Aftermarket 15 inch rims and tires (A good choice?)

There are tons of cool 15" rims for your car as well as a wide selection of tires. A lot of the wheels are less than 10 lbs. and some less than 9 lbs. A 15 x 7 wheel with 4x100 bolt circle with about +40 or + 42 offset and a 56.1 mm center hole is common Honda Civic fare and will fit fine if the brake calipers clear. Try Enkei, BuddyClub, RacingHart, etc. The best performing 15" OEM wheel from MINI is also the cheapest. See other threads about unsprung weight and rotating mass.

Thanks!

It may only be a slight problem, but not all 15" wheels will fit because of the size of the front brakes. I ran into that problem when doing snow tires on 15" steel wheels. Perhaps alloys whill all be shaped differently enough from steel wheels to not have this problem, but, beware.

Yes the standard 15" wheels are a very tight fit over the brake calipers but I guess as long as you try before you buy you should be ok. Also running 15's could affect you upgrading the brakes at a later date.

If this is something you were considering then 16's maybe a better option for you.

Painting MINI wheels (good idea?)

Hi, I would like to know if painting the stock 8 spoke 15 inch rims is a good idea for the MINI? I would like to paint them a flat black. I want to do this because I want to save money. In the future, I would like to upgrade the 175/65/15 with 195/50/15 or 205/5015. Will 205/50/15 fit on the rims and what is the best overall performance tire for the money?
Also do any of you guys have any pics of painted MINI wheels?

THANKS!!

Chilipeppa03 said:

Hi, I would like to know if painting the stock 8 spoke 15 inch rims is a good idea for the MINI? I would like to paint them a flat black. I want to do this because I want to save money. In the future, I would like to upgrade the 175/65/15 with 195/50/15 or 205/5015. Will 205/50/15 fit on the rims and what is the best overall performance tire for the money?
Also do any of you guys have any pics of painted MINI wheels?

THANKS!!

Click to expand...

Chilipeppa03 you may be better off starting a new thread in the Technical, Maintenance & Modifications > Wheels & Tyres section for this question as you may get a better response.

As standard all MINI alloys have the option of being painted Silver (standard) or White (optional).

It would simply be a matter of stripping the wheels and getting them repainted, although I would recommend this was done professionally.

REainting wheels

Go to a company that "Powder coats". This is a heat-paint process that is used to clear coat and paint metal-the same that is on your wheels now. It is pretty inexpensive to get done.

Regards,
highdesert

Thanks!!!