What size is best 17, 18, 19?

[minige]

Hi all

Im a new member and on the verge of getting my first mini 'as soon as I have sold my car', and decided on what colour to go for. The question is

What wheel size is best for the mini cooper. I like 18 , and even 19. What is the ride like on these sizes??

Cant wait to get a mini. watch this space, its gonna be awsome.

[SoggyCornFlakes]

On the Cooper stick with 16s, you start to lose the agility above that - unless you just want it to look good of course

and welcome to MINI2

[r34ver]

i love the agility of my 15"s, i drove my mates one with 19s on and the steering felt sluggish tbh. his was pre facelift so i dont know if anythings changed since then, but i certainly noticed a difference.

[minicabrio]

I concur with Soggy!

I bought mine on 16s, but later upgraded to 17s. On a larger wheel, you can't throw the car into corners as hard, well you can, but you might end up in a hedge.

Plus the tyres are more expensive, and it feels like someone has injected concrete into the shock absorbers!

So don't go higher than a 17!

[r34ver]

might end up in a hedge! im sticking with my 15's, best for that go-kart ride!. and no im not bitter about not being able to afford the jcw 18's.....

[minige]

im not sure if I should buy a mini with big rims already on, or buy one with 15 , 16 and put my own on. i will have to see what is out there

[shiredweller]

Nothing at all wrong with the 15" wheels. Why pay extra for 16s or 17s

[supercharged]

I personally think 17"s are the best... and I don't think you should go smaller than 16.

[termigni]

i think 17s look as sexy as 18 and 19s in the show department. when you consider performance on top of it, 18 and 19s are too heavy and ride is too harsh.

17s are just right.

[RallyMINI]

Depends on where you live....

If you are in the land of Perfect roads and endless summer, then 17s are pretty much perfect. Something really light like Team Dynamics or OZ Superleggeras

I, however, live in the land of endless potholes and broken pavement, and so I am trading in my harsh, heavy, slow, and expensive 17" S-lites for a set of 15X7 Team Dynamics PR1's with Yokohama AVS ES100's in 225-50-R15. This will be a grippy, tight, light setup that should be perfect for my area and driving style.

In all comes down to $$$ and reality. I see tons of people with three 18" wheels on their hondas, and one ugly spare donut since they smashed their wheel on a pothole. Around here its just not worth it... plus we have the worst roads in the country!

18's and 19's also start to really hurt performance, so I'd steer clear of those. Bad braking distances, slow acceleration, bad suspension response, and more road noise.

RMout

[ollies]

i would go for the 16s,i had them on my mc they were great.welcome to mini2 minige

[Mister]

I've got 17" run flats on my S and was just telling my husband the other day that I'd like 16s instead, which made him a little angry since the 17s were much more expensive. I had 16s on my first MC and the drive was noticeably smoother.

And Rally Mini: I was in Chicago a few years ago and they had potholes the size of MINIs! Boston's worse?

[miniboyblue]

15" 16" 17" 18", all depends on personal taste and how you want the car to look. If it is handling, ride, and performance you are more interested in DITCH the run flats and get a decent set of tyres, which will improve all of the areas mentioned. I have 18" TSW alloys, with 225/35 Yokohama Parada tyres, the ride is 10 times better than the run flats, and the grip amazing

[Paul]

Of those three choices, 17", but I'd personally go with 16" every time.

[Roofas]

18's for looks alone - fill the wheel arches just perfick