Costco tire center advised that I was experiencing similar wear because of wider tire and the angle of tire and wheel on the car. I really didn't like the wawa sound from the back and wear pattern is symmetrically uneven.

Today switched to stock size 205 45 17 on Michellin Pilot Sport A/S 3.
Still non runflats.
Huge improvement. Also i like that the profile of the tire actaully extends 5mm out horizontally to protect the outer bead of the Rims.
Cheers!

 

So I currently have the stock tires on for my 2007 mini cooper base model. I am looking to find a tire that gives it a flush look from the front and rear of the car.

 

The flush look has more to do with your wheels and offset than the tire size.

In general the OEM rims are not flush so OEM tire sizes aren't going to be flush. If you add wheel spacers you can push the wheel and tire further outward closer to full flush.

205/45-17 is the OEM tire size but 215/45-17 will work fine with any 17x7 wheel.

 

Great thread!! Enjoyed reading it all! I have a 2011 MCS that I got 2.5 years ago and it came with 205/50-16 tires (non run flats). I just started going to a few HPDE track days this year, and am rather hooked. Planning to do more next year. I'm thinking about adding a 22mm rear sway bar, and I'm also thinking about wheels and tires. Seems like 17" is a good compromise of performance/comfort for a daily driver. Living in the snow belt of Mass, I have snow tires (for the fronts and decent all seasons for the rear) on now. I'm thinking of a more performance summer tire that's good in wet or dry. Given what I've read here, I'm leaning toward 215/45-17. How will that compare to my 16s in terms of both comfort and performance. I'm guessing it will be a bit rougher on the commute on some of the bumpier parts, but as long as it's better in the turns, I'll be fine with it.

 

Adjustable (3 hole) rear swaybar gives you less understeer as long as you don't make the settings too stiff. Start with the mildest setting the hole at the end of the bar and adjust from there.

You did not mention which tire you had in 205/50-16. The exact model tire can make a big difference on how the tire performs and handles more than the tire size itself. If you get the exact tire in both 205/50-16 and 215/45-17 then you can usually expect the 205/50-16 tire to be a little softer riding and not quite as responsive on handling and turning.

For wet and dry weather Michelin Pilot 4S is costly but sets the standard or Michelin Pilot A/S 3 if you want all season.

Using snow tires on the front and all season tires on the rears is possible but be careful as usually keeping the same tire model on both front and rear gives the most predictable handling. If you are going slow it isn't that bad.

 

Yeah, I got the car used and it had mismatching tires. My fronts were MasterCrafts and Conti Extreme Contacts DWS were on the back. Didn't really notice it during the buying process, and it hasn't really presented an issue, even with a couple of track days. I'm looking to get a complete set for next season, obviously. I have some Firestone snows now on the front and the MasterCrafts on the back (because they had much more tread). That should be fine for the winter months with daily commuting I think. Not too much speedy driving. Those'll be my winter set, and eventually, I'll get them all the same. The new ones will be the summer sneakers.

Thanks for the info. I've definitely been looking at the Michelin's.

 

If I go to a 215/45/17 on my 2009 Mini S how will the speedometer be effected? 205/45/17 are 832 rev's per mile and 218/45/17 are 820 rev's per mile. Will it show a slower or higher speed than I am actually going?

 

it would show slower than you are going.

 

 

I just bought new snow tires for my 2004 mini cooper s and i think they might be to big. They are 205 / 50 ZR 17 and I have 205/40 on right now.. please let me know whats up.

 

A 205/40x17 is 23.5" by 8.1". A 205/50x17 is 25.9" by 8.1"

 

So the 23.5” is a big difference than the 25.9” so they won’t work essentially

 

For people coming across this thread in the future.

215/45R17 Khumo PS31 result in a GPS vs Speedo delta of 1.5 mph, under actual GPS speed. The extra height essentially makes the speed closer to correct, the trade off is the odometer, it will now turn slightly slower and show less mileage than actual by a small margin (1.2%).

Crawled up under the 2014 R59 S (stock ride height, stock non-sport package "S" springs, FSD shocks) today and measured a bunch of stuff out to ensure 17x7.5 et40 with 225/45R17 will fit, and they will. With 17.7.5, et 40 allows for the most flexibility in fitment of tire sizes without huge amounts of "poke" (3mm out rear, dead flush front) beyond the wheel arch. Using 225/45R17 there's about 10mm to front spring perch to tire, 13mm from tire to shock body front, and 10mm from tire to trailing arm rear. This is using "nominal" tire sizes, some tires are larger/smaller than claimed so certain (wider than nominal, like RE-71Rs) 225s will NOT fit.

With ET 40 and a 5mm spacer, so ET 35 effective, 235/45R17 should even fit, which is why I think ET 40 is ideal, allows for a 5mm spacer if needed due to wider than nominal 225s and fitment of 235s if they're nominal size. An 8mm spacer on 17x7 stock mini ET 48 wheels achieves that and is available so ... there ya go.

Front arch height to ground on my car is 26 inches, and gap from top of 215/45R17 to arch is 2.75 inches (15mm spacers on R112s for effective ET 33) currently for anyone else trying to figure out what will fit with 28mm tire to trailing arm rear clearance, and 31mm tire to shock body front clearance, about 20mm tire to spring perch front clearance (this measurement is tough to estimate as it will change with the same tire on different width rims). -1mm front camber, -2 rear camber with car at rest, so pretty close to stock.

Quick cheat sheet for those curious so you can do some references on your cars when shopping for wheels (et 45 is no bueno on 7.5 wide). Keep in mind various options change spring rates from factory, which should only effect arch and liner to tire clearance, the tire clearance to suspension components won't be impacted significantly. If you don't have access to a shop to test fit stuff, measure measure measure before ordering!! Keep in mind, front tire to shock body clearance reduces as you corner because of kingpin angle, it's the most likely spot rubbing will occur using 225/45R17 at stock ride height on 17" ET 40 rims, if it does, just throw a 5mm spacer in and it should be fine.

I advise keeping max tire height under 25" inches for spring perch to tire clearance in the front, it's the main constraint on stock suspension and tire height.