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Having read all that I could about wheels and tires that should fit my JCW, I went out and bought a set of the NM 17” RSE05 Wheels and Yokohama A052 225-45x17 tires. The wheels are 7.5” wide and ET40 (vs 54 for the stock wheels). And I have the JCW Pro suspension, same as some others with this setup.
Looked darn good: Meatballs on the edge (Yokohama 225-45x17)
But then I heard the rubbing... And saw this:
Tire rubbing on the wheel well arch
And this on the tire. The marks are just some melted plastic; no tire damage. This was just on the rear. There were no issues with these on the front. Plenty of clearance with the coilovers.
Wheel well arch rubbing on the tire
I must have a 98% scale F56, as this was not supposed to happen...
Unfortunately, I consider this to be unacceptable for the track. A rubbing tire at 120 mph would not be good.
So, some smaller tires:
225 Yokohama vs 215 Falken
These are the new 200TW Falken tires in a 215-45x17 size. These performed well in the Tire Rack test and they were about $65 less, so why not try them.
I mounted them on the NM wheels. And they look good on the car.
Falken 215-45x17 on Albert
At this point the 215-45x17s on the NM wheels seems to be a really good fit. No rubbing on any of the roads I have been on. Of course, my wheel well arches have already been “trimmed”.
As for the Falken tires... First impressions are really good. Maybe slightly “softer” than the Yokos, but not so much that I would care. Turn-in is crisp. Ride is about the same. New, they are slightly noisier. I expect after being on the track, they will be really noisy.
Not sure what to do about the Yokohama tires. Unfortunately, with about 100 miles on them, I have my doubts that TR will take them back... I have thoughts of trying them on the Enkei Racing wheels with the ET50. I already have a set of 5mm spacer and longer bolts. Or if I really like the Falkens, maybe just sell them and someone will get a bargain set of great tires.
After seeing Alex Hamby fitting them on R56 Mini here, I decided to give it a try, because why not?
These are Mercedes Segin forged rims (R17 ET46 7.5j), which I bought cheap and had them fully restored and repainted to more grayish and less shiny colour.
They fit perfectly even with JCW Big Brake kit, which I fitted later and was a bit worried whether they'll fit - but because they have such a large surface, the "spokes" (if you can call them that) are very thin, which allows for them to clear big calipers without poking out too much.
The inner spacing is good too.
Being forged, they weigh less than 10 or even 9 kilos each, which is a big improvement over stock.
The bolt pattern is the same at 5x112 and 66.6 central bore, so they are a direct fit except for wheel bolts. I had to use longer 40 mm bolts (stock are 29 mm) with Merc spherical seats and BMW/Mini M14x1.25 thread, these are hard to find. Maybe a simpler way is to use M14x1.25 bolts with spherical washers.
So far so good, no rubbing or other issues, I really like how this worked out!
Some people don't like the looks but hey, it depends!
After seeing Alex Hamby fitting them on R56 Mini here, I decided to give it a try, because why not?
These are Mercedes Segin forged rims (R17 ET46 7.5j), which I bought cheap and had them fully restored and repainted to more grayish and less shiny colour.
This appears to be your first post...
Welcome to NAM!
That is an interesting look. Different from the MINI look. Smooth and clean lines. Nice.
The tires are stock 205/45 R17 Pirellis P7
Maybe I'll change them for 215/45 Michelin Pilot Sports, there is enough space for that I think
That should be OK. I had that size on ET 40 wheels with no rub under street conditions.
Originally Posted by Giantsfan107
Looks good! How big of a difference are the big brakes compared to the stock ones?
The JCW brake calipers stand outboard from the rotor by quite a bit beyond the S caliper and it takes a wheel with spokes that arch outward to clear them. Sorry I don’t have a measurement but they are somewhat of a PIA to fit wheels over.
I like it. Those wheels have huge clearance over any brake caliper. I have a set of 17” Enkei PF01s for my R56 and I can measure the clearance to the brake caliper in inches.
Sparco Trofeo 7.5 x 17”, ET 48 on a 2019 JCW with 215-45x17 tires. These wheels will be for track tires, so color was not a priority (this color was on clearance on Tire Rack). I found that I need more offset to cut down the rubbing in the rear wheel well, which is why I went with these. I know people are running the NM wheels with ET40 and 225 tires; those, for whatever reason, are not even close to fitting on this car. Not even for the street.
