Tires, Tyres, Tars

[Minidave]

A subject that's been kicked to death on every MINI forum, but here we go again.....

I've been running Continental DWS all seasons in a 215/45-17 on my 2009 Clubman S and I've been really happy with them, quiet, smooth, good traction wet and dry, balance up nicely......no issues at all.......except - they are warranted for 50K tread wear, and I've got 18K on mine and they are worn out! I put the same tire on the wife's Audi the same day, hers have about 16K on them and look almost new and the Audi weighs 1000lbs more than my Clubby!

So, conundrum......

A) Buy another set of wheels and run summer tires in the summer and Blizzaks in the winter?

B) Buy another set of wheels and run summer tires in the summer and all seasons in the winter?

C) Buy another set of all seasons and get what I can out of them?

D) Buy a winter beater car and keep summer tires on the Clubby?

E) Buy summer tires for the Clubby and drive the wife's Audi in the winter?

BTW, my last two sets of all seasons from other brands didn't last any longer....20K seems to be about it on a set of MINI tires and I do rotate them frequently and keep them inflated properly.

Options A and B are the most expensive but I question the need for a dedicated set of summer tires given that I drive so few miles a year any more - I used to drive about 15K, now it's more like 5K a year.

What to do, what to do........

[mulcahy78]

I would go with (A) before I got my Clubmen I had an E36 325i vert and I would run Bridgestone Potenza RE970AS Pole Position(Ultra High Performance All-Season) in the summer and Blizzak in the winter. I have to say those Potenza are some of the best tires I've ever run.

[Zack]

I'm debating summer or all season for the New wheels I have. I have Continentals that are still good on the ASA AR1 wheels I have. I also recently bought Some R84 (X-Lites) that I am going to use for either winter or autocross if I decide to start racing again. I'm debating selling the ASA's. The polished lips need tending to. Found out coarse, medium, and fine wet sanding and then polish seems to get the lips back to a nice brushed look. Would probably be less of a pain to just sell them with the good tires they have and use the proceeds from the sale toward snow tires for the X-lites.

[Sspreso]

Since you run at HPT, why not make the most of it by getting some nice summer/track tires? As far as snow or all season...I'd go DWS again for winter tires and drive the wife's Audi if it was really bad. Also if you burn through the summer/track tires you have all-season back ups. If I did snow tires, I'd have a hard time do them as my only other set.

But this is from the guy who bought a Subaru for parts/snow car, has 4 sets of wheels and 16 tires in his basement...

[MiniManiac]

Option A.

I am running this option and I am extremely happy.

[DSKSMini]

If I had the budget I would go with Option A. This fall I put the new Michellin Pilot Sport A/S3's, Ultra High Perf all seasons on and so far really like them. I read some reviews that compared them with summer only tires and they came out on top. They had good traction this winter and I have a hard time breaking them loose on dry pavement (unlike the run flat summer tires that came with the car). I have about 5k on them now and they seem to be wearing very well. The manager at Costco told me after I bought them, that they were starting to see some come in for rotating and they were holding up well. I'd definitely reccommend them if you go the all season route.

[boxer]

I have 6 OEM wheels in the basement if your interested Dave.

[Minidave]

Send me a PM with how much, OK?

I'm leaning towards option B, as John suggested.

[Zack]

If you're wanting some good wheels, they need cleaning up and the polished lips need to be sanded and cleaned up but make me an offer on the ASA AR1s I own. They have continentals on them with plenty of good tread left. The black portion of the wheels are fine. It's the polished lips that need repair. Wet sanding and wheel polish seemed to work on the section I used it on. They got pitted from the road salt.

[Minidave]

Zack, thanks but I don't like black wheels....and I'm not up for painting/refinishing either.....

For summer only tires, what would you guys suggest as the best compromise of performance for the bux?

[MiniManiac]

I just bought these on sale from Tire Rack for $78 bucks per tire.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.js ... E760+Sport

I am also powder coating my white wheels a nice gloss black. Sorry Dave but I think it looks bad ass!

[Minidave]

That's OK, I just think it looks bad.......

I've had Bridgestone's before and I liked them for the first 10K, after that they got so noisy I couldn't stand them....

[MiniManiac]

That's OK, I just think it looks bad.......

I've had Bridgestone's before and I liked them for the first 10K, after that they got so noisy I couldn't stand them....

Boo!!!

The reason I am getting rid of the BFGoodrich's is due to the noise. They are crazy loud!!

