16 replies to this topic

[bigfish]

   I am in the process of looking at new rims and tires.   Do 13 inch rims affect the handling of the mini?  What would be a good combination rim and tire for handling?

the car is driven strictly for fun factor and does not do much yearly mileage.

 

[nicklouse]

10x6 wheels with 165/70-10 tyres.

[Dusky]

If you have standard brakes you cant easily go to 10 inch tho.
12 inch will feel a lot better than 13 already. best handeling would be with 145/70 tyres, dry grip with 165/60.

[Ethel]

There are other factors, such as wheel offset, but generally they handle better the closer they are to the original design.

[minidave54]

Agree with Nicklouse on wheel sizes plus some sticky Yokohama A032 tyres

[bigfish]

  Thanks for the advice. I have the factory 12 inch wheel now.  I take it i would need to change the front brakes to fit 10 inch.  Would that not hurt the braking capability with having or smaller rotor or are there options to improve braking and fit the 10 inch wheel.   I might be doing things backwards than most but want to improve handling and braking before investing go fast goodies for the 1275 that is in the car.  I like to zip around and find the braking could be better.

[bigfish]

one last thought would putting on 10 inch wheel change my speedo?    thanks again

[Ethel]

The tyres are all fairly close in circumference regardless of wheel diameter. Have a play

 

I agree that quality tyres will make the biggest difference. Both 7.5's and 8.4 inch discs can stop a Mini adequately well (I'd say 7.5's are actually bigger in friction area, but 8.4's have better leverage and cooling). Look at the condition of what's fitted, something you can factor in to the cost if you consider going to 10's.

[nicklouse]

  Thanks for the advice. I have the factory 12 inch wheel now.  I take it i would need to change the front brakes to fit 10 inch.  Would that not hurt the braking capability with having or smaller rotor or are there options to improve braking and fit the 10 inch wheel.   I might be doing things backwards than most but want to improve handling and braking before investing go fast goodies for the 1275 that is in the car.  I like to zip around and find the braking could be better.

ok so now we have the full info.

 

yes you would need to change brakes. yes you would be reducing the braking power but you will not notice it as the difference is minimal. you can lock your brakes on both sizes.

 

the overall diameter is always about the same (rear radius arm restricts this) so bigger wheels mean lower profile tyres which reduces sidewall movement that makes the ride harsher. it also makes the Mini harder to slide (go look at some videos of racing minis) which is actually quite good when going hard and fast on a wide track. lower profile tyres tend to result in the car rolling.

[rally1380]

As nicklouse says, ride harshness is greatly affected by wheel size and tyre profile.

 

I use 12" wheels with 70 profile tyres for rallying and because the sidewalls are quite stiff the ride is much harsher than when I swap to 10" wheels with 165 70 10 tyres on.  The car feels completely different with 10" balloon tyres on. Much grippier, and much more compliant over bumps.

 

Stay clear of 13" as they ruin the handling and anyone who says different needs to try 10".

[Cooperman]

Remember the racing cars have racing tyres with no tread and very sticky compound.
For the road a more compliant suspension is needed with good total suspension travel which includes the tyre sidewalls depth.
10" & 12" wheels both give good roadholding and traditional Mini handling
Note that road-holding and handling are not the same thing at all.
Whilst a 13" wheel can be made to work adequately it is a compromise and will never be as good as a 10" or a 12".

[monkey]

I have 13" wheels and can honestly say that in the dry, on a road, in my opinion as a non-racing driver, it handles as well as my old mini on 10's. (Iv never driven a mini with 12" wheels) maybe on a track the 13's would be worse, but in the dry on a road my 13's give me more than enough confidence to chuck it into corners.

Wet wether is a different matter though lol

[humph]

I swapped from 12 to 10 on our Sidewalk, using the Minispares brake conversion kit.  Here are my opinions (& they are just that, opinions).

 

1) Brake performance isn't noticeably different. I had green stuff pads on the 12s and never liked them, now running Mintex on the 10's and they're much easier to live with. For me decent pads i the key here.

2) The car felt really heavy to steer at low speeds on 12s, it's noticeably lighter and easier to drive on 10s.

3) Comfort is much improved due to the increased tyre wall. Another slight benefit is the car no longer catches it's exhaust on the speed bumps in our estate due to the difference in the tyres radius.

4) The car is, again in my opinion, more fun to drive due to all of the above.

5) I prefer the looks and stance of the car from all angles now.

 

I've driven a friends Mini with 13s a couple of times and for me it felt really heavy to steer, not a 'chuckable' as our own.

 

All of that said it's your car, only you know how you want it to look and feel. If you aren;t a local club member find on and see if someone will let you drive their car on 13s before you make you big decision

[Cooperman]

There is still a lot of lack of understanding of the difference between handling and road-holding. A car can have superb handling but very poor road-holding. A good example of this is my'S' on knobbly tyres when driven on dry tarmac.
Handling is largely determined by the accuracy of the suspension settings and geometry. Road-holding isn't it more a result of tyre compound, tread pattern and tyre width. Too narrow or too wide a tyre and road-holding will suffer. With 13" wheels more suspension travel is needed to handle bumps in corners so if the suspension is raised a bit and adjustable dampers fitted and set slightly softer than thet would be on 10" or 12" wheels they can be made to work better. However the width needs to be no wider than 165 for best wet grip.

[bigfish]

Thank you all for the advice. I have decided to go with the 10 inch tire. And the 032's. Now to decide on if I should do the mini sport std conversion for brakes or something a little better like the mini sport 4 pot calipers.