15" wheels on Clubman D

[Apial]

At the moment I have been running a One D with 17" S-lites and the fuel consumption has been running at 54.3 mpg consistently. I swapped the wheels over to a set of 15" pepperpots and the consumption immediately shot up to 58-61 mpg due to the wheels weighing 1/2 the weight and the tyres being thinner.

I drove a diesel Clubman and it managed 68.2 mpg on a set of 17" . I've got a Lightning Blue Clubman Diesel coming at the end of the month and it will have 17" Crown Spokes. How do you think it will go on 15" pepperpots?

Will I get a smoother ride, and will the 15" tyres take the extra torque ? Has anyone experience of running a diesel Clubman on 15" tyres?

[M.O.S]

The clubman certainly doesn't look as good, and you don't get as much grip with 15s... Depends how much of a priority fuel consumption is!

[Apial]

Fuel consumption is pretty much a priority. I could just as easy have bought a Clubman S, but with 25,000 miles per year the Diesels impressive mpg made it a simpler decision.

I have a stack of wheels in the garage, so when the Clubman arrives I will pop on some 15" and see how they go.

I don't really need super sharp handling if it is at the expense of ride quality. The roads around here are potholed and built for horsedrawn wagons! The narrower tyre also has an advantage in resisting aquaplaning when it hits the deep puddles.

[M.O.S]

In that case I'd give 15s a try!

[Tigger, Eeyore & Roo]

Quote: Originally Posted by Apial (original)

At the moment I have been running a One D with 17" S-lites and the fuel consumption has been running at 54.3 mpg consistently. I swapped the wheels over to a set of 15" pepperpots and the consumption immediately shot up to 58-61 mpg due to the wheels weighing 1/2 the weight and the tyres being thinner.

I drove a diesel Clubman and it managed 68.2 mpg on a set of 17" . I've got a Lightning Blue Clubman Diesel coming at the end of the month and it will have 17" Crown Spokes. How do you think it will go on 15" pepperpots?

Will I get a smoother ride, and will the 15" tyres take the extra torque ? Has anyone experience of running a diesel Clubman on 15" tyres?

You are absolutely right with this observation on fuel consumption; I swapped between 15" wheels and 17" S spokes on my last Cooper and it made a 5 mpg difference and also cut the comfortable cruising speed by 10 mph!

Don't worry about the 15" wheels "being able to take the extra torque". It wasn't long ago when 15" wheels were only seen on top end cars and 13 and 14" wheels were fitted as standard to the hottest versions of small cars. The fashion for 17" wheels is only very recent.

In addition, I met a police accident investigator a couple of years ago who explained how wider/larger tyres (counter-intuitively) usually provide little difference in grip over their smaller versions. He said that the narrower the tyre was, the harder each square inch of tyre was pressed into the tarmac and the greater the grip was per unit area. He demonstrated this by placing a straight pint glass either the right way up, or upturn it on its rim; either way, it took the same amount of effort to push it accross the table, despite the wildly different contact areas. The only advantage the larger tyre seems to have is that it will better handle the heat build up and allow for softer compounds where there is a lot of power to deal with. With the greatest of respect to your nice new MINI, the power output of a 1.6 turbo diesel, in a light weight car, isn't going to trouble the capabilities of a 175/65R15 tyre.

The only real advantage the larger wheels are going to give is quicker and more sensitive steering, as the lower side walls of the low profile tyres will have less room to distort and rob you of steering feel. As handling is not your top priority, I wouldn't worry about it!

Tigger.

[Buz999]

If fuel consumption is priority then give it a go but i think the clubbie will look silly with such small wheels. Take a look at the write up in the latest Modern Mini mag about the clubbie ONE and the pics will show you what i mean.
Why dont you go inbetween with some light 16s if so bothered about a few mpg but to be honest 68.2mpg on 17s is bloody impressive already.

Hope you enjoy the clubbie, they're fantastic

Dont forget to check out ClubmanRegister.co.uk • Index page

[Paul]

What tigger and co. said. You could also try light 16" wheels. May be little difference in weight, but slightly (minimal) rolling diameter increase could aid cruising MPG.

[Morro]

The Fashion Police will arrest you.

[Paul]

Quote: Originally Posted by Morro (original)

The Fashion Police will arrest you.

Sounds like all the more reason to do it!

[Apial]

I think back to my teens when I would go cycle racing, Nobody would dream of fitting fat mountain bike tyres to race on. Everyone raced on high pressue "tubs", tubeless tyres, which would barely make as much as a pencil thickness contact with the road.

They were not very good at stopping on a wet road, but they were excellent at getting that extra bit of speed needed. Fat low pressure tyres just soaked up all the energy and severely slowed you down.

In fact I once got a 2 week "ban" for doing 60mph on my bike, from my father of course, after my older brother "spragged on me".

Now if only it were possible to fit the "tubs" on the MINI, I would probably manage to get over 100mpg!

When MINI do the official fuel consumption figures and the official CO2 figures, what wheels do they use? It would be a bit of a cheat if they did them using 15".

[davyboy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Buz999 (original)

If fuel consumption is priority then give it a go but i think the clubbie will look silly with such small wheels. Take a look at the write up in the latest Modern Mini mag about the clubbie ONE and the pics will show you what i mean.
Why dont you go inbetween with some light 16s if so bothered about a few mpg but to be honest 68.2mpg on 17s is bloody impressive already.

Hope you enjoy the clubbie, they're fantastic

Dont forget to check out ClubmanRegister.co.uk • Index page

Totally agree with Buz on this subject, try 16" wheels but I still think 17" look best

Don't forget to give www.clubmanregister.co.uk a look