Winter driving in New-England / MA, USA

[Nemi]

Hi Everyone,

The wife is a little concerned that the new mini may have problems in the new-england snow. We choose a cooper S with sport package (17" rims) and ALL SEASON run-flats.

I know many of you have had your mini's for 1-2 winters, please could you let me know what to expect about the mini's handeling and if I should look at snow tires?

I really appreciate your advise on this.....

Many thanks,
Peter

[snid]

If you stay in Mass, and inside when it's really nasty, you should be good with the all seasons.

If you're a skier / snowboarder and will be heading north during the snowstorms, you'll want snow tires.

If you're an experienced winter driver, the only drawback of the MINI is that it is a little hesitant at times to get moving or go uphill. Stopping and stearing are great, especially with ABS and DSC (which some people will debate).

As a Vermonter / snowboarder, I run snow tires. Through two winters, including one with weekly commutes between Boston and Burlington Vermont, I have never gotten stuck in the MINI.

[pezboy]

I have never been on allseasons but I think a set of winter wheels/tires is great. You can even ride on them in the hot summer when you damage one of your 17" wheels, because a new wheel+tire will cost you ~$450.

[RallyMINI]

Do yourself a favor, go to www.tirerack.com and get a set of the 15" Rims with Snowtires and you will be much happier. The All-Season tires are really only meant to help you out if you accidentally get caught in the snow. If you drive in the snow a lot (as all us NE's do) then snowtires are a real must. But that is actually true for ALL CARS, and most people merely ignore it.

I have been told that with the 15" Tires, the MINI handles like a little snowmobile! :-)

ciao
RM

[rfinprc]

I made it throught the first winter with my all-season run-flats. Year 2 I bought snows & rims from Tire Rack. They were well worth it -- much better handling in the range of mess we find on the roads around Boston and on trips to the mountains. I also took them ice racing -- impressive performance.

I got the Blizzak LM-22, which offer a good compromise between snow and high speed dry road conditions.



Where are you in Mass.?

[RallyMINI]

I dunno if your asking me, but I'm in Arlington MA

[rfinprc]

I was asking Nemi, but it's good to know where you're from too.

[Aqualung]

I've got 17" s-lites and I'm planning on getting 15" snows in the fall. The only thing I've heard not mentioned is to not go out in fresh snow (not plowed) over 8" or so, as the MINI will "snowplow" the snow since it's so low. I used to have a MR2 and avoided fresh snow as well, sticking close to major roads.

The biggest hassle will be keeping the car clean <g>

[jwardell]

I plan on running my all-season runflats for the first year, then replacing them with high performance summer tires, and buying a cheap set of 15" rims with very good snow tires. I learned this lesson on my last car, all season just means mediocre at everything, great at nothing. I figure I'll torture myself for one season so I can appreciate the nice ones.

[Nemi]

Quote: Originally Posted by rfinprc

I made it throught the first winter with my all-season run-flats. Year 2 I bought snows & rims from Tire Rack. They were well worth it -- much better handling in the range of mess we find on the roads around Boston and on trips to the mountains. I also took them ice racing -- impressive performance.

Where are you in Mass.?

We are just about to move from Southbridge to Worcester. To a house on a very steep hill.


Anyhoo...

Thank you EVERYONE for the helpful replies. I just checked out tire-rack and see that for approx. $450 I can get 4x 15" steel rims and 4x Dunlop Winter Sport M2 175/65TR15 tires.

However, I can not tell for the life of me wether these are "run flats"? If not, I'll just have to buy Qty.5 and keep one on the back seat

I like Tirerack, I had to get new rear tires for my "Z" as they had worn out at 16K (burn outs? me? no.....) and I got some 18" 245/45 Yokohama AVS ES100 for a really great price. Now that is a car that won't pull of from sationery in snow I've had both rear wheels doing 10 rpm at at idle in 1st gear without moving

[Nemi]

Quote: Originally Posted by jwardell

I plan on running my all-season runflats for the first year, then replacing them with high performance summer tires, and buying a cheap set of 15" rims with very good snow tires. I learned this lesson on my last car, all season just means mediocre at everything, great at nothing. I figure I'll torture myself for one season so I can appreciate the nice ones.

I'm looking at 18" for next spring, you can get a complete set of wheels and rims for ~ $900 on tirerack.

The run - flats / spare tire issue on the MCS is a real pain in the ar$$e though.

[stryder]

You can buy runflat snows if you're worried about the lack of a spare on the MCS, tirerack sells them, but you need to find them specifically.

check out this thread: http://www.mini2.com/forum/wheels-tyres-brakes/45381-winter-wheel-tire-gallery.html
for some of your options on snows. And if you don't like the look of steel and aren't on a budget, just splurge on some $99 alloys, which are easier to clean and better looking anyway. You're still reasonably cheap. Runflats do only come in 16" so you do bump the price a bit by being forced to the larger size, but as the gallery shows, you can always buy some 16" OEM wheels, which are usually the same price or cheaper then new 15" alloys.

[pezboy]

Get non runflats and a compact spare. I blew out a tire/damged a rim and it eventually led me to just get new wheels/tires from tirerack, and of course they are not runflats...I wish I did it so much sooner.

[NHRef]

Way back in the winter of '02, the snow must have been 6' deep on I89 on the drive home from Vermont . . . or at least it seemed that way! Original run flats on 17" rims were no problem, even when the snow could be heard against the underbody.

In '03, I used snows mounted on 15" rims from Bavarian Autosport in Portsmouth NH. Again, no problems ~ even ice raced with them!

My advice is to buy a set of 15" wheels and snows along with a can of Fix-A-Flat. After four years of driving from southern NH to Worcester (Assumption College), there are no roads that either a can of Fix-A-Flat or Roadside Assistance can't overcome.

[LordWinslow]

Quote: Originally Posted by Nemi

Anyhoo...

Thank you EVERYONE for the helpful replies. I just checked out tire-rack and see that for approx. $450 I can get 4x 15" steel rims and 4x Dunlop Winter Sport M2 175/65TR15 tires.

However, I can not tell for the life of me wether these are "run flats"? If not, I'll just have to buy Qty.5 and keep one on the back seat

M2's are Regular Tires, M3's are Runflats. I have a set of those (M3 Winter Sports) on the 5 spoke rims and I love them. Ran them for 2 winters and they are great, good grip, make starting from a stop on a cold icy parking lot easy.

Winslow