2nd Gen R59 Roadster Most liked posts in thread: Roadster Question

  1. Norm03s

    Norm03s New Member

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    #2 Norm03s, May 30, 2012
    Not as good as you're MINI.
     
  2. Justa Jim

    Justa Jim Well-Known Member
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    #3 Justa Jim, May 30, 2012
    That is what I was thinking Norm, but wanted to ask someone that had one. I'm doing my homework way early this time and keeping notes. :D

    Jim
     
  3. Crashton

    Crashton Club Coordinator

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    #4 Crashton, May 30, 2012
    The only trouble with 15's is that the choice of good tires is getting slim. Many more choices in the 16" size.
     
  4. Justa Jim

    Justa Jim Well-Known Member
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    #5 Justa Jim, May 30, 2012
    Yes, this is a very true statement, but I still wounder about the performance, using larger tires with the same engine.

    Jim
     
  5. Angib

    Angib New Member

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    #6 Angib, May 30, 2012
    Wow - those are seriously small tyres (assuming you really do mean R15) - nominal 576mm or 22.7 inch diameter. You've effectively lowered the car's gearing by 7%, so better acceleration is to be expected, though each gear will be a bit shorter.

    Mainly it will give you astronomic speedo readings as you must have roughly doubled the usual over-reading of the Mini speedo. So do you mean better real overall performance, or better apparent overall performance, 'cos your speedo must now be reading in mach numbers.
     
  6. Justa Jim

    Justa Jim Well-Known Member
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    #7 Justa Jim, May 30, 2012
    The speedo is reading eight over, I seem to be gaining four or five miles per hundred and yes, they are R15, as that is the size that came on the car. The car is much more responsive, accelerates faster and I have more usable torque around 2500 rpm, which I did not before. 3K use to be 70 mph, but now it is 67. The car feels better and pulls quickly to 4+K. I use the GPS to track MPH and miles traveled. I normally keep a car until it is a "make me an offer" situation, so I'm not concerned about the readings. I like it this way a lot. :Thumbsup:

    Jim
     
  7. Minidave

    Minidave Well-Known Member
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    #8 Minidave, May 30, 2012
    That must be the default size now, my 2009 Clubman S had that size too....

    I run 215/45-17's now, but mostly because I like the way it looks, big enough to fill the wheel wells without being oversized and looking ridiculous. I'm sure there's some compromise in performance in there somewhere tho....
     
  8. Justa Jim

    Justa Jim Well-Known Member
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    #9 Justa Jim, May 30, 2012
    ^^^ With the justa, I had to go smaller and lighter to get the performance I wanted. I know the "S" has way more power, but think how much faster they would be if everyone did not go bigger with everything. :Thumbsup:

    Jim
     
  9. Crashton

    Crashton Club Coordinator

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    #10 Crashton, May 30, 2012
    Downshift to 5th for a good boost in torque Jim. :wink:
     
  10. Justa Jim

    Justa Jim Well-Known Member
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    #11 Justa Jim, May 30, 2012
    But justa think what that "boost" could be like if ya went smaller and lighter. :eek6:

    Jim
     
  11. rkw

    rkw Well-Known Member

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    #12 rkw, May 30, 2012
    Standard for an S. 195/55R16 is the only 16" size MINI has ever offered, starting from 2002.