Tyre recommendations please

Tyre recommendations please

Author
Discussion

big ant

Original Poster:

305 posts

171 months

Wednesday 21st September 2016
quotequote all
Girlfriend has a 2007 Cooper S convertible, with run flats which she wants to change. Whole car is standard, with low 27k miles, and her pride and joy. Wheels are 'horse shoes' style, best way I can describe them ;-)

Anyway - what tyres are best for her ??

She uses can mostly on A road, town usage, although we live in semi-rural environment....and she likes to drive fast....

Thanks in advance

SimNugget

580 posts

169 months

Thursday 22nd September 2016
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Plenty of choice, I like Michelin Pilot SuperSports which have now been replaced as Pilot Sport 4.

But remember these cars have no spare wheels - run flat have their problems but they will save your Mrs being stranded somewhere late at night. I think the newest generation run flats are supposed to be better.

S

mike9009

6,918 posts

242 months

Thursday 22nd September 2016
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I have just put some Pirelli P-Zero Run flats on mine and I highly recommend them. (2007 Clubman Cooper S). I don't mind the runflats and think they give better steering feel plus security in case of a puncture obviously.

Mike

CarsOrBikes

1,135 posts

183 months

Monday 26th September 2016
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If you're semi rural, her driving, it would be wise to keep rft. She won't be stuck. You can't fit the spare from the one etc due to the rear battery and exhaust design.

Non rft's if required, for your wheels which are R97 Flame design if I recall, could be a little wider at 215/45r17 which corrects some of the speedo error as a little taller too, I have these in Federal RSR595's but not the best in the wet haha. For info, your wheels although perhaps standard, are one of the few which fit over the R56S JCW Brembo brake kit too, which may be of use to know.

menousername

2,106 posts

141 months

Tuesday 27th September 2016
quotequote all

Same question here pls chaps so a friendly bounce

GFs mini cooper S in need lf new tyres she has 205/45 17s

Currently on the tyres that were on it when she bought it which are Firestone Firehawk SZ90 at the front and Bridgestone RE050A at the back

She needs to stay on runflats but looking for replacements that reduce the tramlining and in particular that jumping the front does when you hit a bump

Drove it for the first time recently and that jumping was worryingly pronounced i need to reduce that for her if i can

Cheers

big ant

Original Poster:

305 posts

171 months

Tuesday 27th September 2016
quotequote all
No problem jumping in. I haven't actually driven the Mini, but as a passenger, you feel the skipping and jumping around as the tyres cross white lines, awful honestly. She loves the car, but tyres seem an issue. I was thinking of ditching runflats, just going for normal good quality tyres.

CO2000

3,177 posts

208 months

Wednesday 28th September 2016
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I went from RF 205 45 17 (Dunlop) to Non RF 215 40 17's (Sessanta's) a really great move and look better on the rim too smile

CarsOrBikes

1,135 posts

183 months

Wednesday 28th September 2016
quotequote all
That tramlining and jumping may well be due to the front lower arm rear bushes knackered.

Miglia 888

1,002 posts

146 months

Saturday 1st October 2016
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Simply fit some decent non-runflat tyres such as the Michelin Pilot Super Sport or Pilot Sport 4 to your current wheels, and you'll be amazed at how the tramlining, torque steer, and skittering all disappears, and the grip & ride improves significantly too.

If you also downsized to 16" wheels, that would further improve the ride, acceleration, fuel economy, and save even more money at tyre replacement time, but the tramlining will disappear simply with the change to decent non-runflat tyres.

Our 2012 SD came with the Chili pack optional 17" 205/45s, and we reverted to standard Cooper S 16" wheels on 205/55 non-runflats. It rides like a limo in comparison with the usual 17s & runflats, while still devouring B roads with the best, and as 205/55 16 is a very popular size, even top quality tyres are less than half the price of 17" runflats...

If you want loads more grip but without the horrible weight, ride & tramlining of the runflats, I can highly recommend the Yokohama AD08R.

HTH. Let us know how you get on.

mon the fish

1,412 posts

147 months

Sunday 2nd October 2016
quotequote all
CarsOrBikes said:
That tramlining and jumping may well be due to the front lower arm rear bushes knackered.
This x100. This will more likely make a bigger difference than fitting normal tyres

big ant

Original Poster:

305 posts

171 months

Sunday 2nd October 2016
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Thanks all - will update soon, as want them fitted in October. Cheers.

Brompty

153 posts

143 months

Sunday 9th October 2016
quotequote all
CarsOrBikes said:
That tramlining and jumping may well be due to the front lower arm rear bushes knackered.
Probably not if run flats are fitted. Get rid of them and the least expensive Kumho's are pretty good - mine were about £70 each and worth every penny. The ride was transformed and all the problems disappeared.

bazza white

3,551 posts

127 months

Sunday 9th October 2016
quotequote all
I swapped the runflats for Avon zv7's. Not silly expensive but the difference was night and day. You can fly around a corner without fear of the car jumping into the other lane on the slightest bump in the road.A hell of a lot quieter to.

