Run-flats on a Cooper

[Crawdad]

I have a Cooper on order with 16" 5-star wheels with run-flat tires, a choice I made partly on the assurance by my dealer that unlike the S, the Cooper comes with a spare even if you order it with run-flats. Now I'm looking at a 2003 owner's manual and it's a bit ambiguous on the question: in a couple of places it reminds you (without mentioning the model) that if your car is equipped with run-flat tires, you don't have a spare. I can't tell if that's sloppy editing or The Way Things Really Are.

Reason this is important, of course, is that I'd like to be able to put winter tires on the car without paying $200 each for them, and still have some chance of making it to grandmother's house if I pick up a nail or something.

So, a question for those of you who are driving Coopers (not S's) with factory run-flat tires: do you have a spare?

Crawdad
BRG Cooper on order

[mininow]

I have the 16 inch runflats via the sports package and a spare. Your dealer knows what he/she is talking about.

[Crawdad]

Thanks. I'm running out of things to fret about.

C.

[Bilbo Baggins]

Crawdad,

Just worry about finding enough fun roads to drive on. That, and how to keep a clean record while you do drive.

[HarryHBMCC]

Not to make you worry but I have runflats and NO spare on my Cooper. At the Canadian MINI website, building a MINI and selecting a spare DESELECTS the sport package. I hope your dealer knows what he is talking about and that you get what you want.

That said, I'm looking forward to some runflat winter tires. For all that they will cost more, the thought of changing a tire in January with my fingers frozen trying to undo the bolts is not nice and I don't know how well a space-saver spare will do along with a snow tire on the other side of the same axle -- can't be fun to drive that way in snow.

Harry

[Crashandburn]

16" run flats on my Cooper, no spare and no mobility kit. I believe you had to specify the space saver spare at order (as an optional extra), and I know you can't add it afterwards - if you didn't specify it, it can't be retrofitted.

[sdmidget]

Spare standard on Cooper w/ runflats apparently is a US thing. [have one on mine].

[L.Mini]

I have the run-flats and the spare also.....but I don't have the sport package...only most of the options from it.

I would double check if you wanted to have a spare. I don't understand why you couldn't have both the sport package and a spare tire.

[HarryHBMCC]

The only reason not to have them on a Cooper is weight. To offset the heavier runflat tires, not carrying the jack and spare tire helps to keep the weight down. On the S, the centre exhaust and rear battery mean carrying a spare is not possible.

Harry

[Crawdad]

Apparently sdmidget is correct that it is specific to the U.S. market to equip Coopers with spares whether or not they're ordered with run-flats. My motoring advisor (love that!) obligingly looked under the skirts of the two 03 Coopers that recently arrived on her lot. Both have 16" run-flats, both have spares. Which suits me fine.

She discovered something else missing, though: the auxiliary electrical output seems to have disappeared.

Crawdad

[HarryHBMCC]

Quote:

Originally posted by Crawdad
Apparently sdmidget is correct that it is specific to the U.S. market to equip Coopers with spares whether or not they're ordered with run-flats. My motoring advisor (love that!) obligingly looked under the skirts of the two 03 Coopers that recently arrived on her lot. Both have 16" run-flats, both have spares. Which suits me fine.

She discovered something else missing, though: the auxiliary electrical output seems to have disappeared.

Crawdad

MINI giveth and MINI taketh away

Harry

[Sejanus]

Correct on both counts. The spare as standard is a US feature and '03 models don't have the rear electrical outlet.

[ddp]

Got 16" runflats on Indi Blue Cooper and the spare. Actually saw it this past weekend when the car was up on a lift getting a new stainless steel exhaust installed.

-Dan