[A2Z]

Hello. I have closely read this forum and found that many MCS owners have been running 15 inch snow tires for traction and cost reasons.

Sizes that people have frequently used on their MCS' are: 195-55-15, 195-60-15 and 185-65-15. I went to my dealer today and we put a 195-60-15 against the current 205-45-17 and it was about an inch taller (could some of this difference be due to the 17 inch tire being under weight). That seems a lot but I guess it's not an issue since MCS owners have been running this size in winter. My dealer then checked his catalogue and found the following corresponding tire diameters:

195-55-15 = 23.5 inches
185-65-15 = 24.5 inches
195-60-15 = 24.2 inches
205-45-17 = 24.3 inches

What's interesting is that the difference according to the "official" dealer catalogue between the stock 17 inch tire and the 195-60-15 was .1 of an inch but as I said above it was more like one inch. Have others noticed this difference? No rubbing? Nothing to worry about? Many thanks fellow MINI owners!

[HarryHBMCC]

Tire manufacturer measurements may be out by 10% or so. Add to that, were both tires mounted or unmounted? Same pressures? Both new? Only proof is in the pudding.

Harry

[A2Z]

Thanks Harry. The 195s were mounted on 15 inch rims. Not sure about the air pressure. My 17 inchers have 10,000 kilometres on them. I think I will go ahead and get the 195s since it seems so many other MCS owners have done that. My dealer tried to warn me that the 15 inch rims may cause the low tire pressure light to trip - something about a sensor not working properly. I have never heard of that before. I thought it was just a difference in wheel rpms that activated the low pressure light.

[nonsequitur]

My understanding of, and some experience with, the tire pressure sensors is that you will need to perform a reset after changing over to the new setup. No big deal. From there it's sensing, through the ABS, for differences in rotation which would be a symtom of low pressure in one or more of the tires.

[A2Z]

Thanks - that's what I thought. Funny, my dealer was trying to encourage my to spend more $ for "proper" MINI rims since they "had a sensor in the valve area". It's not good when your average customer seems to know more about your product that you, as the dealer, does!

[HarryHBMCC]

That's right, no sensor in the wheel. Stay away from that dealer as he's either uninformed or a bit dodgy. You will need to reset the sensor before you drive away with new wheels or the sensor will trip once you start down the road (I know from last year's snow tire switch).

10000km will take a lot of tread off. How much is left? For instance, my from Goodyears are not down to 3mm of tread and they start with around 8mm of tread depth. So my tire is now 10mm smaller in diameter than it was when new. That's less than half an inch but along with inflation pressure and inaccuracies, it all adds up to an inch not being out of this world.

Harry