I have a stock r56s that I am running Michelin X-Ice 215/45/17s on now. Then run fine with no rub anywhere. Tirerack shows the diameter as 24.7. I want to run 225/45/17 Conti Extremes on some summer 17x7 aftermarket JCWs I bought. Conti dia for the 225 is listed as 25" which is only .3 inch larger or .15 per radius. I have seen differing opinions on the forum about whether 225/45s will rub or not on the stock r56s. Anyone running 225/45/17s on their stock r56s please chime in and tell me if these will work without any mod or not.
I run 225/45-17's on a 2010 R56 S coupe with the stock JCW style wheels. Tires are Michelin PS2's. They clear in full--no rubbing. I reviewed available posts thoroughly before doing this. They were unclear on whether this 225 width was a problem or not; all agreed 215 worked. Eventually I concluded gen 2 Mini's seem to have more clearance than gen 1's; many posters who may have had (or believed they had) an issue didn't bother to describe the year or model; sometimes you could deduce it was gen 1.
In any case, it works for me. Closest clearance is at hard lock up front where the inside of the tire gets very close to the felt fender liner. But it does clear w/out rubbing. Next closest is the inside of the shock/strut tower just around the top inside of the tire, and then the clearance above the tire to the bottom of the spring perch. It's fine, but close to max'ed, and tire chains, even cables wouldn't clear reliably. No obvious issues in rear, and again it is close to max'ed.
Very happy w/ choice. Fills out wheel wells better, no RF bad ride, nice road feel, great braking, reduced speedo error by >50% (comparing speedometer to a GPS speed readout), nice fit on the OEM rims and protects then better from curbing than the stock 205's did.
The caution is to look at the Conti's very carefully on the spec from the TireRack site. As I recall they were one of a few that may have had a wider sidewall measurement compared to most, including the Michelin PS2. Compare the specs to see. Don't recall now if it was a better conti summer or an A/S where I saw the issue, but that (and weight) were among the things I looked at carefully w/ the best rated tires (Conti's and Michelins included).
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