Hi,
Lots of different opinions, especially by those who bought and like the ones they bought...

I've centered on the Goodyear GSD3s 215/45ZR-17 91Y VSB.

I like the BF Goodrich g-Force T/A KDW NT 205/45R-17, but everyone says they are by far too noisy.

Notice the 91Y, which at certain dealers are more expensive than the 87Ws.

A link to tire identification:

http://www.americastire.com/dtcs/infoSidewall.dos


The big issue is the 215 instead of the stock 205. One salesperson said they may rub, another guaranteed they would not. Forum members said they are OK, one mentioned he should have gone 215/40/17. My Mini is stock (so far).


One thing is, I will rotate my new tires more often than 10,000 miles. I'm an aggressive driver on the mountain roads where I live, so I hope these last more than 10,000!

Any other opinions?

thanks,

Brian

 

I just installed 215/40x17 on a set of sparco rims and have not problems rubbing. You should not have any problems BUT if you did a set of 3mm spacers would fix the problem.

 

I, unfortunately, replaced my runflats with 215/45/17's. While they do not rub I feel they are too high & I actually feel like the Mini sits taller. Next time I will get 215/40/17 for sure. Also I have the Goodyear's you are thinking of getting & for a non-RF they have good grip & they are available in 215/40/17

 

Would the 40s be harder than the 45s as the sidewall is smaller?

Which would perform better, I kinda like feeling it when I run over an ant

I drive twisty mountain roads and really need stickiness. I also have the sport suspension.

Brian

 

Oh those are sticky all right - had 'em on my Mazdaspeed and they're great tires. Only decision to make is size, IMHO. I like the 215/45/17 since it's more of a stock size, but on some wheels and cars they look like, well, like they're wearing their big brother's shoes.

By my calculations, compared to a 205/45/17
- 215/40/17 is 1/2" smaller diameter, makes the car sit 1/4" lower, speedo reads 2% high
- 215/45/17 is 3/8" larger, car sits 3/16" higher, speedo reads 1.5% slow
- 195/55/16 is 3/16" larger, car sits 3/32" higher, speedo slow by 0.75%

Hope this helps, there are tire size calculators somewhere around here, I just made an Excel spreadsheet long ago and never lost it. Here's the math:

2* (tire width * aspect ratio in percent) + wheel diameter = overall diameter
(watch your units, tire width is mm, wheel diameter is inches, aspect ratio is percent)

1/2 of Diameter is Radius
(a change in Radius changes ground clearance that much - linear distance from hub to tire surface)

Pi * overall diameter = circumference (which is what the speedo reads)

That may be pretty basic, but sometimes useful.

 

Handy info - thanks for posting that!

 

I am on my second set of the above BFG and do not notice them being loud, crank up the stereo .

I will get them again when I need new tires.

Earl

 

IMHO the 45's do flex alot in the twisties thus making them feel less sticky. I have never lost traction using them. They have always stuck 100%. I can just "feel" the flex & that leads to a feeling that I could lose control in a good curve. I have heard from others that the 40's do not feel like they flex as much so that's why I'm looking forward to trying them when my 45's wear out. To me if it came down to having to buy 45's again, I would NOT NOT NOT do it. I would rather go back to runflats because they do not have the flex & they "feel" more in control on the twisties. That said I am going to try the 40's next time around & hope I don't feel the flex.

I know that 45's are only barely bigger in diameter than 40's but I swear to you the 1st time I got in my Mini after switching from runflats to 45's I felt like I was sitting higher off the road. I hated it but after a few weeks I got used to it & didn't notice.

If you like feeling it when you run over an ant, stay with runflats. You will lose that feeling when you go with non-RF tires. I am in the minority around here when I say I prefer the feel of runflats (I just prefer the price of non-RF's ). They make you feel like you are part of the road & when you switch to non-RF's you will lose that feeling & you will feel more like you are floating across the road.

If anybody would like to give me an accurate count of the times I used the word or any form of the word "feel" in the above post I would greatly appreciate it

 

Hey,

Thanks for all the info!

Funny the 40s are $10 more, but I will go with these.

Plus if my speedo is 2% fast I have less chance of getting a ticket!

Brian

 

Aren't the speedos in our Minis adjustable through the computers for Tire size? I've heard they are but not sure how to do that.

pAUL

 

15 i believe

 

www.vulcantire.com

Get the Falken Azenis 615's! I've heard they are super sticky tires.

-Cody

 

I'm looking forward to switching from 205/40/18's to 215/35/18's but it's been a while since I've run a 35 profile so I hope I like it! Thanks for the calculation math above. And, yeah, that would be cool if the MINI could be programmed for different wheel/tire setup compared to stock.

 

235's!

 

Easier way to calculate the difference in size by way of our friends in Miatas:

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

As a point of comparison, the speedo error results going from a 195/55-16 to a 205/50-16 is 1.6% too fast on the 205/50-16. That amounts to only 13 additional revolutions per mile.

The difference on the odometer is slight although over time one would accrue higher mileage on the vehicle (about 1 mile extra for every 64.4 miles traveled or somewhere in the neighborhood of an extra 186 miles for every 12K miles traveled).

This is also assuming perfect world results and measurements. As many will attest, rulers "vary" everywhere. Combining manufacturing tolerance differences and variances in inflation, the actual difference in two tire sizes can be greater than the math shows or zero.

My .02 cents, maybe worth .000005 cents.