Todd, I've wondered about BBK's and 15" wheels... so the 11.75" set-up must fit a 15" wheel... right?
I thought I would just optimise what's already a pretty good brake set-up and that would be it.

 

The 11.75 BBK does fit a lot of 15" wheels. But nothing is 100% sure, because every wheel's design is different.

 

example: BBS RGF 15*7 with 11.75 Wilwood BBK.

 

Well it's a done deal, pulled the trigger today on a set of white Team Dynamic Pro Race 1's with 205/55/15 BF Goodrich g-force sports. I'll post some pics when they get here, had to go with two separate venders. Thanks for the advice.

 

As most of you know the RPF1 doesn't fit on the MCS w/o modification. I needed to find a shorter lower ball joint nut, but the hardware stores in the area, and home deopt only carried size 10, and 12 nuts...the lower ball joint bolt is an 11 (with I think a 1.25 pitch, although I bought a 1.5 and a 1.75 just in case) it took me a while to track them down and had to drive quite a ways. By the time I got home it had cooled off and, I'm kinda beat...so pics of the install tomorrow.

Btw, with 205/50/15 Azenis they RPF1's weighed in at 27 lbs. Almost 20lbs lighter than the s-lites and euphorias!!

 

How can that be? If it's lowering the car 1/4", that means that is must be changing the diameter of the tire, which would change the speedo reading ...

But overall, I agree - I like 15's for a multitude of reasons

 

I'm gonna assume that what he means by "perfect" is that it reads the ACTUAL speed....the MINI speedo reads a little off from it really is going according to some people.

 

In general... will 15's make the car appear lower to the ground? I know when you go from 16 up to 17 it usually makes stock cars look like 4x4's ( my old RSX-S) I'm curious if the opposite is true for going smaller.
-G

 

A 205x55 on a 15" rim will lower the car about 6mm compared to stock, while giving almost perfect speedo readings (less than 1% error), and occasional scraping on the ground.

A 205x50 on a 15" rim will lower the car 10mm more, for a total of 3/4" lower than stock. The car will scrape frequently.

 

yup...on 205/50 it lowered my car a lot and i scrape the stupid air diffuser under the car....but I'm loving it

If you stay stock tire diameter....it wont get higher or lower.

 

So it'll actually be lower as opposed to just giving the appearance... Hmmm.
-G

 

yeah, it may look lower just as a change to larger diameter wheels makes a car look like it's been raised up. Like RallyMini said, with the same OD of tire the height will remain the same regarless of the diameter of the wheel...

 

What width wheel fits a 205/55/15? I'm already dropped on H-Sports. I don'twant to scrape too much cause I hve to drive into too many tall driveways and ish.
-G

 

appearance wise i think 17s would look lower cause the actual wheel (not tire) is closer to the arches.

think of it this way....the wheels are what hold your car up. Imagine them as simple circles. Decrease the diameter and the car will be sitting closer to the ground. At the same time though you are increasing the distance between the tire and the arch for some fender gap.

For an example...look at my car next to ivan's car over on M|U. Hes got 17s and has his car slammed on coilovers, i have 15s and im lowered on H&R springs (about 1.2 inches tops)...If you look at pics, you will notice that my front lip is lower than his, but at the same time his wheel gap is way smaller than mine.

 

here check this...things to notice (front lip height, area beneath sideskirts)

17s with equivalent of stock tire diameter, H&R springs:



15s with 205/50/15 still on H&R springs:

 

Your wheel gap seems a bit smaller in pic 2 as well. Thanks Rally.

I feel like I jumped the gun on getting my wheels. I look around online and I'm like man I wish I had waited. But then when I go outside and look at the car, I'm like damn that looks good. Decisions, decisions...
-G

 

I'm not too sure this is an "apples-to-apples" comparison. What size are the tires on the 17" rims? The 15" rims have a 205/50 tire which is shorter than the typical 17" tires. That difference in OD between the 15" and 17" tires will directly affect the ride height and the wheel well gap... for this to be a legitimate comparison I think the OD of the two wheel and tire combinations has to be the same.

 

uhhhhh my point was that they ARE different

this was meant to be an apples to oranges comparison...not an apples to apples comparison....i have stock size 15 inch winter tires if i wanted to make an apples-apples comparison. The point was to show that my car is lower and has more wheel gap now that i have 205/50/15 ties.

 

DUH!.. shorter tires= more wheel gap. We needed a photo to show that?

Simplygriff said:

"In general... will 15's make the car appear lower to the ground? I know when you go from 16 up to 17 it usually makes stock cars look like 4x4's ( my old RSX-S) I'm curious if the opposite is true for going smaller."

 

simplygriff: 15x7" is a great size for the mini and good for up to 215 width (although there few 215x50x15 tires available.) Mine are SSR Comps - 9 lbs.

 

15x7 Enkei RPF1's w/ 205/50/15 Azenis. The car is lowered on h-sport springs.

How to make it work: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=66767

 

thanks

He also said this...and my pics were to prove it:

 

I run 15" for winter and (currently) 16" for summer. Aesthetically, I dislike the "big rim" convention that seems to be normal these days for all cars - just look at the monsters that a Pontiac Solstice comes standard with, then wonder why the European magazines don't think it handles as sweetly as a Miata. If I buy aftermarket, it will be one of those two sizes, partly for weight, partly for cost control, and partly because I find the proportions correct for a MINI.

 

What offset is this? 35 or 41?

 

Rally: I appreciate the pics. I'm a very visual person. Those pics just put it all out there. It's exactly what I needed to see.

rl48mini: Yeah I needed to see it. Before having a euro car I would never have even considered a set of 15's. The more visual references the better IMO.

Coop d'etat: Is that nut mod just becasue of the shape/size of those wheels? That looks really good by the way.

Old Rick: Thanks for the advice. It'll be a while before I can do any wheel changes but the info's good to have.

-G