Same here, both my 07 Cooper S and the 09 Clubman had the Run Flats off within 2 months. I bought a spare for a 2005 4 cylinder Chevy Cobalt (4 cylinders have 4 lugs) for $45. A Honda Civic Spare will work too. Both of these are WAY cheaper than a factory spare. These are space saver spares I might add. The Cobalt spare will only fit the rear, but you wouldn't want to run with a space saver on the front anyway. If you have a flat on the front, you'll have to take the good tire off the rear and move it to the front and put the space saver on the rear.
It's a good idea to have a can of slime/fix-a-flat etc. Small compressors are good too. Maybe even a tire plug kit.
As a suggestion for tires, Dave alluded to Continental DW tires. A good alternative All Season tire would be Continental DWS, you get all season ability with little performance loss. If you don't mind softer/quicker wearing tires, I'm really loving my new Bridgestone S-04 Pole Positions. Though I'm not planning on 25K miles outta them!
And oh yea! Welcome to the friendlier, happier MINI site.
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maacodale Club Coordinator
- May 7, 2009
- 255
- Maaco Collision Repair & Auto Painting Center owne
- Ratings:
- +265 / 0 / -0
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Dave.0 Helix & RMW PoweredLifetime Supporter
Welcome to M/A the FUN Mini site.
I ditched the "Run Rocks" long ago for regular tires. As for what tires I would recommend it depends on what you really want and where you live. Us in the NorthEast run sticky Summer tires and dedicated snow tires in the Winter.
I would say look up your car on Tirerack.com and see what they have to offer from the big manufactures. (Goodyear, Michelin, Continental Ect.) Conni DW are good tires. Michelins can cost more $$$ but they are worth it. Goodyear also makes some great tires.-
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Jason Montague New MemberLifetime Supporter
:cornut: Trash the HEAVY run flats and get light non run flats. While you're at it trash the 24lbs MINI light weight wheels and get a good set of 14-16lbs true light wheels. You will have dumped 55-70lbs of unspung weight which gives you a free suspension upgrade in the deal. Me, I kept the best run flat and put it on one of the MINI wheels and it stands up nicely between the boot hatch and the rear frame brace along with the MINI jack. Others get 'doughnut' spares and still others do what you suggested.
Jason-
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Z06_Pilot Well-Known MemberLifetime Supporter
I have Michelin Pilot Super Sports on both of our cars for non-winter driving. Stick like glue, quiet, and they handle water well. They are not all seasons for sure, so if you get caught in a deluge, you have to take it a little easy with them.
Had them on the R60 JCW most of the summer. Totally transformed the car compared to the Pirelli P-Zero RF's. Just recently had them installed on the new R56 JCW. Can't wait to see how that car handles with them when the pavement warms up.
They are definitely performance tires as they only have a 30k tread warranty...ouch...but worth it..-
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Crashton Club Coordinator
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wmwny Well-Known Member
I think experimentation is the key here and NOT those expensive [though fantastic] tires. The writer does not say what his/her financial load is, so expense could really be an issue. Also, since the writer does not state his/her location, I'd go with an all season just to be on the safe side, and get a Slime/compressor kit. There are great inexpensive all seasons at www.tirerack.com that won't break the bank and which will still get the writer around safely until he/she decides whether or not to invest in more wheels to fit those "other" season tires.
Kumho Ecstas and Fuzions are good all season tires on the cheap. If Tire Rack sells them, they have to be decent or T.R. would not risk their reputation.
Just MY perspective....
BTW, WELCOME to M/A and good luck in your search!-
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Gramps Active Member
As I posted earlier this week I just replaced my 17" runflats and heavy S-lite wheels with 16" Rota's and 205/50-16 Conti DW's. The tires were $100 each at Discount Tire. Much improved ride, mostly freeway miles so far so can't really comment too much on handling.
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AAONMS Well-Known MemberLifetime Supporter
Had Conti DW and was less than thrilled. Just had my third set of Michelin Pilot Super Sports installed. Previous car had Bridgestone RE960AS that have been superseded by the RE970AS in non run flats. I liked them.
Just ordered Michelin Primacy MXM4 ZP for wife's Countryman S All4 and am looking forward to seeing how they work. -
Dave.0 Helix & RMW PoweredLifetime Supporter
I like Dunlop Direzza ZII (Star Spec 2's) for Summer tires, but most people don't want to buy a tire with a UTQG: 200 A A that only last about a year.
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Crashton Club Coordinator
Welcome to M/A
Yes ditch the run flats. They cost a bunch & don't last worth a hoot. Plus they punish you with their ride quality, or rather lack of ride quality. -
wmwny Well-Known Member
Oops....lol Sorry, I was about to repost that which I had already written....
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wmwny Well-Known Member
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Crashton Club Coordinator
Spelz chekz gotz mez againz.....
rrr:
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AAONMS Well-Known MemberLifetime Supporter
Choices I listed aren't inexpensive, but the treadwear warranties do help control the costs after the initial buy in. I'm seeing right at $500 a set for tires, tax, road hazard warranty, disposal of old tires, mounting, and lifetime balancing for Michelin Pilot Super Sports. Not too bad.
This is the initial purchase on the Primacy All Season Run Flats for my wife's Countryman so it did hurt a bit. Hope next time is less painful. -
wmwny Well-Known Member
As stated before, the writer does not say where he/she is from, and so, THAT is the purpose of my suggesting an all season. In other words, try driving in cold weather and rotten conditions with your "performance tire promised land" and your "every time" will happen just once! -
Minidave Well-Known MemberLifetime Supporter
I just removed a set of DWS that had about 18K on them, they were down to the wear bars. Yes they were warranted for 50K, but as I didn't want another set of them I replaced them with some Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3 for $118 ea from Tire Rack with a $70 rebate on top of that.
(However, I put the same DWS on the wife's Audi the same day and with 16K her's look almost new - go figure)
The DWS were hopeless on a hot summer track BTW, I only ran them there once.
I had Kuhmo ASX before that and they were much better on the track, but they also only lasted about 20K - which is why I tried the DWS with their 50K warranty. (No, I didn't expect to get 50K out of them, but I did expect to go maybe 30K - I would have been happy with that)
Bottom line, if you want to do track days, get some summer only tires and save the All Seasons for the rest of the year. Where I live winter isn't that bad, so an All Season will handle the snow we get just fine....if I lived in Colorado or somewhere more north or where they get significantly more snow, I'd go the summer/blizzak route.
If you just want a street All Season tire, the Michy's look good at that price! -
wmwny Well-Known Member
I only run the all seasons on the track in late Fall or early Spring, because the weather is too unpredictable at that time to use summer tires. The Kumho ASX tires are fine for that. In the Winter, I don't track, but my MCS wears Blizzaks. From late Spring to mid Fall, my MCS uses Nitto Neo Gens during daily driving as well as on the track.
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