CarsOrBikes

1,135 posts

183 months

Saturday 15th October 2016
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Runflats cause a harsh ride, not tramlining. The 'state' of the tyre might contribute to it, but not the construction particularly, so yes, the bushes will have a great impact if either rft or non, tyre condition itself is good. No good convincing oneself that all is well with the car just because driveability improved after fitting new non rft tyres. Mine will change lanes still, with black series bushes, vibratechnics mounts, coilovers close to standard height, and federal 595rsr's, if a heavy foot is applied, but then it is around 270hp now. The only thing that might help it more is taking the OE lsd out and fitting the Quaife I have, which won't help the OP or you of course. So for most with one of these, tramlining can be dramatically reduced on a standard car by addressing the condition or suitability of parts that affect it. The only thing tyre related that changes it is adhesion which exacerbates it if something else is at fault in the first place, including geometry of course, which will be found to be wrong on many cars.

Only my2p of course

Gaygle

322 posts

207 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
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CarsOrBikes said:
Runflats cause a harsh ride, not tramlining.
Rubbish, RF tyres are well known to cause tramlining, especially the first gen ones.

I have just changed my Mini off the standard Dunlop runflats to a set of Goodyear Eagle F1A2 tyres and the difference is incredible. At first, I was thinking my bushes were loose as the car was nervous at high speeds and had an issue where when accelerating the car would drift right, and when lifting off it'd come back straight, and of course the incessant jarring over every little tiny bump in the road. Having been familiar with many high powered BMW's in the past, two with runflats, I thought I'd look to the tyres first and I'm glad I did because it completely fixed the problem.

The runflats have no flex in the sidewalls, so where a regular tyre will flex around on the rim, a runflat won't and will cause the whole car to shimmy and feel very nervous. The single best thing you can do for your Mini is to get rid of the runflats, and replace them with premium regular tyres. If you don't want to get rid of runflats, make sure you get ones of the latest designs of runflats ie. ContiSportContact 5 SSR's etc.

Gaygle

322 posts

207 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
quotequote all
menousername said:
Same question here pls chaps so a friendly bounce

GFs mini cooper S in need lf new tyres she has 205/45 17s

Currently on the tyres that were on it when she bought it which are Firestone Firehawk SZ90 at the front and Bridgestone RE050A at the back

She needs to stay on runflats but looking for replacements that reduce the tramlining and in particular that jumping the front does when you hit a bump

Drove it for the first time recently and that jumping was worryingly pronounced i need to reduce that for her if i can

Cheers
Firstly, mixing tyres on the Mini is a complete no-no. Mixing runflat tyres is an even bigger no-no.

My advice would be to dump all four of the tyres. The Bridgestone RE050A is a tyre that is a decade old and was always known for being good in the dry, crap in the wet and tramlined like a bh even on their non-flat designs. The Firestones are likely to be crap too.

If she absolutely must have runflats, again, like I said above, she needs to look at the latest designs from Continental/Goodyear/Michelin. If she wants to be sure that her tramlining and nervousness will disappear, she can spend half of what the runflats cost, and get four regular Continental/Goodyear/Michelin tyres.

big ant

Original Poster:

305 posts

171 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
quotequote all
thanks all. girlfriend is excited about new tyres (!)....so any day soon we'll g and get them changed over from the RFs. Cheers, Big Ant

CarsOrBikes

1,135 posts

183 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
quotequote all
Gaygle said:
Rubbish, RF tyres are well known to cause tramlining, especially the first gen ones.

I have just changed my Mini off the standard Dunlop runflats to a set of Goodyear Eagle F1A2 tyres and the difference is incredible. At first, I was thinking my bushes were loose as the car was nervous at high speeds and had an issue where when accelerating the car would drift right, and when lifting off it'd come back straight, and of course the incessant jarring over every little tiny bump in the road. Having been familiar with many high powered BMW's in the past, two with runflats, I thought I'd look to the tyres first and I'm glad I did because it completely fixed the problem.

The runflats have no flex in the sidewalls, so where a regular tyre will flex around on the rim, a runflat won't and will cause the whole car to shimmy and feel very nervous. The single best thing you can do for your Mini is to get rid of the runflats, and replace them with premium regular tyres. If you don't want to get rid of runflats, make sure you get ones of the latest designs of runflats ie. ContiSportContact 5 SSR's etc.
That's all great, but what you are describing there isn't tramlining, it's torque steer. If your tyre change has improved that symptom, great. Not the same thing.

mikeyr

3,118 posts

192 months

Friday 21st October 2016
quotequote all
Just spotted this thread after I'd posted one in GG about tyre recommendations! Any mid range tyres available at a decent in the 205/45/R17 size at the moment?

Gaygle said:
Firstly, mixing tyres on the Mini is a complete no-no. Mixing runflat tyres is an even bigger no-no.
Mixing tyre types or tyre sizes? I know runflats have a rep for feeling different but can't see a major issue with NRF tyres of different manufacturers front and back (no more than any other car)?

big ant

Original Poster:

305 posts

171 months

Friday 21st October 2016
quotequote all
Nope, all the same, and look good quality, but as very low mileage car, so I suspect they are a few years old. Will get them changed, prmised her now !