[Zack]

That's OK, I just think it looks bad.......

I've had Bridgestone's before and I liked them for the first 10K, after that they got so noisy I couldn't stand them....

Boo!!!

The reason I am getting rid of the BFGoodrich's is due to the noise. They are crazy loud!!

How used up are they and what size??

[MiniManiac]

That's OK, I just think it looks bad.......

I've had Bridgestone's before and I liked them for the first 10K, after that they got so noisy I couldn't stand them....

Boo!!!

The reason I am getting rid of the BFGoodrich's is due to the noise. They are crazy loud!!

How used up are they and what size??

205/45/17

They are down to the wear bars.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... +T/A+KDW+2

[Sspreso]

Zack, thanks but I don't like black wheels....and I'm not up for painting/refinishing either.....

For summer only tires, what would you guys suggest as the best compromise of performance for the bux?

What's your budget? How long to you want them to last, i.e are you ok with 200 tread wear?

I'm really happy with my Dunlop ZIIs. Really good in the dry, not bad in the wet, decent tread life. TireRack currently has a $50 rebate on a set of them too.

[MiniManiac]

That's OK, I just think it looks bad.......

I've had Bridgestone's before and I liked them for the first 10K, after that they got so noisy I couldn't stand them....

Boo!!!

The reason I am getting rid of the BFGoodrich's is due to the noise. They are crazy loud!!

How used up are they and what size??

I assume that you don't want them?

[Minidave]

I'm not going to go crazy on price.....short treadwear is OK, I'm only driving about 5K a year now, and split some of that off onto winter tires means even less on the summer's.

Are those Dunlops the Star Direzza's? Dimini is running those on his JCW and says they're fantastically sticky, but they got noisy really quickly and no amount of rotating seems to make it go away. He rotates every 2500 miles or so. That is one of the tires I'm considering tho.....

I think I may just give up on trackdays and just get some more all seasons.......those Michy's DSKS mentions are about the same price as a set of summers and a set of winter's together!

[Zack]

I assume that you don't want them?

Nah lol. I have a set of X-lites with almost no tread left lol. I don't wanna start collecting worn tires. What was the tread life? As I'm getting new tires for the Rotas I'm trying to get some good ideas but still leaning toward all season hankook ventus. May consider summer tires though but really want to get the ASAs off the car soon so I can start repairing the polished lips so I may go all season just to make it quick.

[Minidave]

Tire Rack has those Michy's on sale right now for $118 ea, plus a $70 rebate - I haven't seen Michelins that cheap since the 70's, wonder if they're old stock?

Edit/update: I ordered a set of the Pilots that DSKS mentioned, those will work for my All Seasons, and if I decide I can afford them, I can still buy a set of summer only tires for hooning about and track days. This will be the 4th brand/version of tires I've had on this car so far including the Conti run flats that it came with that I only had on for a couple thousand miles, the used set of Kumho's I ran on my JCW that I put on here when I sold the JCW, then these Conti DWS that didn't last any longer than the others and now the Michelin's. I've always had good luck with Michy's, although they say these aren't the best in snow - I don't care so much about that, I have an Audi Quattro if the snow gets bad enough.

They'll be here Wed so I can get them mounted and balanced up before we head off on our Classic Fun run later this month/

I did check the date codes with them, they're 2014 mfr date, so good to go there too.

[MiniManiac]

Nah lol. I have a set of X-lites with almost no tread left lol. I don't wanna start collecting worn tires. What was the tread life? As I'm getting new tires for the Rotas I'm trying to get some good ideas but still leaning toward all season hankook ventus. May consider summer tires though but really want to get the ASAs off the car soon so I can start repairing the polished lips so I may go all season just to make it quick.

Just checking because they are coming off today.

I dropped off the Konig Feathers to get a fresh coat of black powder coating. I have my new set of tires in the garage, so once this snow season decides to end I can put on my summer driving set!

[IowaM1N1]

For summer only tires, what would you guys suggest as the best compromise of performance for the bux?

I'm a fan of these:
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.js ... mpare1=yes

[MiniManiac]

For summer only tires, what would you guys suggest as the best compromise of performance for the bux?

I'm a fan of these:
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.js ... mpare1=yes

I have a set sitting in my garage

[DSKSMini]

That's a great price on the Michi's. You won't be dissapointed in them. They're good enough in the snow to get you arround. Nice and quiet too.

[BLUGOOSE]

David, all you have to do is drive like an old lady like Bob and I and they'll last forever!!