185/65R15's or 195/60R15's for Cooper?
 

:roll: Well, after 22,000 miles my OEM non runflat tires are shot. The Continentals did not hold up and proved to be quite scary on any snowy roads. I'm replacing them with all season tires and was wondering if I should go with 185/65R15's or 195/60/R15's on my 15" rims? Others have said that the 185/65R15's flex during hard cornering due to the taller side walls. I believe the 195/60R15's will give a closer match to the speedo.
Any help anyone can offer will be appreciated.

Go with the 195/60/15. They work well on 5.5" to 6.5" inch rims. I'd recommend a set of Nokain WRg2's as a superb all season tire.

Agreed, and there are plenty of 195/60/15's to choose from.

185/65's are better for snow, but do have tall sidewalls for less precise cornering.

Alex

The tire's I'm considering are Bridgestone Potenza G 019 grid, Michelin Primacy MXV4 and Yohohama AVID TRZ. The Yokohama's are the least expensive but come close to the Michelin's rating wise. Any thoughts on these tire's Alex? Again, I'm looking for a good all season tire that performs well.
Thanks!

I'm unfamiliar with the interchangeability of tire sizes and just saw another posting about using 195/60R15 instead of the OEM size of 175/65R15.

Would the 195/60R15s fit on the standard rims that came with my 2007 MC?

What's a good site to understand what the advantages/disadvantages are of using a non-OEM tire size?

I'm confused. The "65" refers to the tire height doesn't it? The 185/65R15 isn't taller than the stock 175/65/R15...is it? Just a taller tire than the 195/60/R15. It's just a wider tire? If you are comfortable with the ride and cornering of the stock tire then the 185/65/R15 would be marginally better corning due the width....accurate? I'm asking and not knowing for sure. I was hoping to go 195/65/R15 for a wider tire and profile but am now confused with width and height. Additionally, with the infamous speedo +3% error is there a size that would make up or match the error to bring it in line to actual speed? Is this what the "60" will do?

Thank you very much.

The middle number in tire sizes is a ratio between the sidewall height and the width. To keep about the same tire diameter, the two numbers move inversely.

So:
175/65/15 = 185/65/15 = 195/60/15 = 205/55/15

try putting different sizes into this
http://www.1010tires.com/tiresizecalculator.asp

or have fun with this one, you can change rim specs too and see a diagram
http://www.wheelsmaster.com/rt_specs.jsp

Please don't laugh, but would 205/60R15 be out of the question on a 08 Cooper with the stock 15" wheels? Just looking at what is available and how it affects speedo readout.

Its about 3% taller in diameter, its could fit depending on ride height and wheel offset

Alex

Why does there have to be a ratio? Isn't height....height. Period? And width...width? When a 195/60/R15 is recommended won't there also be a wider fender gap here? By shortening the gears does this make up for the speedo error on Mini's? Thanks again everyone.

Height is specified as a ratio. A tire is specified as a section width, like 195 or 205, that's mm. Along with a sidewall height as a ratio of the section width, a /60 tire is 60% as high as its wide. So 205/60 is 123mm high and 195/60 is 117mm high, 6mm difference.

Actually it does the opposite, making speedo error worse. Taller gears, somthing closer to 25.0 inches OD is more effective for correcting speedo error - but can be tricky to fit.

Alex

Bridgestone is making some great tires!
 

I'm also am going to the 195/60r15 Bridgestone Potenza G 019 grid to replace my daily Conti's. I run these on my non-Mini and like them a lot. I run 205/50r15 Bridgstone Potenza RE 010R on my other holies for spirited driving, these are just an awesome dry/wet performance tire.

205/50 15 FTW!!!
215/45 16 FTW!!!

TRZ - great tire used on Minivans all the time, too soft in sidewalls for Mini.

G019 - Nice faily sporty handling , great water traction, decent in snow.

Primacy MXV4 - Not as sporty for cornering, but more quiet, and also the longer milage of the 2.

Alex

Alex, did you read 205/50R15? 205/55-15 is about equal to stock diameter and 205/60-15 is slightly taller than stock.

Your right, sorry about that. The 205/60/15 is taller 7/10ths than stock, about 3% taller than stock.

Alex

Thanks for everyone's advice, thoughts and experience. Great discussion with no exact answer! One more question. Given the choices listed here.....what is the widest that will fit on a 5.5 inch stock wheel? Original ride height is pretty high and it does not look like scrubbing would be much of an issue. It looks like 205/55 is the best fit to original height, but, is it too wide? Also the car will ride stiffer and the height of the car (front spoiler) will ride closer to the ground. Can you say scrub? Thanks.

205/55-15 is wide and fine for street use using stock 15" wheel and stock suspension. Scrubbing not bad.

For street use the sidewall ratio of 55 or 60 is fine for the MINI.
195/60-15 is a good choice. Each tire size will give different tire selection to choose from. If you are keeping the stock 15" size wheels the 175/65-15 tire size is not the first choice due to limited tire selection.

Most tires allow for better handling vs more ride comfort or greater or lesser road noise or treadwear. Everything is a compromise along with budget.

All Season tires tend to do well for general street use and wear longer, you can run them in any weather except heavy winter snow.

Summer tires handle well but can wear a bit faster and are not for colder temperatures even if there is very little snow out.

Yes, plus you can add fuel economy - each 10mm of extra tyre width will make fuel economy maybe 0.5-1mpg worse, very roughly. The extra aero drag of wider tyres is often forgotten - narrower tyres are actually faster in a straight line.

Andrew

still not sure
 

Can I use the 195/65R 15 to replace the 175/65r15 tire for my mini?

195/65-15 is too tall at 25" tire diameter vs stock 24 to 24.3"

Better replacement for stock 175/65-15 would be

185/65-15 (24.4" tire diameter) or 195/60-15 (24.2" tire diameter)

I have 205/55/15 on my stock spooler wheels. Great width and almost the exact height as the stock 17/65/15 tires. Corners great, smooth ride and improves looks front and rear....they are Kumho Ecsta's from Tirerack. I am also using stock ride height and there is no scrubbing at all. I have not experienced any decrese in gas mileage either. On highway country roads and driving very sporty I am getting 42 MPG. Go for it you'll be happy with this size.

to minicoop & minihune...

I have the standard (from dealer) 15' wheels on my mini nothing different, or fancy. You both say I can use 195/60-15 or 205/55-15 on my little baby....
Do you both have just the standard stock wheels?? again,thanks... this at least gets me looking in the right direction..

Stock MINI cooper wheels are
15x5.5"

195/60-15 fit wheels 5.5 to 7" wide with perfect fit for 6" wide wheels
Tire diameter 24.2"

205/55-15 fit wheels 5.5 to 7.5" wide with perfect fit for 6.5" wide wheels
tire diameter is 23.9"

Since stock wheels are at the narrow limit you can choose either tire but you get more weight with a wider tire and more rolling resistance. In addition you get a lower profile and slightly firmer ride but maybe a little better cornering at speed.

Much of the performance and comfort will be related to which tire you choose since tread design and tire material construction play a major role in how a tire will do for the MINI.

The good thing is the MINI is a very good performance car so a good tire will be a good match while a mediocre tire will be stretched to it's limit.