[Gryphon]

Greetings all:
As I await my mini's arrival I am interested in knowing your experience of driving in the snow. (I live in New England.) Also, any thoughts about the relative merits (or debits) of the various mini wheels/tires in snow conditions would be greatly appreciated. Winter is coming......even though it is now May.

[Paul]

There are plenty of friendly Canadian members, and others from the 'colder' parts of the USA who have already endured a winter with their MINIs... I'm sure they'll help out.

Also, try a search for snow, you'll find plenty (including some cool pictures).

Welcome to MINI2.

Paul

[stryder]

If you have the money to spend, just buy an extra set of rims (steel or alloy) probably not from your dealer (they're overpriced) and snow tires. If you have an S you may want winter runflats, if not there's lots of other options.

All the all season tires are pretty poor in the snow, the summer ones are dangerous. Buy the wheels and summers tires you like (lookwise + handling) and then you'll be quite impressed with the handling in all 4 seasons, and won't have spent much extra, since remember snow tires limit wear on your summer tires, and you can buy 4 alloys for $100 each.

There's plenty of pictures as paul has said, searching for snow tires will give you the snow threads also and people's choices.

[myminirocks]

I agree. I live in PA and I purchased snow tires and a separate set of rims. The car handled beautifully during many, many mornings of snow, including one white out. Worth the purchase.

[Pamlico]

I'll second (or third) the above. We're in Rochester, NY and had somewhere around 150" of snow this past winter. The 17" performance Dunlops on our MCS were pretty bad. Replaced them with a set of 15" steel wheels and Blizzaks and from then on, no problems. With the right tires the MINI is a very good snow car.

[MiniMan7]

My advice is get snow tires for the winter. I tried to just stick with my 17" Pirelli performance tires, and I almost died driving in a snow storm once, it caught me off guard, very scary.

[sjbartnik]

My Cooper S was delivered in November so I got to put it through a long snowy winter. I used the stock all-season 16" run-flats and never got stuck or had any car control issues in the snow. Meaning I had a good enough experience that I didn't feel that a purchase of snow tires was necessary.

Now naturally snow tires will be very helpful but I didn't find them to be a requirement.

[kerryd]

We had significant snow in Connecticut all winter. My All-Season 17" Runflats performed fine, as well as any other FWD car I've owned. The MCS is my daily driver - my commute is 50 miles/day.

[HarryHBMCC]

Check out the wheels & tyres (tires) forum and seach for snow tires and you'll find several lengthy discussions about what everyone did last year.

I got a set of MINI X-lite wheels with Dunlop SP WinterSport M3 DSST (runflats) last winter and had a blast driving through a few winter rallies. With the appropriate tires, it is a great snow car.

Harry

[strawbs]

Have a look at my gallery for a snow pic. pic's a bit big though...sorry.

[stryder]

Snow view: I think the other small snow issue, is how much snow do you expect to drive through. I was bouncing around much of the northern half of the US, and got caught in several snow storms (christmas, a bit after new years down in the hudson valley in NY) and was driving in about 5" of unplowed snow (on 3 lane each direction roads and side roads) and did fine. I couldn't imagine doing that on all-seasons, since when I had mine on, I skidded about 5' stopping on a slightly icy road. If you don't need to go driving in blizzards and nor'easters then you may want to save the money, but personally, if you spend as much as any MINI costs, $700 extra dollars for reasonable rims and tires is a small price to pay, especially if you account for saving wear on your summer tires, and you can get better performance summer ones.

[MGB Boy]

I'll add my Northern Vermont concurrence to the "get a second set of rims with dedicated snows" side of the debate. I swapped off my 17" s-lites for a set of 15" Borbens shod with Michelin Alpins, got me through the winter just fine. I wouldn't have wanted to try with the Dunlop performance summer tires, they slip on wet pavement markings, to say nothing of snow or ice...

-Ricardo

[Gryphon]

Where I live in CT we can get anywhere from nothing to a foot and a half of snow. I am a teacher and get "snow days" off, but also frequently find myself commuting home 25 miles in snow after they have closed school "early." I truly appreciate the replys to my post. I am leaning towards doing some major tire and rim shopping this summer before the crunch and then buying a snow set to rotate in.

[Gryphon]

Or even the replies......

[FiremanMike]

I opted for 15" alloy and Blizzaks last winter. Very good choice, the 17' run flats were not even close to being able to handle the snow. The Blizzaks are some great kind of tire! The fun begins when you start to turn the DSC off and just let the MINI go! It is no fun when the brakes cycle off and on and that dang light keeps flashing at you and the throttle is dead...If you must drive in the white stuff then use the proper tires.
Mike
13800 miles and going strong

[Cape Cod MINI]

I run Michelin Artic Alpines on 16" v-spokes in the winter. They are fantastic in the snow and the MINI goes like the hammers of hell with them on. The Pirelli's are totally useless in the snow. I will keep the 16" Dunlops on for the first snow this coming winter just to see what happens.
This pic. was taken about 5 weeks ago in early April when I made a run up to Maine. Big mistake. I took the Michelins off and was running the 17" Pirelli's at the time. What an adventure on the back roads!!

[spanky]

Last fall I, too, was concerned about MINI's winter handling with its 17" wheels/tires. Nearly bought 15" steel rims and winter tires from TireRack, but they ran out of stock. Instead, I bought a set of 15" MINI 7-Hole alloy rims with brand new all season Continentals on eBay for less than $400.

The narrower tires helped and, even with a few 12-16" snowfalls, the MINI went splendidly through the deep and icy stuff. The low ground clearance caused some underbody rumble but no harm was done.

On previous cars, I had always insisted on four snow tires, but these narrower all seasons worked fine.

BTW, no problem fitting the 15" rims on an MCS. They actually improve the ride noticeably.

[elmadi]

Quote:

Originally posted by kerryd
We had significant snow in Connecticut all winter. My All-Season 17" Runflats performed fine, as well as any other FWD car I've owned. The MCS is my daily driver - my commute is 50 miles/day.

Same here n Chicago suburbs. Though I had the Pirelli but seems okey.

[David W.]

Quote:

Originally posted by strawbs
Have a look at my gallery for a snow pic. pic's a bit big though...sorry.

Thats not snow that just a dusting. Over a foot now you have snow.

[paulgraz]

I live in Southern NJ now, so we don't see alot of snow here. I drove my car through the winter with the stock 16" all-seasons and it did just fine. The worst problem was the low clearance of the front air dam - in deep snow it would act as a plow.

I used to live in Rochester NY and when I was there I ALWAYS mounted 4 snow tires on whatever car I had. My 96 Saturn SC2 was a great winter car - 5-speed, abs, traction control and 4 Goodyear Ultra-Grip's, and I felt I could drive through anything...

For winter driving, it's all about the tires. I laugh when I see these 4x4's with marginal car tires sliding off the road...