From my experience it is the inside of the rear wheel wells where you will get rubbing with a wide tire/wheel. I tried a 225-45x17 on a 7.5” wide wheel with 40 ET and it was rubbing back there just backing out of the driveway. I don’t know what the rear camber was back there, but you may be able tuck the tire in enough with more camber within the available camber adjustment range to keep the rubbing to a minimum. Not sure.

A 215 tire on a 8.5” wide wheel will be a stretch for the tire. Depends on the look you are going for. Probably not the best for handling or tire wear.

I would just buy a pair of each, the 5 and 10 mm spacers and see which is best. You can aways sell (here on NAM) the set you don’t use. Or return it if you don’t mess it up.

You will need to buy longer wheel bolts to go with any spacer you use. Do not use the stock bolts with a spacer as it won’t have enough thread engagement to be safe.

 

thanks for the reply. Didn’t even think about the rears, was so worried about the fronts with the strut and brake clearance.

Good idea on getting both size spacers. I’ll have to see if I can find a seller that has a good return policy if I can. Maybe Amazon it.

I’m planning to get a stud conversion kit on ECS too so I don’t have to worry about the longer bolts

 

For the stud conversion, you still need to make sure they are long enough for proper nut to thread engagement. I have some that just fit a wheel with no spacer. I could have gotten longer. This is a consideration if you get bull nose studs where the treads start further down the shank, which facilitates putting the nut on (really nice for not cross threading), but the down side is that it shortens the thread engagement length. So when looking at studs and considering bull nose stud take this into account and buy them longer.

I have bought studs from Turner Motorsports as I trust them. I have seen a lot of broken studs when I go to the track. Studs (and wheel bolts for that matter), at least in track use are considered to be wear items and need to be replaced before they start breaking. I trust the Turners to not be breaking “out of the box” and to last a reasonable length of time. For the street, not sure what the life will be. Turner also has spacers. Turner and ECS seem to work together (same company?) and I think have good return policies.

Another thought…. If you have a piece of 5mm or 1/4” (~6mm) plywood, cut a “test” spacer out of that. Use a hole saw and cut 5 - 2” dia disks. If using wheel bolts just make the center hole a touch small so you can pass the bolt through the wheel and thread it into the disk to hold it in place while mounting the wheel. That should be enough to test for clearance.

 

Wedssport SA10R 18x8.5+45
5mm spacers all 4 corners
215/40/18 Michelin PS4
Stock suspension
No rubbing everything clears

 

Nice!

 

Re-read through this thread twice and it looks like 18x8 +45 et fits JCW calipers without spacers on 215/40/18?

 

How did this work out at the track for you? I am looking for some wheels for the track (2016 F56 JCW) and would like to run 225's so prefer a 8" wheel.

For all you track junkies out there, what is the consensus for a good 17" track wheel (and best offset to get) and do you run 215 or 225?

 

First Post?

Welcome to NAM!

What track experience do you currently have?

As for what tire size to run on the track…

Here is my experience. I run 215-45x17s on my 2019 JCW and my 2012 R56S. Why? Because that is what fits within the wheel wells without a lot of damage. The rear wheel wells are tight and with the lateral suspension flex I get rubbing with that size on the rear wheel well liner at the wheel well arch. A wider tire will just rub more. Will it hit the metal? Don’t know, as I have not wanted to risk tire damage and possibly failure.

On my F56 JCW I am running the tires on 7.5” wide ET45 Sparco wheels (also need 2mm spacers up front). The 215 tires seem to really like that width as compared to the same tire on my R56 MINI with 7” wide wheels. I would think the 215 tire would be just fine on an 8” wide wheel.

If you go with the 225 wide tire, just watch the inside of the wheel well arch for tire wear through the liner and on the metal. You don’t want the tire being sliced by the wheel well lip.

FWIW - My JCW is basically stock. The only change I have made is the addition of the JCW Pro suspension (coilovers). It has minimal factory camber up front. This limits the effectiveness of a wider tire and you maybe just as well off with the 215 tire as a 225 tire. Just a thought.