Sparco wheel on Albert
Tire Rack says “clearance is clearance”. It seems that these wheels clear the JCW Brembos...
About 2mm clearance to caliper
And about 5mm clearance to the shock. These shocks are the JCW Pro coilovers, for reference.
Tire to front shock clearance
There is a tab on the brake pad that catches the wheel weight. This doesn’t happen on the stock MINI wheel, which has a weight in the same location. Not sure why this is. But be aware this could happen.
Just another data point: my Enkei 17 inch PF01s clear my Brembo bbk with a mm or two to spare; very similar to the JCW brakes, it looks like, except no tab on the Brembos.
Don't know if you ended up with the white ones, but boy with the white roof and mirror caps, they really looked great. I have seen white wheels on some that looked a bit odd, but on yours, really slick.
I recently got a 2017 JCW f56 and I'm absolutely loving it so far. Really fun car and a brilliant engine. But, inevitably, I find myself wanting to change the wheels. I have the stock 17" ones and they don't quite do it for me.
BUT, I found these Advan Racing TC-4s and I really love the way they look.
I'm pretty confident that either of these sizes won't rub or cause any issues even if I slightly lower the car based on other people's setups in the forums(17x7.5 or 18x8):
Will these fit mini TPMS?
Will they clear the JCW calipers? (I'm pretty confident it will be fine as some people use these wheels on GTRs and such but might as well double check)
Where can I find good hub centric rings?
And most importantly: 17" or 18"? I know it's subjective but I'm open to hearing people's opinions.
Anything else my newbie self is missing?
Any help is appreciated and I am super excited to see where this goes!
Thanks!
Last edited by Luke Batarseh; May 16, 2021 at 07:30 AM.
Nice choice, I liked those and the RZ2 so I had contacted the vendor who reached out to japan and they told me neither 17x7.5 would fit a JCW. I lost the emails can't recall whether the 18x8 fit. Keep us posted.
Nice choice, I liked those and the RZ2 so I had contacted the vendor who reached out to japan and they told me neither 17x7.5 would fit a JCW. I lost the emails can't recall whether the 18x8 fit. Keep us posted.
Ok good to know. I just sent an email to Evasive to see if they have any info on it so I'll definitely give an update here when I get a reply.
So it seems that the TC-4s do actually fit in the 17" size and even though there is no data for the 18", that is likely to work too if the 17s work (I think). But otherwise its just another data point to go off of.
It would be nice if they could give you a scale cross-section of the wheel (like BBS did for me) so you can print and cut out a mockup in paper/cardstock. Then you could pull a wheel and check for fitting before committing to them. I ended up needing spacers to give the calipers clearance.
I don't see why TPMS wouldn't work.
Those are pretty nice wheels. What do they weigh in the 17" config?
Yeah that would be nice. I did actually ask for one but they couldn't give me anything for some reason.
Good that TPMS shouldn't have any issues
And yeah! I saw some on a Miata a few years ago and it looked really slick. I found a forum post saying that the wheels are about 7.5kg (16.5lbs) per wheel.
Yeah, I totally want a set, but I am prioritizing other mods/upgrades first. Also unless they drop in price, I'll probably just get RSe05 wheels. If you get those TC-4s post up all the details!
Yeah! That's cool! It will probably be a few months before I look to get these but when I do I will definitely post them here and give my experience! And good luck with your upgrades! The RSe05s are also really great wheels. Something about the 5 spoke look really feels right for these cars
Anyone know if the 17inch BBS XRs +45 will clear the jcw/brembo calipers? I would like to stay with 17s and not go up to 18s, and I don't mind running spacers to clears the spokes. I'm just not for sure what specs to look at to check...
Has someone with Team dynamics 1.2 pro race 18 "bought some OEM Mini type flat hubcaps? I don't like the originals from Team dynamics and can't find one that fits.
I have thoughts of trying them on the Enkei Racing wheels with the ET50. I already have a set of 5mm spacer and longer bolts. Or if I really like the Falkens, maybe just sell them and someone will get a bargain set of great tires. 
