Brakes Wheels 1st Gen Tires Most liked posts in thread: Wow what crappy tires

Driving a MINI in the Snow is something everyone should do.

Its a lot of FUN to run circles around the SUV's in my MINI smowmobile. :lol:

 

As far as noise goes, they all get noisy if they are not rotated often. Many folks don't do that & blame the tires. I did too at one time. Some tires are more noisy than others. A tire guy clued me in on rotations & it does help. High performance tires with stiff construction are generally on the louder side. It's a compromise we make for good warm season grip.

As far as winter tires go all seasons are at best 3 season tires. Some folks say they are good enough, not me. You only have 4 contact patches about the size of the palm of your hand holding your car on the road.

Once you drive on a set of dedicated winter tires you will never go back to those "all season tires". Snow tires are cheap compared to the costs of an accident.

Nick one problem with those tires besides the wear issue is that as tires get old they get hard like a hockey puck & we know how those work on ice. Also those are high performance all seasons, stiff tires suck in the cold. Looking at the tread pattern on those I don't know how the heck they can call them all season? :crazy:

Free advice, head over to Discount tires & buy some dedicated snow tires. :yesnod:

Yes I like spending your money.....

 

When i bought my non-mini it came with falken 512s which was going to be my winter setup and they were crap below 45F if you have a set of conti dws (the all season dws not the dw) i would use them in the snow over the 512s (i used dws on my mini for winter before i got a second car)

I sold the falken 512 bought michelin x-ice3s and it was much safer as a winter setup, have conti dw for summer

i supposed it depends how wintery your winters are though might not be worth it

 

Heh, my commute is shorter!

Blizzacks are da bomb too. Lots of winter fun with my MINI on them.

 

Running winter tires means you can use stickier warm weather tires in the summer . All seasons suck all the time IMO...

 

That's why I have a dedicated tire and wheel setup (Winter) for snow and ice. I have driven around more than a few SUV's and 4x4's stuck in the snow.

 

Yup my Winter setup is a set of R90 boat anchors wrapped in a nice set of Michelin's.

MINI's are FUN in the Snow. :devil:

 

I also enjoy the looks I get from those stuck hunks, gee, you would think they would leave a fella some room.
Some times, I have to cut a new path.

 

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu9OoihEwWI&feature=youtube_gdata_player"]Mini trip to IKEA! - YouTube[/ame]

 

Offset can have a big influence in handling & feel. There is a reason the factory chooses the offset on the oem wheels. Some cars are more sensitive to changes in offset than others. My snow shoes are on oem Holies & I'm not feeling torque steer. That being said my fair weather wheels are not oem offset & yes there is some torque steer, but it's a front driver with a few ponies. I just hang on with both hands & point it in the direction I want to go.

 

So much fun watching the looks of those SUV drivers :shocked: as I go by in the snow covered lane they are afraid to use. Big fun in a little car.

When I had my Subaru it became a snow machine with 4 snows bolted on. :arf:

 

Yes! MINIs with snowtires definitely run circles around SUVs in the snow.

 

Snow tires FTW!

Nick a friend of mine used to say "free & worth every penny paid". :wink:

 

I highly recommend General AltiMAX Arctic radials 185x65x15 on Justa holies for winter wear, awesome tire.

 

My Mini is wearing General Altimax shoes and drove great in today's snowfall. It's unbelievable how well this car gets around in the snow!

 

^^^^ Just grad the wheel with both hands drop it in gear and HAMMER IT. The Car will go where you point it like a bat out of hell.

 

Speed reading & missed the apex again. Heck man you can't drive it's the tires. :lol: Justa joking.... :wink:

 

Yup I have found that all Falken tires are noisy. I burned the tread off them and switched to Yoko S-Drives. They were on but did not last long the way I drive and I took them to the Dragon.

 

You're really not serious about that combination as "my winter wheels and tires" are you, just in term only. Better to leave the MINI at home than to risk it on snow and ice wearing that combination.