Why I can't keep my 9lb wheels...
 

I have a set of Racing Hart CP-035 rims... 15x7 or maybe 6.5
I believe they weigh in at an extremely light 8.9 lbs.

I love these wheels. I had them on my saturn for over a year. When I got the MINI it had very heavy 18" TSW wheels that I believe weighed upwards of 30 lbs. The switch there was incredible. Coming off from a start is now a breeze.

But... I can't keep these wheels.
Why you ask?
My mini is lowered with H-Sport springs. Neat!
Yeah... plus it has the Aero kit... Awesome!!
Yeah...

Aero kit + lowered MINI + 15" wheels = SCRAPE
Actually with a flat tire I have about 1" of clearance on the front side. I can't even get a jack under the back side to get more clearance under the front. I even have a low profile jack. It barely scrapes underneath with an air-filled tire.

So I've decided I need to trade. I drive about 90% on the interstate so it's not helping me in mileage. I'm looking for some nice black 17" wheels that weigh in the sub 1lb per inch range.

Hopefully a wonderful fellow MINI member would be interested in the Racing Harts. They would be really awesome for autocross.

http://welch.skywolf.net/car/white_wheels.jpg

What size tires do you have on the rims? If you are using the right size, the 15" wheels should have about the same ride height as the 18" ones!
You will still have less clearance with a flat 15" than a flat 18" however.
With 15x7 or 15x6.5 wheels,I would choose 205/55/15 or 195/60/15 over the stock 175/65/15.

Do you have the low profile jack points? I don't remember who sells them. They are aluminum, half the height of the plastic ones and mount with a toggle bolt. Other than that, maybe you can drive onto a 2x4 to help raise the corner for your jack.

I use a pair of 2x6 (or is it a 2x8?) boards that have the edges sawed at an angle on both ends.

Drive forward up onto the wood, put the jack in place, add jackstand(s), do the job, etc. and then drive forward.

Zero issues.

I also have a pair of ramps with low-rise extenders that I'll use if the front wheels don't need to be removed.

Yea, those look like 205/45/15 maybe? If so they are over 2" shorter then stock. A different tire would definitely solve your problem.

Those tires in the image have since been changed out. It couldn't drive out of my apartment complex with those on. I think they were 195/50/15... crazy.
I'm on 205/55/15 now. On the front at least. The back might be 205/50/15. The tire size is actually almost goofy looking because of the sidewall height. Add in the fact that the large sidewall compresses more so I still don't have near the clearance of the 18" on 215/45/18.

Another issue I have is that they are white... actually they are supposed to be white. They are spotty gray most of the time.

I called a place to see what it would cost to powdercoat black. They said $125 per wheel. Oof.

I am very interested in these wheels. How much do you want? PM me!!!!!

There's another part of the equation - your 18" tires are 25.6" in diameter, well over an inch taller than stock (205/40/18 = 24.45").

195/50/15 is 22.7", 205/50/15 is 23", 205/55/15 is 23.9" (almost stock height of 24 - 24.4")

minus sidewall smoosh... :razz:

Also I am pretty sure my speedometer reads almost 10% faster than I'm actually going.

I'm not 100% what the original tires were when I got the car. They could have been 215/35/18. They were pretty low profile. Maybe 40... not sure.

After some advanced calculations I discovered I would save about $2.40/wk in gas with 205/45/18 wheels/tires.

lol

They are TSW. http://www.waymotorworks.com/tsw-sho...tml?quantity=1

17inch Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2s are 17lbs and some in a couple varieties of black (gloss, flat, red stripe, machined lip).

Ok. I'm completely confused!
I'm getting 17inch tires and the HR Sport springs to lower my car about an inch. I want to keep as much ground clearance as i can (ugh southwest pa) while eliminating wheel gap. My plan was 205/45/17s... would something else be better?

From WMW's website:
"Note - these jack points were not designed for use with the aero kits"

Nice looking but quite a bit out of my price range.
I would get the OCZ Superlegga (sp?) if I was spending that much.
Aiming for the $600 or less range... doesn't leave a lot of options open I know but there are some out there.

Konig Feather would be the ticket I guess. Or a Rota Slipstream - those are pretty light.