Wheels and tires for the '02 MCS

Time to ditch the run flats and get some real tires for the MINI. I've pretty much decided I want to drop down to a 15 inch wheel, not getting the benefit of bigger brakes (I believe the 15 fits the MCS?) and don't need the extra weight. The car is daily driven and will do track days once a month. At this point I'm not interested in two sets of tires, but I could be talked into that if it's the most prudent.

What wheels and tires do you like for this car? I'd like to keep the wheel price under $125 each and the tires under $100 ea. Thanks for the input.

J

BTW, where to pick up a doughnut spare for the MCS?

FYI I have two sets of 16 inch OEM alloys that will soon be for sale :-)

15" wheels do fit the MCS. The last time I bought 15" wheels for mine, they were Team Dynamics Pro Race 1 (not 1.2). They were $125.00 each, and they actually do fit over 11.5" big brake kits. That was about six years ago, though, so I may not be helping much.

As for tires, I rarely buy tires that are less than $100 each, so I don't have a recommendation.

Easiest way to find the wheels is find someone with some honda/miata castoffs and scoop those up. Tires, I can't be much help, I have yet to spend less than 600$ on a set of tires..... though if you check, the Kumho XS might get down that far in a 15".

Fuzion HRi (I believe that to be their budget high performance summer tire) worked well on the Miata, and closer to $50 than $100.

I've got Federal 595's in 17" on my 06 R53. They seem to wear ok and provide good grip. I bought them from wheelmax.com with wheels although I don't remember which wheel. The whole deal came out pretty cheap and I've been happy. Also, I didn't bother with a spare even when driving the Al-Can to Alaska and back. Just got a little compressor and slime and never did need it.

15" tires for a MINI are tough if performance and daily driving are desired.

185/65-15 is the stock size with about a 24" diameter. Plenty of all season options... not so much for performance. It would be nice if they could be foound in 225/50-15, but that's becoming a dieing size.

I've seen 205/50-15's run, but they are about 1" too short and it shows. You gain a bit in acceleration, but lose ground clearance (sometimes an issue on the already low MINI) as well as gaining a bit of speedometer error (why is everyone passing me when it says I'm doing 70+?). 225/45-15 is also about 1" smaller than OE.

With that in mind, 16" are the easiest option. 205/50-16 Star Specs. Done. We run 15" snow tires in the Winter.

The compact spare (std on all Coopers until recently) is available from the local dealer ($$$), Classic MINI (a little less) or online (sells quickly). There is no place to put a spare in an S so it has to live inside the car. My g/f keeps hers in a custom bag behind the driver's seat.

Miata wheels are a possible option since the offset is close and the hub-centric is the same. The 16" Panasports we have were apparently meant for a Miata.

Oddly enough, some of the lightest wheels you can get for a MINI are the OE 15" 7-hole "holies" and these were a popular H-Stock wheel for awhile. However, it seems now that most top runners have moved to 16" wheels.

Careful ! Miata wheels are 54 mm center bore. MINI S wheels are 56 mm. I run 15s in the winter with a 195/55/15 tire on my CooperS, but for summer I use 205/50/16s to maintain a near stock diameter. The original 17" runflats road pretty harshly on our wonderful Michigan roads. Mine is a BRG, so I got the Rota RBs ,with Kumho ASXs ,because they're sorta like the old Minilites.

Are you sure about that? I remember seeing a site that specifically listed the center bore of the MINI and Miata the same - 54.1 IIRC. The E30 is slightly larger, as I found out while swapping wheels around last year. Of course, I can't find that site right now....

MINI did make a change in lug bolt size during the 2007 model year, going to a slightly larger size.

I was "pretty sure", but I went out to the garage and measured 2 sets of Miata rims and one set of MINI rims to be 100% sure. My '03 MINI has 56 mm hubs The 2nd generation car could be different though. And I did try most of my wheels on the MINI to find one to use as a spare. Anything I have with 54 mm center wouldn't go on. I even carried a VW "Snowflake" 14 inch rim (57 mm) and tire as a spare for a little while in the MINI. It'll go on the rear, but won't clear the brakes on the front..