[oldskoolflash]

Evening all,

I have the 17" s-lites with pirelli rubber all round. I have noticed that the outside edges of the front tyres are wearing particularly quickly, my instant reaction was that the camber/alignment was out. When I took the car in to my local garage they said that this is a particularly common problem on cars with a tight steering look (apparently mercs are bad). Seeing as I do a fair bit of city driving and parking (lots of full lock) this seemed a pretty reasonable explanation. The guy in the garage suggested the usual trick of swapping front to back, or left to right (if not directional tyres).

Has anyone else experienced this with their mini, if so I would be very interested to hear your remedies?

Cheers folks!

 

[RickB]

I have the same wheel/tire set-up on my car, and while I'm somewhat shocked that the tires are looking bald at 24,000 miles, I can't say they're worn unevenly. I believe the tires were rotated at the first service interval (15K?).

 

[oldskoolflash]

Yeah, I think when you buy a cooper S you have to accept the downside that they eat tyres! Mind you the upsides are pretty good!!

I think i'll get them rotated and see how I go.

 

[kapps]

They eat tires because it's a 2500+ lb performance car with 180 treadwear tires. I got 27k out of my fronts and will get twice that out of the back. With lots of city driving, your doing very good. MINI recommends not rotating tires although it really doesn't matter. It mostly depends on if you want to replace them all at the same time or just 2. A lot of people are switching out the runflats with regular performance tires. That's my plan. They ride better, have better performance, and some have better treadwear. Just something to think about.

 

[Boardingdan]

I had a cooper that did the same I only managed to get 9000 miles out of my fronts before they needed replacing, but the car did go around corners particularly fast, and additively.
I went to the garage with the same issue, and they said they could check the alignment, but and this is a big but, if the wheels were in alignment the I'd have to pay for the alignment check which was £200 ish, so i looked back at how I'd treated the car and I feel the uneven wear was most probably my fault, and decided to just replace the tyres and carry on DRIVING!
I can only suggest that you restrain from go around corners as fast as possible. unless to can afford the £260 ish price for replacing them. I've now got a cooper S and accelerating is as addictive as going around corners fast so I'll soon see if they last 9k?

 

[SteveM3]

When you say the outside edges do you mean outer of the car i.e. one edge per tyre
or do you mean outer of the tyre i.e. both edges of the tyre. If it is the later you just need
to increase the tyre pressure.

 

[umbongo]

I have the same issue on the Dunlop SP9000 runflats.....(incidentally some of the worst tyres around in my opinion) and has led me to replace the fronts at 11500miles. I am told that the tracking/alignment is fine (although I'm no expert) and the unusual and uneven wear is as a result of aggressive driving. (Oooops!!!)

I've taken advice from lots of people and Pirelli and I have fitted Pirelli Asimetrico 205/45/17 to standard 17" S-Spokes. They are looking good and driving a lot better than the runflats. I need a couple of weeks to really run them in so I'll report back.

 

[scooperman_uk]

if u can swap front to back it may well save you changing tires as youre evening the wear, but beware you may end up having to change more than one tire at the same time.

Ive found that on the cooperS theres atleast a 5degree camber on the wheels, no matter if u rotate your tires you will find that your inner edges of the rears will wear faster.

 

[wildchild jules]

I only have a Cooper (The S arrives in March) and am on the 17" dunlop runflats and have had to have the front tyres changed at 8000. I don't do many miles but it's pretty much all round town. Was a bit shocked that they went through that quick but don't ahve any idea what is normal. Given how well the car sticks to the road and how easy it is to wheel spin it when pulling away (not intentionally!) I suppose it's hardly suprising

 

[Wobert]

I must drive like an old fart then.......

I've got 16" wheels and got 23k miles out of the original RF front tyres......and no......before you ask, they were never rotated with the rears!

Robert

 

[wylie_eyed]

I must drive like an old fart then.......

I've got 16" wheels and got 23k miles out of the original RF front tyres......and no......before you ask, they were never rotated with the rears!

Robert

I have no comment to make

 

[Bilbo Baggins]

I do not have the 17" wheels but I know that the 16"ers are very sensitive to air pressure. The 17" tyres would be even more so as they are lower profile and therefore have a smaller air volumne. Temperature changes can cause significant pressure changes. You should get in the habit of checking the pressure on a regular basis.

 

[hememan]

Friends who have an MCS with the 17" run-flats have had nothing but problems with these tires. I have 16 inchers on mine with about 15K, and from the looks they'll go 30K or more (if I asked them to - I may switch to conventional rubber). It's definitely a trade-off, a slight improvement in handling with the 17s vs. better ride and wear with the 16s. :yellow:

 

[NeedMiniInfo]

Were your 16" tires runflats or regular?

Curious...having a tough time deciding which tires to select for my regular Cooper.
Hearing a fair amount of bad re: the runflats, but liked the way these tires gripped the road when I had a brief test drive.

Haven't had a chance to try other tires out w/test drives.
Help!! :-\

 

[cymrucoopers]

17" Dunlop SP Runflats

Only managed to get 6000 miles from my fronts on the S!
Although I have to say, the car for me is mainly a B road bruiser & only makes an appearance on the weekends and it's driven quite hard!
Stuck the Pirelli Euforia's on this time to compare.