With winter approaching in our area(PA) in a few months, we thought about it and we agreed to get another set of sneakers for our JCW. we will have a truck for any serious storms that come up but both cars still need to be daily drivers, through slush and semi slick conditions. to make things easier we have decided to just replace all for rims and tires with a set for winter, then once spring pops back up we switch to the low profile tires so she can get back to being a little terror on the streets.

now, as i said, both tires and rims will be for winter only. what would really be the best options top to put on for rims and then tires?

I understand that it wont handle very good but we need something to have some type of grip when it comes to December and so fourth. i have seen a couple post about it but none that helped me. if anybody has suggestions for posts to look at just link them.

-cheers thrash

 

go explore on tirerack dot com

read the reviews, browse the winter tires

i am going with michelin x-ice xi3 winter tires on separate set of rims


scott

 

okay. thank you for the suggestion. if i may ask, what are you doing about rims? size? same size as what is already on it?

 

i have 18" rims with 225/45 tires for summer

for winter, i ordered 16" mini oem rims and will be running michelin x-ice xi3 winter tires in size 215/65R16, they are 27" diameter, about 1" larger than the 225/45R18s, but they fit with no rubbing anywhere

i went with the michelins because they have a 40k treadwear warranty

scott

 

You have a 2006 MCS JCW

You can go to tirerack.com and look for options in 16" wheels and snow tires like this-

http://www.tirerack.com/snow/preferredpackages.jsp

You can use any basic 16" wheel that is not too expensive and that you don't mind the looks, mount any 195/55-16 snow tire.

You can talk to Alex@tirerack.com to see what drivers in your area tend to buy and use. He gets feedback about what works and knows MINIs.

It might be possible to run 15" wheels and tires but they would have to clear the front brake calipers.

 

I went with 205/55/16 Pirelli Winter Sottozeros last year for the PA winter. I had them mounted on some 1st gen 16x6.5 MINI wheels I got super cheap. So of course it barely snowed at all last winter, but they were fine in the few light snowfalls I was out it. But where these tires really shine is in the wet and dry when it's cold out. The Winter Sottozeros are far and away the best handling snow tires I've ever found. And I've had a LOT of snow tires over the years on various sporty cars. The Winter Sottozeros handle better than the all-season Conti runflats that come from the factory. If you want the safety and confidence of snow tires, but live somewhere where it only snows a few times a year, these are a great choice

If you go on TireRack, there is a $50 rebate on a set of 4 now and you can get the full set for less than $400.

 

I'm planning on going with the Continental Extreme Contact Winter, in 205/50/17 for the winter, mounted on my track rims (Enkei PF01's).

 

thank you so much. i have been cautious on this because as someone pointed out we have a MCS JCW. been worried about clearance from the tire to rim, since it seems really low. but we really need something for the cold because well... the tires tend to slip when its wet. like i said before we have a truck, so if it need be that will be used for heavy snow use.

i do believe that we have 18" rims and i felt that with a real tire(not low Pro) they could rub. so i do like the idea of dropping to 16s for the snow tires. Anybody feel this is a bad idea?


All the suggestions for tires have been helpful. I really just like getting some ideas from people who have driven a mini in the snow and so fourth. Like i said the big worry for me was what size rims to choose so you can get a proper tire on it with out issues.


thank you everybody

 

I have a set of 16" OEM wheels for winter wheels and will be shopping for winter tires soon.