My Mini needs new rubber and want to install good summer tyres.Hankook V12 evo K110 and Hankook R-S3 are available here at a good price.I am sitting on stock springs and FSD'S,rims 17x7,tyres 205-45-17 can i use 215-45-17 without rubbing the fender or springs??? and which of those two tyres would you recomend for dry grip and cornering performance.Thanks
P.S it's a 2003

 

I am extremely happy with the EVO V12s in 215-45-18s. About 10K miles on them now and they still look new. Very grippy and great in the rain. Even good in cold weather here around DC.
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I would just stick to 205/45-17 or 215/40-17 if available.

Hankook V12 evo K110-Great Overall Tire, great grip wet or dry, great treadlife. Probably makes a better street tire even in SoCal, cause it does occasionally rain in CA, hence last week. Dry grip is very near R-S3 and Star Spec type tires. See Here: http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...mparison_tests

Hankook R-S3-(NO MINI Friednly Sizes in 17in.) Ultimate dry grip and cornering, very limited treadlife (140 treawear), limited rain grip. Great choice if absolutely no rain, for summer tires or switch tires for events and weather changes.

 

per the magazine comparo the V12 Evos are my choice for when I'm next buying tires like those, without a doubt. Look at their noise rating!

OTOH tirerack warns that they are a much higher load rating than the OE tires (1200lbs vs about 1000lbs), which supposedly might make it a harsher ride...

 

The tyres that are available are V12 evo in 205x45x17 you cant question the reviews(great tyre oem size) or the R-S3 in 215x45x17,i am inclined to go for the R-S3 as i have the suspension set up really nice with Adj camber plates FSD'S sway bar control arms poly bushes etc,so having done this i'm willing to go to the more extreme tyre,why not if you've done all the work on the suspension or am i being stupid?nevertheless my major question is will the R-S3 215x45x17 fit without rubbing issues.Also tired of looking at 205,but will not go down to 215x40(not available here in any case) because of ride quality.I live in a caribbean island and cant always get what i want, it's always hot hot hot and more twisties than straight roads.Thanks for the input this is a hard choice

 

Don't know if this helps, but I just installed a set of the V12 Evo's on my Mini. I got them in the 215/40-18 size and got a bit of rubbing because I was running 15 mm spacers. I removed the spacers and everything is sweet.

(The car is an 06 JCW Cab with every conceivable JCW option, including the black JCW 18" wheels.)

 

Well i bit the bullet.They had the Evo12 in 215-45-17 the others were not RS-3 but the older RS-2,so i went with the Evo 12 215-45-17.Probably the right choice as it going to be a better all round tyre.Boy it's makes the car feel better on new rubber,wont know what they are really like until they are scrubbed in,only driven home steering feels more positive.

 

The 215/45-17 is nearly identical in size to the 215/4018 I'm running. You shouldn't have any problems with them.

 

I'm one of those guys that will tend to go for a name brand,but decided to give these Hankook's a shot based on the reviews and your all's recomendation.These tyres are great they have loads of grip in the dry i drove em pretty hard yesterday pretty impressive,and are very quiet considering thier rating as a performance summer tyre.Have not driven in the wet and how long they will last time will have to do that job.Thank you guys

 

When I had mine put on, it was raining pretty hard for the next few days. They work great in the rain as well.

 

After a couple of weeks on these things they are the best tyres i've ever owned they have tons of grip and are excellent in heavy braking TRUST ME I KNOW,had my alighnment done friday and it gave the guy hell to get it back to -1.8 front -1.5 rear every time he set one end the other would change,so ended up with -2.0 F and 1.5 R,0 toe front and 1.2 toe in Rear as it was nearing 5 o'oclock .This setup works really good when you press the car the harder the better it feels,but i have my reservations about tyre wear i'd rather be at -1.6 F 1.2 R.IE adj camber plates and H-sport control arms on the back,i dont recall having any difficulty last time we did alighnment,anybody got any ideas why the numbers keep jumping around??i've got to be eating rubber the way this car is handling but boy is it fun