Winter tyres & steelies for R56
Discussion
Hi all,
With winter coming up and aspirations of going up north for winter mountaineering, skiing, etc. I'm liking the idea of getting a set of steel wheels and winter tyres to see me through the winter season ahead. I've driven through pretty bad weather in Scotland and the Lakes a few times, but definitely wasn't happy in my summer tyres.
One thing I'm not sure about is tyre size relative to the wheel for the car (Mini Cooper 09 reg). As I seem to find conflicting 'advice', for example
Looking at a wheel size website for the Mini, it's the got the following spec for my car currently and the 'winter' version
Winter: 175/60 R16 86H 5.5Jx16 ET45
Normal: 195/55 R16 6.5Jx16 ET48
But when I've been looking around at getting steel wheels, websites seem to send me towards the following:
Steel Rims 5.5Jx15.0 ALCAR LK 4/100 ET 45
Then when looking towards tyre and wheel packages, I get the following with various speed ratings:
5½ x 15 4/100 175/65 R15 84T
Any advice, or point me in the right direction would be grateful as I'm at a loss as to which is the best fit.
Cheers
With winter coming up and aspirations of going up north for winter mountaineering, skiing, etc. I'm liking the idea of getting a set of steel wheels and winter tyres to see me through the winter season ahead. I've driven through pretty bad weather in Scotland and the Lakes a few times, but definitely wasn't happy in my summer tyres.
One thing I'm not sure about is tyre size relative to the wheel for the car (Mini Cooper 09 reg). As I seem to find conflicting 'advice', for example
Looking at a wheel size website for the Mini, it's the got the following spec for my car currently and the 'winter' version
Winter: 175/60 R16 86H 5.5Jx16 ET45
Normal: 195/55 R16 6.5Jx16 ET48
But when I've been looking around at getting steel wheels, websites seem to send me towards the following:
Steel Rims 5.5Jx15.0 ALCAR LK 4/100 ET 45
Then when looking towards tyre and wheel packages, I get the following with various speed ratings:
5½ x 15 4/100 175/65 R15 84T
Any advice, or point me in the right direction would be grateful as I'm at a loss as to which is the best fit.
Cheers
Edited by onfirealot on Tuesday 6th November 20:14
E-bmw said:
Admittedly mine is just the R53 but I just went with a set of standard 16" alloys & went down from 205 to 195 T rated 84s that I picked up virtually new. The full set cost under £150 on the bay of e.
hmm ok, same width, but a the walls a little smaller? How'd you find them? Did you get them out in the snow and ice or just 'normal' winter conditions?sad61t said:
I have the 15" steels on my R56 Cooper for Winter and 16" alloys for Summer; swapped them just last weekend.
Having two wheel sets is good as you can change them yourself; it takes about an hour with a decent trolley jack, and wrench (not the piece of junk on the boot). Torque wrench to do them up is good if you're intending on changing regularly. Of course, the pile of tires in the front room is not GF friendly.
Note the 15" will not fit over the larger JCW brakes.
Out of interest what size rims and tyres did you go for? This is bit that I'm really not sure on.Having two wheel sets is good as you can change them yourself; it takes about an hour with a decent trolley jack, and wrench (not the piece of junk on the boot). Torque wrench to do them up is good if you're intending on changing regularly. Of course, the pile of tires in the front room is not GF friendly.
Note the 15" will not fit over the larger JCW brakes.
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