[dcfkan]

Help please!

Apple has done nearly 10k miles, and I have heard about changing new tyres round at about 10k miles so that you get more out of the back tyres etc...

Is there any advantage in doing this with 17" Runflats?

I am thinking about getting them changed over at a local garage instead of taking her round to my dealer's. Would I be invalidating the warrenty in doing so?

Your advice is much appreciated. Thanks!

DK

[paddy]

is always good to do. I had mine rotated at about 6500 miles and plan to continue at about 6500 mile intervals. Rotating your tires should increase the mileage you get out of a set of tires. Mine were rotated front to rear, keeping those on the right side on that side and the same goes for the left side. While the warranty on a MINI is very good, it does not cover the tires. This is left to the maker of the tire. So, to get around to answering your question about voiding the warranty, I don't see how, since MINI is not covering the tires. There is no need to take it into a MINI dealer to have this done, any good repair shop should be able to do this work. Make sure that they check the balance for each tire and the front end alignment. The front end alignment is really only necessary if you feel the car is pulling/drifting left or right. Good luck.

[monsta]

I rotated my tyres so that they would all need replacing at the same time.

I intend to fit some slightly wider rubber when they need replacing.

If you don't want to do that then you're better off leaving them where they are so that the rears last and then just replacing the front set on their own, it would be cheaper.

[Dom]

I swapped mine around at it's first service... about 8,000 miles. Now all four need replacing! doh!

Think I'll get some wide sticky ones..

No warranty issues. The dealer swapped them over for free because I was too lazy to do it myself!

Dom

[KenL]

There is an instruction in the manual discouraging you not to swap tyres between axles. Seems weird to me as people often swap tyres front to back. Can't see any saefty issues It is less painful though only buying 2 tyres at once.

[dcfkan]

Thanks peeps for the advice

Hmmmm, this issue with replacing all 4 tyres at once is swaying me not to change them over

DK

[monsta]

Quote:

Originally posted by Dom
I swapped mine around at it's first service... about 8,000 miles. Now all four need replacing! doh!

Think I'll get some wide sticky ones..

No warranty issues. The dealer swapped them over for free because I was too lazy to do it myself!

Dom

Dom do you reckon we could get a good deal on 8 wide tyres? I wanna do the same as you and get some fat ones next time (probably soon)

[Dom]

Will PM you about this...

Dom

[Clutch Cargo]

Last time I bought tires, the tire shop gave me a "white paper" from Daimler-Benz I think. The pitch (the shop wanted to charge a few more $$ for this) was that new tires should always be put on the rear, and the old rears moved to the front. The idea being, if you lose traction in a corner, it's better for the fronts to give way before the rears, since understeer is easier to control than spinning out. The MINI tends to understeer already, so maybe this idea would be overkill in our case. Thoughts?

[dcfkan]

Flew right over my little head I am afraid!

DK

[Clutch Cargo]

Balder tires having less traction, I think, altho this relationship was not explicitly stated in that tire shop flyer. So the idea is that if the fronts and rears are going to have different degrees of traction, it should be the fronts that have the balder tires.

I guess another assumption that was made in this paper was that people DON'T rotate their tires. So the fronts will normally wear out first, and you will normally only be buying two tires at a time. This paper from Daimler said to rotate the tires only when buying new ones, so the new tires always go on the rear.

This paper disagreed with my own thinking. I have always driven economy-type cars before the MINI, and I have always tried to use the tires for the longest possible time. I would always put the new tires on the front, thinking that if I got a catastrophic blowout, I'd rather have it in the rear. My rear tires would be used until the steel belting began to peek thru the "tread" of the tire. Not the safest practice, I know. I can imagine them at my funeral "We paid for this service with the money he saved by not replacing the tires that finally killed him".

[dcfkan]

Got that! Thanks for the explanation

DK

[Skinnyrunt]

Quote:

Originally posted by Clutch Cargo
Last time I bought tires, the tire shop gave me a "white paper" from Daimler-Benz I think. The pitch (the shop wanted to charge a few more $$ for this) was that new tires should always be put on the rear, and the old rears moved to the front. The idea being, if you lose traction in a corner, it's better for the fronts to give way before the rears, since understeer is easier to control than spinning out. The MINI tends to understeer already, so maybe this idea would be overkill in our case. Thoughts?

I was just abouts to bring this point up!

On a car programme over here(may of been driven), they did a test on the theory of always putting new tyres on the rear. They got a Corsa and had it going around a circle(to replicate a roundabout) on a wet piece of ground. When the new tyres were on the front the car spun out but when they were on the rear there was a slight bit of understeer but at least the car kept pointing in the right direction.

[dcfkan]

OK....

so what is under and over steer, please?

DK
Hey, I am not a car technophile and not a man!!!

[Skinnyrunt]

I've just been to DRIVEN's site and they have a whole section on Tyres .

Here's just a section.........
The depth of tread is most crucial on the rear tyres, even in a front-wheel-drive car. So if you can only afford to have two tyres replaced, put the new tyres on the rear wheels and the older pair in front.

[Skinnyrunt]

Quote:

Originally posted by dcfkan
OK....

so what is under and over steer, please?

DK
Hey, I am not a car technophile and not a man!!!

"If you approach a fast bend in the road, turn the wheel, but the car just ploughs straight on into a ditch, then you suffer from understeer. If you leave the same bend spinning backwards into the ditch, then you suffer from oversteer. Of course oversteer can easily be provoked when there is an idiot at the wheel, so don’t always blame the car."

Many people prefer understeer since an oversteering car is quite a dangerous beast that needs a fast hand to catch it

[dcfkan]

Thanks Skinny for the info

OK, forget about rotation then - probably too late already

DK

[HarryHBMCC]

Understeer and oversteer essentially say what they are but they are found to be confusing nonetheless.

In an understeer case you turn the steering wheel as much as you think is enough to make a corner but low traction (from going too fast, weather or spinning powered wheels of a front-wheel drive vehicle) causes the car to turn less than the driver intended. Thus it is called understeer. You need to slow down a bit to correct it, and then if necessary steer a little against the direction you want to go until the wheels grab; then you can turn back the other way. The driver will often steer more and more in the original direction to compensate (possibly without braking) which can lead to problems when the tires DO find some grip and the wheels are turned too far. A front-wheel skid is another way to describe understeer.

In an oversteering situation, the driver turns the wheel as much as they think they need to make the turn but low traction (from going too fast, too much tire pressure in the rear or spinning powered wheels of a rear-wheel drive vehicle) causes the back end to slide around which makes the car turn more than the driver intended. Thus it is called oversteer. Lifting off the throttle (or putting car into neutral) on a FWD vehicle can make the situation even worse as you suddenly change the weight distribution of the car. You want to steer into the rear-wheel skid while slowing backing off the throttle and/or braking to correct for it (even though the natural response is to steer away from it).

ASC+T, DSC, EBD, CBC and other technologies help you with understeer and oversteer in acceleration/downshifting (the first two) and braking (the last two).

Harry

[dcfkan]

Thanks Skinny (again) and Harry for the explanation.

I don't believe I have had that many incidences where I over or under steered - being such a careful driver you see

Hmmmm, I believe I need to experience this myself by going onto a skid-pan course or whatever they are called

DK

[Clutch Cargo]

Cheers, Skinnyrunt, I always wondered if this effect was only sales pitch, or had actually been put to the test. Wish I could have seen that TV show. We don't seem to have any car programs like Driven, in my area at least.

DK, I also am keen to try out my MINI on a skid pad or in a racing class of some kind. It would be a lot of fun, and I think it would make you a much better driver to experience how your car will handle "on the edge".