Noticed these on ebay and emailed the seller to see if he'd be willing to negotiate a sale out of auction, picked 'em up for a hair over $100/wheel. Called up Wesco tire and got some 205/50-15s which is what search revealed to be the ideal tire. The wheels are polished Rota Circuit 8, 15X6.5 with a 38MM offset. So far no rubbing. Oh yeah, this is hands down the best mod I've done thus far, definately more noticeable than the intake/exhaust/springs. The car now handles better, rides better and in my opinion has a more classic MINI look. Anyway, on to the pictures...

BEFORE:
:smile:

EDIT: Before I forget, 15" Rota with Yoko tire weighs in at ~35 lbs. vs. stock S-lite with runflat which is ~49 lbs.

 

Excellent. Such a nice change for the best.

 

Hey man, those are dope!

 

Looks good dude!

 

buz, anto, ray, thanks for the compliments :smile:

the rest of you, don't be shy, if you think they suck I don't mind

 

Looks great! i bet those ES100's handle pretty good too.
Im glad to see people not so hung up on going larger wheels all
the time.


nice job.

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03MCS IB/Blk: 123, Aerokit, R90 17x7, Anthrasite Int, TK5 16x7, 6CDMP3, etc.

 

How's the acceleration?.. That was the best improvement with my 205/50 15, much fasta now. Looks great and much better than the big, heavy S-lites.

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Super_MINI, funny you replied, your 15s were my inspiration. At first I was going to buy the Hamann wheels and then decided to go ***** out full performance. The acceleration is much healthier now, 2nd gear is really awesome, especially when i get in the boost Also, leaving from a dead stop has become much easier, I don't need to slip the clutch as much as I used to anymore and it just takes off effortlessly.

 

Very nice!!!!

I was thinking of going up to 17" from my 16" 5-stars ... but I think you just changed my mind

Really! Those wheels looks real class on that BRG!

 

I had a set of those with Azenis on my '99 Miata. Awesome combination, and it was my first purchase from R-Speed. The high quality of the rims, despite the low price, and the good service from R-Speed, is why I went with my current set of 16" polished Slipstreams from them as well.

 

>>Super_MINI, funny you replied, your 15s were my inspiration. At first I was going to buy the Hamann wheels and then decided to go ***** out full performance. The acceleration is much healthier now, 2nd gear is really awesome, especially when i get in the boost Also, leaving from a dead stop has become much easier, I don't need to slip the clutch as much as I used to anymore and it just takes off effortlessly.

What springs did you put on your car? I have the H-sport springs but your car looks slightly lower than mine. I would say that was the only negative with the smaller diameter wheel/tire combination is that the car is really low now. I like the looks but driveway scraping of the front lip happens alot. Looks great. I noticed a bigger performance difference in this wheel/tire combination having done it will the pulley installed. The acceleration difference was huge. My final decision came down to Rota Circuit 10's in white or the TDR-1's in white. I got the TDR's for around the same price as the Rota's and they were 1/2" wider, so I went with those. Now that I have the smaller wheels I can't look at a MINI with 17" S-lites without thinking it looks funny.

 

Super, the car is equipped with H&R springs. With the S-lites and runflats it rode a bit too harsh in my opinion and I was going to switch to H-sport after I got wheels/tires. But now, the new setup has smoothed it out to a very nice ride and I'm happy where I'm at. Only thing I gotta do to the suspension is get the H-sport rear adj. arms to fix the rear camber problem ( -3 degrees ) and a rear sway. I like your TDRs, if I had a white roof and mirrors I woulda gone with the same setup you have.

My car is pretty damn low now as well, I scraped it 3 times in the first 10 miles because I was driving like I did with the S-lites. Now everything gets the extreme angle treatment.

 

They look GREAT!!! I know you said they are polished but in the pic's they look like my bright silver Rota Circuit 8's. Are the hubs sized for the MINI? just asking because mine aren't I'm just carefull when I put them on, no need for centering rings. What size tires are they?

 

You might consider the RDR rear bars... I love mine, and getting them for $335 for four compared to $235+ for two seems like a deal to me. Fixed my camber issue with the H&R springs (-2.4 before alignment, -1.2 now) and allowed rear toe adjustment (exactly 1/16" toe out now).

 

norm, they're polished, and didn't come with the proper centering ring so I had to also be careful when installing them. Thing is, they're so light that it was easy to properly position them with my knees and then get the bolts snug before torquing them down.

2Cool, I'll look into the RDRs. Main reason I want the H-sport is because I want to avoid the vibration and road noise from heim joints and would prefer something isolated.

 

I have only test fit them to see if they would clear the brakes when I was putting on my Slip Streams. I know there is a noticable difference between those and my S lites.
So now I'm all set.

17" S Lite's (OEM all season) = Winter wear
16' Rota Slip Streams, Yoko ES 100 = Summer wear
15" Rota Circuit 8, well worn Kumho Esta 712 = Ripping around & AutoX

I 'm going for the H-Sport spings later this spring and will Fab my own adjustable controll arms.
Once again those wheels on your car look Great.

 

I have to chime in here again as I am totally obsessing on your wheels and how classic they look.

I have a CR/W and was looking at the same wheel now in Gun Metal finish .. i like the darker grey look a lot.

Even the current factory 5-star wheels I have now I like better when they are covered in brake dust as oposed when they have the clean shiny look ... i know it's crazy ...

So what do you think about a CR/W with these darker wheels?

 

lurch, thanks for the compliments. I'd personally get the wheels in white if you have a white top and mirrors but the dark grey/gunmetal color would look very nice as well. Rota has a lot of different finishes on this wheel, they even have a black center with polished lip which looks good as well. In the end, it's a personal call, I'm real happy with my polished setup, but I'm sure the gunmetal on CR/W would look good as well.

 

Hey ZAMIRZ,

Great Pics! I like what you've done. Wheels remind me of a spider web. Great look.