 

Thanks! I've got bit of experience in the past. (was heavy into AutoX and Time Trials in early to mid 2000's). Recently got back into things and have logged 25 track days in my '08 Z06 and 3ish days in a '12 JCW. I got the mini for my kids to join me at the track (and second car for me to 'share the love' with Z06) for a few days a year. Of course, I fell in love with the versatility of the Mini, which took me a bit by surprise as I've always been in the RWD or nothing camp. I was pretty happy with how the R56 JCW did at the track, but really second guessing my choice after going through 2 sets of pads in as many weekends on the fronts. I was hoping for something with less work that I could do 1/2 duty with the z06, which it can, but not at the expense of having to constantly worry about brakes! I have since found out that eLSD is probably the main culprit on the front brake wear. I was running with all TC off, but have since surmised that being a bit 'less eager' on corner exit might have helped to get a bit more life out of the front brakes (ebc reds and then PS TrackDay were the pads in question).

Fast forward to today, I now have a '16 JCW and a '13 GP2 ('16 was my goal but GP2 was a great deal I stumbled upon just last week, couldn't pass it up). The GP2 will not see a lot of track duty, but I will definitely take it out and put it through it's paces in stock form. The '16 JCW is 100% stock, but I am doing the following at a minimum: LSD, front/rear sways, camber plates, pads (of course) and wheels. I purchased both after the track was closed... I have an idea of what to expect with the GP2, but completely blind on the '16 JCW.

My 'rule' is that I'm sticking with street tires (have some 215 RE71rs left over from the '12), at least for a year or two, never say nver. I will also be using the '16 JCW as a year round floater vehicle for myself and kids (will have 3 young drivers in the house starting early next year). That said, I'm hoping to keep the stock factory shocks (adjustable damping) and springs. I MAY go with a very slightly lowered springs, but will be relying on the sways and an aggressive alignment to keep my tire wear acceptable. Main goal is to have something fun, reliable, not too hard on tires for my eldest and myself to drive at the track (he's limited to 4 days). I will likely do about 10 track days in the car myself if it meets those 3 criteria. I hope it can play with some of the other fast-'slower' cars out there, which I already know it should. That said, I'm not going for ultimate track times.

Sorry for the long explanation... So, basically, I want to obviously maximize the rubber on the road. 215's seem pretty small compared to the 335's I'm running on the rear of the Z06!! haha Was hoping at least to end up with some 225's! But, hoping to learn from others that have been through all of this already!

P.S. I have been working through your 2019 'Albert' thread Eddie and have been taking notes! Thanks for all the details, I'm still catching up. haha

 

Can you let me know how much camber these can do stock and how much lowered you are? I was able to get -1.6 on the front and better than -2.0 rear on the '12 JCW. I settled on -1.6f/-1.9r and it wasn't enough to keep the tire wear even in the front.

How is your tire wear with your alignment?

 

Wow, glad I asked about your experience and thanks for explanation.

First - the eDLC is a killer of brake pads and it can not be turned off. It is tied into the ABS system and the only way to kill that is to pull the fuse. Personally, I am not a fan of turning off the nannies. I run with full (street) level of traction control. Driving right, and it almost never comes on.

Second - the EBC Reds are not a track pad and I have seen more than one case of those “disapearing” in a day on the track in MINIs. Nothing with “street” in the name should be used on the track in a MINI, especially with your experience. I run Carbotech XP12s front and rear on my F56 JCW and I am currently thinking of going to the next level up (XP16?). I’ll get 5 - 6 days from a set of pads. Hawk DTC 60 (I have used), and Pagid, PFC (have not used) are options.

About the eDLC - it does OK on a long track like Watkins Glen with the right pads. As for Camber up front, it is not adjustable on a stock MINI without camber plates. My JCW is at -0.6 deg. Again, OK for WGI, but totally a tire killer at a tight track like Lime Rock Park. -2 to -3 deg will be needed to cut down on tire wear there. For a tight track think about adding caster (Power Flex has caster bushings for the front lower control arms).

Mechanical LSD - Quaife (I have in my R56) and Wave Trac are popular for MINIs.

I really like your idea of bigger front and rear sway bars, which I have in my R56. However, with the F56, I am thrilled with the handling with the JCW Pro coilovers. They are as good for handling as the swaybar change and better ride. Something to think about. That said, my JCW started out with the conventional suspension, so maybe, the adjustable ride is better for the track? Don’t know. If you lower either MINI, stick with less than 1” drop so as to not get into roll center issues.

Say, this is getting pretty far off topic here. Feel free to post on my Albert thread if you want and we can discuss further…

PS - MINIs are a hoot, right?