Pics needed of cars with upgraded wheels.

[tweety]

My Cooper S is due for its first MOT soon and I think the front tyres will need replacing beforehand. So I've decided now is a good time and out the $h1t runflats and upgrade the wheels at the same time. I'd like to go to 18's, just after some pics of various styles and how it effects the handling. Also what width and profile tyres I should be looking at.

Cheers, Al.

[maserati3200gt]

Hi Al,
We upgraded to the JCW 18" with Runflats - Must admit though that the Runflats do not give a great deal of communication through to the steering wheel.
The Ride of the 18's though makes you more away of every bump in the road but visually it makes the car look more agressive.
We dropped the Suspension by 20mm as well to improve the handling though.

heres the Link www.Projectmedia.co.uk

[AndrewD]

IMHO don't bother with the 18 inch wheels, runflats or no runflats. The ride quality is shockingly bad on anything but the smoothest surfaces.

Anyway, just my 2p

[tweety]

Surely 18s with standard tyres are not going to be worse than 17s with runflats, if anything they'll be better. The sidewalls on the runflats are so thick there is no way they should be fitted to any car that has an ounce of sportiness to it. When I first got my car this was the first mod I was advised to do to improve the ride, handling and driveability, this by a couple of independant tuners. It is only cos I am too tight to bin the runflats when they had good tread that its taken me this long to get round to doing it. The project car looks good, I've fitted a quad exit exhaust, similar to M3/M5, other than that just loads of shiny bits and a catbon dash.

Al.

[AndrewD]

I ran 18's and 17's with and without runflats on my Works before I sold it. 18's definately make for an uncomfortable ride vs 17's pretty much regardless of tyre in my experience. They just look nicer while your head is being shaken to pieces

I guess 16's on non runflats would probably work best, and they'd be lighter.

[maserati3200gt]

I would disagree with the statement that 18's are shockingly bad.
We have had ours on for the past week and the car ride is fine.

The only problem I have is that with the run flats , you tend to loose a certain amount of communication between the road and the Steering.

We are changing the tyres to Yoko's as a result.

[Phil Dicky]

I have to agree with other here, my Cooper s had 18" Khans on (see profile) and the ride was bad and I mean bad, its now on 16" alloys and is a different car,
But it looked the business on 18s

[AndrewD]

Mas, hope they work for you. I had my 18s on for 18,000 miles of varied road driving

[maserati3200gt]

Thanks Andrew.

[trackdemon]

Best handling: 16" non run flats
Best look: 18" ultra low profile
Best compromise: 17" non run flats on standard profile.

Can you guess what ours has?

[Marki]

tweety said:

It is only cos I am too tight to bin the runflats when they had good tread that its taken me this long to get round to doing it. The project car looks good, I've fitted a quad exit exhaust, similar to M3/M5, other than that just loads of shiny bits and a catbon dash. Al.

I had the same problem,, fronts were knackered rears were fine so i just put 2 new fronts on figuring that when the new fronts are done the rears will need replacement as well, how does the 4 pipe zorst sound i have seen them and like the look of them

[niikme]

Anyone heard a milltek exhaust on a an S or S Works ?

Found a clip on the net which sounded great from the exterior but 'could' be too boomy from the inside.......

Opinions welcomed !

Kris

[tweety]

My exhaust is a bit louder than the standard, but nowhere near as loud as the PlayMini one I had on my Classic Cooper 500. I've heard of Milltek but not heard one on a car.

Al.

[pablo81]

16's look the 'dogs' also. this is my partners ac schnitzer / hartge mini cooper s. the wheels are 16x8.5 custom image 3 piece wheels. no traction issue with 240bhp


it also runs a miltek and sounds awesome

[madazrx7]

Have a look at dpcars website, specifically http://dpcars.aprsworld.com/mini2/ma.

Dennis is on his 2nd CooperS and has tried various wheel & tyre combos both on road and track.
He has heaps of experience in a wide variety of cars so I think his advice would be worthwhile.

Tim

[maahny]

Had 18" Kahns and the ride was shocking on anything but a surface which you rarely find in this country. Looked amazing though...



I think the weight of most 18's kills the handling.

Switched over to 17" ASA AR1's and the car now rides and handles like a mini should.

[maserati3200gt]

Heres our Mini with the 18's.
The Runflats are easily THE worst tyres we have ever experienced.

Swapped over to Yoko Parada which do make a massive difference.
We need to add 7mm Spacers on the Front Wheels now to avoiding rubbing.


Rear Shot of the New Yoko's

>> Edited by maserati3200gt on Tuesday 9th May 16:26

[tweety]

Thanks for all the responses, I managed to get hold of some Hamann 17x8 5-spokes in the end and am very pleased with them. Only thing is the tyres are only 205s and look way too narrow and don't protect the wheels. Anyone have any idea what size I can go up to without rubbing? 215/45s? or 225/40s? Will add spacers if necessary. Pics on the link in my profile, I still haven't got the hang of posting them on here, if someone else can feel free.

Cheers, Al.

[baSkey]

maserati3200gt said:

Swapped over to Yoko Parada which do make a massive difference. We need to add 7mm Spacers on the Front Wheels now to avoiding rubbing.

sorry to be thick - but WHY? why do you need to alter the track by half an inch because you changed to conventional tyres..what am i missing..?!

maserati3200gt said:

phwaoor!

[BlackStuff]

Just as a matter of interest, all you guys that have ditched your run-flat tyres, what is your planned solution in the event of a puncture?

Have you all reverted to carrying mousse + compressor, a space-saver spare, or do you just call a very nice man?

Wife has just bought a new Mini Cooper "Park Lane" which is on 16" run-flats. Strangely, the ride is substantially better and more compliant than the MINI ONE it replaced (which was on 15" rims) which I can only surmise is down to it having more sophisticated damping.

But I do find that whilst the ride and handling are ultimately better the steering doesn't inspire confidence - the previous car felt more direct and communicative. I'm guessing from previous comments that this is down to the tyres...?