL 215/45R16 FIT the OEM wheels of a '09 Clubman?

It comes standard with 195/55R16.

Thanks!

 

It will fit, but it is short.

Alex

 

It is SHORT???

Recommendations?

 

I run 215/50/16 and I really like the size. 215/45 is almost an inch shorter then stock, 215/50 is the same height. There is more selection in 215/45 however.

 

I just replaced my 195/55/16s with 205/50/16s because of the small selection in the original size. Found several people on here that were running 205/50/16 happily. They are just a tad bit shorter (I think like less than a quarter inch if I remember correctly) than the stock size, but wider.

A slightly shorter size was acceptable to me since my gen1 '06 MC has a speedometer that runs about 5 mph slow with the stock tires....so a slightly shorter tire wasn't going to hurt anything.

Here's a very helpful tire size calculator...

http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp

 

I too am looking to switch to a 215/45 16 from a 205/50 15.

I'm looking at the Kumho Ecsta XS which the 215/45 16 size is new to this tire. Does anyone have any info as far a it's performance in autox, or any other recomendations in the 215/45 16 size. I've done very well with rt-615's in the 205/50 15 size but it's just a smidge too short and leaves me feeling like shifting to third on larger courses. The 3/8" of additional width and shorter sidewal doesn't hurt either with the 215.

 

Why not step up to a 225/50/15?

 

I considered it for just a moment and realized it would be a stretch to fit a 225 on a 6.5" wide wheel and I didn't want to do that, besides there is a better selection of rubber in 16".

 

215/45 is really short for street use. 205/50/16 is really your best bet as far as workable 16in size goes when it come to 6.5in wide rims. 215/50/16 should work as well, but their are very few tires in that size.

As far as the XS's go... they seem to be new so real world performance data is going to be hard to come buy. That said one of the new budget AutoX stars seems to be the Dunlop Z1 star spec, which I have been hearing a lot of good things about, and you can get it in 205/50/16 so it is easy to street.

 

I'm sorry I should have mentioned these are for autox only and the lower tread wear rating of 180 over the star's 200 plus the benifit of an extra 3/8" of tread width will help with grip. A shorter side wall, and of course being a shorter than stock height, a nice gearing reduction will to help the 100hp Cooper get up to speed faster. For an S it's too short of a tire.

 

Ahh, I had no idea it was AutoX only, I just figured it was a priority but you still wanted to be streetable at the same time. In that case then 215/45 could work. Keep in mind though that if you are using a 6.5in wide rim with that size it is going to want to make the tread cross section rounder, meaning it might not contact the ground as well (tire rack says that this size on a 6.5 is a no go though, so it might not even fit). That said I didnt let that stop me from putting 225's on a 7in rim, which some say is too narrow for that size, and they seem to work well enough, I have a fairly even wear pattern.

Finally, you cant compare wear numbers across manufacturers, only within. In other words comapring the wear rating of the Kuhmo's to the Dunlop's means nothing.

 

The Kumho's are going on 7" wheels. I kinda figured that about the treadwear but even if it's only a mental edge it might help.

 

I've ran, in the summer for two years, the Hankook RS-2's in a 215-45-16 size without any difficulty. I use then for street duty and G stock auto-x. My wheels are the stock R84 X-Lites, so - 16" x 6.5". Seems to work. Yeah, the profile is a bit short, but I don't have any real complaints other than the ride being no better than the runflats. But that's to be expected.

 

Oh, well if they are going on 7's then 215/45/16 will be fine, like I said I run 225/45/17 so yours just ends up being an inch shorter than mine but otherwise everything else applies.

Tourek how do you like the RS-2's? I am currently debating between RS-2s and Dunlop star specs, and it is hard to find info on the RS-2's.

 

Here's our head to head test on both.

Alex