The other issue to consider is brake upgrades. With 15's you are limited in the brake category. I use 16's on the street and 15 holeys on the track.

 

Tire manufacturers recommend a tire no more than 25-30mm wider than the rim, to prevent the tire from rolling off the wheel during hard cornering, and to reduce the overheating that excessive sidewall flex causes. Too wide a tire for the wheel also reduces control during turn-in and cornering, and offers less performance and handling than a correctly-sized tire.

The recomendation means that a 175 is wider than recommended for a 5.5" (135mm) wide holey.

Run a 205 (8.5" wide) tire on a 135mm rim? Not if you value your life...

 

You may want to double check your information, Rick, it apparently is incorrect. I just pulled up the manufacturer spec sheets for three different street tires that I had saved on my hard drive, and all three tires (from Falken, Toyo, and Hankook) say that a 195mm or 205mm wide tire is ok on a 5.5" wheel (assuming the sidewall is tall enough, and for Mini fitments it is). Check Tire Rack's website, they have spec charts for every tire they sell, including recommended wheel widths. I don't think the tire manufacturers would say that a 195 or 205 mm wide tire was ok if it was inherently unsafe.

-Keith

 

i have been running a 195 on 5.5 for 3 years now (for winter)

 

I like the wheels you have and the tires, but the width on 15's looks a bit tooo wide for my tastes. Those BFG Sports have a very thick bulky thread that looks a bit overwhelmin on 225's and kind of large for a small car like the MINI ... well, as long as you like them, that is all that matters.

I am about to do something crazy too ... looking to get 205/55 KDW2's on my holies

 

How did you do it? Looks freakin' sweet!

 

I used the white-letter-repair marker from JCWhitney... it works O-K, but not great. I'd look around for a titanium-white paint pen, it might crack off, but it will retain it's color better.

Upside is the JCWhitney marker is only 5 bucks, so its pretty cheap. It hasn't cracked or pealed yet, its just faded a little. I think another coating will bring it back to white.

RM2k5

 

I thought I was one of the few that was bucking the cool trend in favor of handling, performance and comfort. What's the downside again? Oh, that's right, not cool. I haven't been cool my whole life, why start now? Those 15" Konig Rewinds remain the favorite in the clubhouse with about a month to go before I take delivery.

Anyway, nice to see such a strong contingent of smaller-wheel MINI drivers.

 

I dont know what you're talking about....15s are what's cool, people just dont realize it

I personally love my rewinds....first mini on NAM to get them right when they came to the US.

 

Just a support post. I run 195/60/15 on a 6.5 15 on my MCS. Love it, probably won't go back. Got 16 and 17 wheels in the garage, they will stay there for a while.

 

I agree - I'm not saying that you can't put 205s on the holeys - many have - but you aren't going to get the most out of the tires as the the 5.5" width is just not at all optiman for that wide a tire. I flat love my holeys, particularly on an MC - they look right and so far the Pirelli 175/65/15s have not dampened my fun. At about 12 lbs. they are wonderfully light. Frankly, if you find a 185/65/15 that is a bit "short" (tires vary), the height of the tire @ 24.2 is no more than the 195/55/16s that come standard on the MCS & optional on the Cooper. If you want a shorter sidewall and more width, 195/60/15 & 195/55/15 both work. If you want to spend some fairly serious bucks and go wider, look into BBS RGFs in 15X7. Awesome

 

Yeah, the only reason I even went with 205mm wide race tires on my stock 15x5.5 holey wheels is that the class I race in (H Stock) requires that I use a wheel that is the stock height and width. I do have a set of 16x6.5 wheels that I'll use this year (optional wheel size for the MC) and install 215/40 tires on them for autocross use.

 

One of the guy I know is the owner of this car. I think his 15" Work Equip 03's are pretty cool wheels.

 

equip 03's....so jealous. I love the works 15" wheels....some great style to be had.

 

anymore pictures?! nice

 

Hey everyone, I'm in the market for a new tire and rim set. Currently running the original S-lites with Pirelli runflats on my MCS, and had always thought I was going to go with a 17-18 inch rim, when the time came, but I came across this thread and am now seriously considering going with the 15 inch setup. I'm a little ignorant on difference in performance between a 17 and 15 inch tire. Any insight would be appreciated. Now I'm thinking of getting a set of Wedsport TC-005's in white (10.7lbs) with Yokohama AVS ES100's. Thoughts on that set up? and what kind of difference in handling and preformance could I expect?

 

i have 15" wheels on my snow setup. its great and lite and you can get studded tires for 15". my whole winter setup cost like $480 or something, cheap. snow tires for 17" cost more then my setup.

 

Check my gallery, I used to run 15" Rota Circuit 8s and Attacks. Fantastic wheels, but with the shorter overall diameter, making long trips on the highway at high RPM became a bit of a problem, so I'm on stock 5-stars now.

 

The difference between 17-18" and light (9 lbs.) 15" wheels is huge.

With the 15" wheels, it takes a lot of thump out of the bumps, and the Mini corners better, because the tires stay in contact with the road better. The Mini feels like a Porsche on 15" wheels, compared to a Camaro on 18". You will hear fewer interior plastic creaks and ticks on 15", because less impact is transmitted to the car. You may also notice less road noise.

You will also get noticably better acceleration, and better braking as well.

Downside? Well, some say that the car starts to turn-in quicker on larger wheels due to the lower sidewall, but this also makes it easier to break loose, so that's not an easy trade-off.

To me, the kind of driving that I prefer to optimize for (winding through twisty mountain hairpins) is more like autocross than it is like road racing on a smooth track, so I prefer to optimize as the autocross guys do: lightweight 15" wheels for me. 205x55x15" gives perfect speedo readings, lowers the car about 1/4" vs. stock, and offers a fair choice of tires.

 

I'm putting on a set of 15" RPF1's w/ Azenis tomorrow. I'll post some pics once I get home.

 

nice wheels! Can't wait to see them on your MINI...

 

I really wanted to get them in gold, but I found out only the 5x100 applications get gold . So silver at first, perhaps some paint later. I'm picking them up in 2hrs

 

Yeah, I've been looking at the KPF1's for a while but just got a deal on some 16x7.5 Kosei K1's.... guess they'll do for now, and also going on a black (with white) MCS...

 

Easy. You guys might start a trend....

I recently sold a brake kit to a customer and we did a set of both size rotors for it; 11.75 and 12.2 for the specific issue of being able to change between the wheel size as felt required. Very good thinking.

 

good call!

You sell a kit meant for 15s right?