19 replies to this topic

[slack]

Hello,

 

I have a mini with front 7.5 cooper S brakes and rear brake drum with builted spacer.

 

Now this is my mini, i have a ultralight wheels with A008 tyres and group 2 wide arches:

 

 

So i want to change and make my mini like that (no arches, 10 wheels and 7.5 cooper S brakes):

 

 

The problem are:

 

- What wheels will be good with the cooper S 7.5 brakes without leave the side trim?
- What tyres do you advise me for wet weather?

 

ps: i want to change because with i have 10x6'' with A008 tyres and with wet weather it's scared to drive and this is my daily car... Other thing it's the road-holding. It's not good like i thought!!!

Thank you

Edited by slack, 14 May 2017 - 07:39 PM.

[Boycie]

You need wheels with the 'S' offset.  Minispares do some nice copies of the Minilight wheels which look good and are reasonably priced!

 

Tyres are a really personal thing, but my own preference is 145's on a road car.  I think the handling is best with the skinnier tyres, but that's just me.  If you go for the correct offset wheels, you can lose the arches and the car will look how you want.

 

Your car looks great as it is though!

Edited by Boycie, 13 May 2017 - 08:38 PM.

[blacktulip]

This my mini with minispares minilife 4.5x10 alloys, 7.5" discs and spacered drums on the rear 😀

[CPC]

I have the same setup but with 165/70/10 tyres and 10x5 exacton's.

[slack]

You need wheels with the 'S' offset.  Minispares do some nice copies of the Minilight wheels which look good and are reasonably priced!

 

Tyres are a really personal thing, but my own preference is 145's on a road car.  I think the handling is best with the skinnier tyres, but that's just me.  If you go for the correct offset wheels, you can lose the arches and the car will look how you want.

 

Your car looks great as it is though!

 

Thanks Boycie, i love the looks of my mini now, but the wide arches with 6 inchs wheels are very dangerous in the wet. And i love also the look without arches.

 

I see the rose petals but i don't trust the spacers and i think this wheels need some spacers because the brakes.

 

Do you know what's the right offset from the 'S' wheels? thanks :)

 

This my mini with minispares minilife 4.5x10 alloys, 7.5" discs and spacered drums on the rear

 

Nice, it's 145 tyres or 165? How it's the road-holding in the wet? it's safe or a little slippy?

 

I have the same setup but with 165/70/10 tyres and 10x5 exacton's.

Thanks for the reply CPC. 10x5 without arches? The wheel are inside of the trim?

Edited by slack, 14 May 2017 - 07:39 PM.

[waddle]

Try the ao32s ,  always done me right,  obviusly in standing water they struggle but just makes it more of a handful = fun!

[minimans]

There a lot of reasons why the handling on your car may be "bad" but I doubt it's the 6in wheels and tyres. I'd get a  4 wheel alignment check done before you splash out on wheels and tyres.

[minidaves]

a008's are fine in the wet i can think of worse tyres, so would say your car has alinement issues too

[Cooperman]

More confusion between 'handling' and 'road-holding'.
Tyres have little effect on handling, but much to do with road-holding.

[slack]

More confusion between 'handling' and 'road-holding'.
Tyres have little effect on handling, but much to do with road-holding.

 

 

a008's are fine in the wet i can think of worse tyres, so would say your car has alinement issues too

 

 

There a lot of reasons why the handling on your car may be "bad" but I doubt it's the 6in wheels and tyres. I'd get a  4 wheel alignment check done before you splash out on wheels and tyres.

 

 

Try the ao32s ,  always done me right,  obviusly in standing water they struggle but just makes it more of a handful = fun!

 

sorry guys, 

 

cooperman is right it's not handling but yes road-holding... The handling are great but in wet the road-holding it's very scare...

Edited by slack, 14 May 2017 - 07:38 PM.

[tiger99]

Sadly we see MANY people wanting to know all about fitting wider wheels and tyres. Maybe they will read this thread and think more carefully. It doesn't just apply to Minis by the way!

Over-wide wheels belong in the same place as Mini coil spring conversions, the metal recycling facility at your local dump.

A Mini with 10" wheels that fit in the normal bodywork and with all other appendages present and correct handles sweetly and looks magnificent, compared to some of the more bloated monstrosities that we have seen. I think that Alex, who was an engineer through and through, and managed rather well without an army of stylists, got it about right, albeit the later tail lamps look better, although that last point will be debated fiercely elsewhere. Each to his own, the beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

[Cooperman]

For absolute maximum grip on a dry and very smooth surface the best will always be a racing slick tyre with a soft compound on a wide wheel.
However, that would be illegal on a public road.
On a public road in the dry a 165 section width tyre with a fairly close pattern tread is best whilst on wet surfaces a 145 section width will be best. The car was designed for a 145 width (actually it was a 5-20 x 10" cross ply as original).
Thus a wheel wider than 4.5" is not necessary.
Handling, however, is more a case of suspension settings, but that's another issue.

Edited by Cooperman, 15 May 2017 - 01:43 PM.

[SolarB]

I run 10" A008s without arches and find the wet handling predictable.
The rear of the rear wheels will protrude a little beyond the wheel arch trim when viewed from above, but I've never had issues at MOT time.

[Cooperman]

I run 10" A008s without arches and find the wet handling predictable.
The rear of the rear wheels will protrude a little beyond the wheel arch trim when viewed from above, but I've never had issues at MOT time.

Yes, the handling will be predictable if the suspension is set-up properly. However, that does not mean the road-holding will be good.

 

My Cooper 'S' has superb handling, even with knobbly forest/gravel tyres, when driven on smooth tarmac. However, in that configuration the road-holding will be very poor.

 

Never confuse 'handling' with 'road-holding'. There is no linkage between the two. Road-holding is the ammont of centripetal G-force the car can generate when driven around the arc of a circle at a given speed. Handling is how the car responds to the dynamic inputs of steering, braking and power.

[waddle]

Slack,  I never mentioned handling!

 

The AO32's clear a lot of water, so improve road holding over a tyre that clears less water,  I believe there also known as aqua tusks?

 

Use ao32s up front and a008s on the rear and never have an issue in mine