29 replies to this topic

[Cooper1]

iv never driven a mini with alloys on and iv done a fair bit of reading and it seems 50/50 between what size alloys work and perform better.i have a 91 cooper 1275 and i was going to go with 13s with sportspack or similar arches but iv heard that the ride can be terrible and handling is a lot harder whereas with 10s the performance is better and ride comfort is better.

if i go with 10s what are the widest arches to suit the wheels with as little use of spacers as possible?

 

or as another question might go what is the perfect set up on 10s?

[cal844]

I say go with 12 inch rims, the best compromise

[rally1380]

10's - better handling and ride comfort.

[HarrysMini]

I personally prefer the handling and road holding of a Mini on 10" wheels with a 165 section tyre. 

 

Lots of people will like the feel of it with wide 13" wheels, and that's fine. The best thing you can do is drive some different setups, don't just read what people say on forums. 

[KernowCooper]

165/70-10 on a 5.5 or 6" wheel

[Sleepy Stu]

Depends what the car is being used for and how much money you have!

[exuptoy]

Just purchased a 7.5 inch brake set up from 12 inch conversion today from Minispares and with Simon's discount for TMFers they cost me £174!!! Bargain.

[Tamworthbay]

10s or 12s, but not 13s. Ruin the feel of a mini. Who would think an inch would make so much difference?

[Midas Mk1]

13's dont ruin them at all... aha

so when was the last time you drove a 13" mini pro setup??

Edited by Midas Mk1, 29 July 2014 - 08:53 PM.

[Tomm]

My 16v was on 13's loads of fun,,no complaints here apart from the odd scrub.

My current SPI is on 10's also love that, seems to feel more responsive and hunkered down than the 13's but it may be down to tyre choice. I thought motorway driving would suck on 10's and I would be screaming the nuts off of it at 70, but that's not the case.

10's look better and are more fun in my eyes, that's why I will now always run 10's

Edited by tomm, 29 July 2014 - 08:59 PM.

[Tamworthbay]

13's dont ruin them at all... aha
so when was the last time you drove a 13" mini pro setup??

couple of months back, compared to a well set up 10 or 12 setup they don't come close. I have tried all sorts over the years, my personal favourite is 12s with a048rs. Get 13s and it's horribly vague compared to the smaller sizes. 10s feel best but the tyre choice isn't as good.

[Yams]

Lets be frank here. If you really love your car, you'll probably experience all wheel sizes at some point on it. I had 12s, I now have 13s, and in the future i know i'll try 10s. Just go with what you fancy at the time.The worst thing that can happen you you change them later down the road.

 

Yams

[exuptoy]

It's generally cheaper to go from 12' to 13's as the brake size are ok. A switch to 10's put's you out a further £200 or so for the brake conversion. There again, the wheels and tyres are generally cheaper in 10's so there's the balance I suppose. I'm in the process of going to 10's.

[Cooperman]

There are some technical facts about wheel diameters & widths which apply here.

First of all, the Mini was designed to have 5-20 x 10 cross ply tyres which translated into 145/80 x 10 radials. This allowed the tyre depth to do quite a lot of the suspension work and it worked well.

The 165/70 x 10 tyre performed the same function as the sideway depth was almost identical. The 165 tyre width gave better road-holding in the dry and in the wet the later compounds used in the 165 combined with better tread patterns meant they were virtually as good in the wet.

Then, to suit the Rover stylists the 13" wheel was introduced with a 175/50 x 13 tyre. Thus the suspension work previously done by the tyre depth could no longer happen as designed. The wider tyre is better on a very smooth and dry road, but in the wet or on a slippy surface it will not be as good due to reduced contact pressure. Ideally with a 13" wheel and 175/50 tyre the ride height should be increased and the damping softened to try to replace some of the suspension travel.

 

Now, moving on to wheel width, the original and never altered steering geometry was designed for a 3.5" wide wheel with a 5-20 or 145 section width tyre. Any increase in the nominal track will alter the geometry away from that as designed. It is known as altering the 'scrub angle'. With a 4.5" wheel it is only a small issue, but when wheel widths increase to 7", the overall effect is an increase in effective track of 3.5" and that is a lot. Thus the steering geometry is 'screwed up' with consequent deterioration in handling, although dry road-holding may still be reasonably OK, especially on a smooth surface. Racing cars running wide sticky slick tyres will have good road-holding because the stickiness of the rubber beats the steering deteroriation, but that's not applicable to road cars.

 

The choice is the owner's, of course, but no amount of B.S. can overcome the basic engineering factors which is that a Mini will always handle best on narrow small diameter wheels with 145 section tyres.

 

Incidentally, there is a 165/55 x 13 tyre available which would run on a 4.5 x 13" wheel with standard datum offset. I wonder if anyone has considered this as a compromise.

Edited by Cooperman, 29 July 2014 - 10:32 PM.

[Ripple]

Cooperman... You are my hero, you know so much... I want your brain please.