Found out the hard way...... (problems fitting 15" wheels to Cooper S)

[CSDan]

.......That you cannot downsize to a 15x7 inch wheel on the Cooper S. I bought a set from Discount tire direct and they said they would fit. Well, they didn't and like a very professional company, they are taking back the wheels AND reemburssing me for the labor of fitting and taking off the tires .

If they had a set of 16x6.5 inch wheels I'd buy form them again in a heartbeat. I got the 15's in 2 days as promised and they are being responsible for what has happened--so I will GLADLY give them my business again if I can. Just thought I'd share.


Daniel

[Dom]

Quote:

Originally posted by CSDan
.......That you cannot downsize to a 15x7 inch wheel on the Cooper S. I bought a set from Discount tire direct and they said they would fit. Well, they didn't and like a very professional company, they are taking back the wheels AND reemburssing me for the labor of fitting and taking off the tires .

If they had a set of 16x6.5 inch wheels I'd buy form them again in a heartbeat. I got the 15's in 2 days as promised and they are being responsible for what has happened--so I will GLADLY give them my business again if I can. Just thought I'd share.


Daniel

The standard 15's should fit surely...

Was it the width that's the issue - thought the 17's were 7" wide...

Dom

[Paul]

Please do explain exactly why they didn't fit.

Glad they were taken back with no fuss too!

[macncheese]

I've got a set of 15 x 6.5s (with 40mm offset) lined up for winter. Should I be concerned?

--
Cheese

[BruceK]

The problem can't be because it was a Cooper S, can it? Those wheels would be a problem on any MINI, right?

[snid]

I've got 15" steel wheels that were ordered from tirerack on my Cooper. I was going to post the width of the wheel by looking it up on tirerack, but now I no longer see steel wheels as an option on their website for a MINI. hmmm...

Anyway, like I've said before, the first set of 15" steelies tirerack sent didn't clear the front brakes. The second set did.

[CSDan]

Dom, the 17's are 7 inche's wide, but they are also 2 inches bigger in diamiter. The lower Control arm has a bolt the sticks out and it caught the inside of the barrel of the wheel. Since its 2 inches smaller, its that much closer to the arm.

I thought the e-brake was stuck on . A more narrow wheel might fit, but TC from Discount tire said the info he got was from MINI themselves saying that no 15 will fit--go figure. I am now in the look out for a lighter 16 x 6.5 inch wheel--probably wont find one very soon--I might just get some stock Cooper S wheels--but I'd like something lighter and the ones from AKtire dont seem to be moving along very smoothly and I wouldn't see them till at least december.

One reason I was going with the 15x7's was I had an unlimitied supply of R compund tires I could use . Thems the brakes I guess.


Daniel

[LannyMCS]

Snid,

I've seen at least one post about the steel wheels from the Tire Rack not fitting an S. I can't remember if they were 15" or 16". The Tire Rack had listed both, but they are both gone from their website.

CSDan,

I know a lot of people who have been buying the 15" 7 Holes for winter use on their S, but I don't know anyone who's actually put them on. It's strange what MINI said about NO 15" fitting....

[zoooooom]

Standard 15" wheels fit the 's' no problem.
Russ Swift took the wheels off his MINI in Aberdeen and fitted them to a Cooper's' for the Press 's' launch and it was a standard 's' with 17" wheels and he swapped them to 15"

[coops41]

15x7 not fitting!

I bought a set of 15x6 csa(australian brand) alloys that i fitted with 205/50/15 yokahama 032r tyres and had no clearance problems, 15's do fit you just need to find the right offset and width.

[Garfield]

At least someone finally test fitted something before me so I don't get screwed...

There are MANY variables to fitting a wheel on a car, especially when you getting them smaller in diameter. If you ever order a custom wheel, you'll see what I mean.
Aside from the diameter, width, and offset, things like several different measurements in caliper clearance and how thick the hub pad is are CRUCIAL. In this case, I guess it was suspension clearance as well.

But, just keep in mind with any new car, always make sure you can send them back if you don't know anyone running the identical wheel already.

Thank you very much for the feedback CSDan, it is greatly appreciated. Although I haven't started my research yet, we planned on putting 15x7's or 15x8's on our FSP car. I will certainly be even more careful now.

Brian

[GordonD]

I have winter tire4s on 15" rims on my MCS with no problem.

use this site to calculate proper offset.

http://toy4two.home.mindspring.com/offset.html

[Garfield]

VERY useful, thanks. While we're at it, I'll include a couple more that many of you know about:

For tire calculations:
http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

For various wheel weights:
http://europeanspeed.com/wheelweights.htm

Brian

[CSDan]

Brian-- No problem, glad to help So all of you know--the offset was 38.
I would think that the stock 15's would fit, but I do want to use these wheels as double duty snow/autocross wheels. So I wanted to go wider then the 5.5's plus the tire supply I had wouldn't fit a 5.5.

SO--My MINI mechanic(who is my friends gf's brother inlaw(got that))came by last night and checked out what he though it was hitting. It was the ball joint. So I could try spacers but it would be at least a 10mm and it would still be close, so I am returning them and looking for some 16x6.5 wheels since it looks like the S will be reclassed next season(crossing fingures, dont really have money for LSD at the moment). So brian, if you want to dump a set of those RPO-1's, let me know .


Daniel