215 or 205/50/16 will they fit on a lowered mini????
will they rub??

thx in advance

 

205/50/16's should not be a problem with stock offset wheels.

 

cool thanks

 

mycpr_s,
You have to watch out for clearance given the wheel offset of your rim and how much lowered your MINI is (1" or 1.5"??). Assuming you have stock rims 16x6.5" or similar aftermarket rims with offset of +40mm to +48mm, then a good safe fit would be 205/50-16. Here are some sample tire stats-

205/50-16 87 load rating fits 5.5-7.5" rim (6.5" perfect) 24.1" outer diam.
215/50-16 90 load rating fits 6-7.5" rim (7" perfect) 24.5" outer diam.
215/45-16 86 load rating fits 7-8" rim (7" perfect) 23.7" outer diam.

Stock 16" tire-
195/55-16 87 load rating 24.4" outer diameter

A slightly smaller diameter tire that fits the 6.5" rim perfectly with a good tire selection like the 205/50-16 would give you the most options and good overall performance. If your aftermarket rims are 7" these tires will fit fine stretched out to a wider rim which helps to stiffen the side wall a bit. This also increases tread width by 0.2" for every 0.5" wider rim you use beyond 6.5".

While 215/50 is wider it will be a closer fit to the wheel wells in a lowered MINI (OK for use with stock suspension). Wider also means heavier and more expensive, I doubt that you'd get that much better performance on the street. In the snow a narrower tire will cut through better- in case you're buying all season tires for year round use.

215/45-16 won't fit the stock 6.5" wide rim but it will fit 7" rims and is a much smaller diameter tire which helps in autocross and on the track with lowered gearing (also a falsely lower speedo reading). Heavier and more expensive tire with limited selection. Falken Azenis sports come in this size- see edgeracing.com

If you have more questions try talking to alex@tirerack.com and let him know what you want to use the tires for- street, autocross or track, and in snow (light or heavy) or wet weather.

 

A bunch of local autocrossers are running 215/45-16 Azenis Sport on stock 6.5" wheels with no issues whatsoever. I happen to use a 7.5" wheel.

6.5" may not be optimal, but it certainly works. 225's are widely used on 6.5" wide wheels on Subaru.

Scott
90STX

 

I am running 215/50YR16 on my stock Xlites on my none lowered MINI without any issues.