Tires (Summer/Winter/All-Season)

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I've always preferred run flats on my MINIs, even though they can be stiffer and noisier. But I found the Continentals are really not bad. I got Blizzak run flats for winter tires, and while they work great as snow tires, they are so noisy I'll never go with them again. In my mind winter is when you want run flats, because who wants to be trying to change/repair a tire when it's -10 ºF?

MINI must have decided the summer performance tires would make the SE shine better. Even though they shipped them with summer tires during the winter, which is crazy.
 
Puppethead said:
I've always preferred run flats on my MINIs, even though they can be stiffer and noisier. But I found the Continentals are really not bad.

MINI must have decided the summer performance tires would make the SE shine better. Even though they shipped them with summer tires during the winter, which is crazy.
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Still 100% baffled by that. Taking delivery of a new car in mid-end January in the midwest.... with summer tires!

I'll be buying a new set for winter this coming fall. By the time my car was delivered, most of the winter tires in sets of four were out of stock and wouldn't be delivered by end of Feb, which was kinda pointless. So I'll get on it end of October or so when they're more in stock (single tires were find-able without issues to be fair, it was just too close to end of winter I think)
 
I was overjoyed when I learned I was buying the only MINI without run-flat tyres. I would likely have "downgraded" had the car come with that heavy, inflexible rubber. The tire-store guys hate them, too, because they're difficult to mount.
 
I’m with you Lainey as I don’t understand what Mini is thinking as we live in the MidAtlantic and we get winter weather. Our 2022 SE came with the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymetrics, which are a dedicated summer performance tire. Let me rephrase, I understand Mini was looking for a lower rolling resistance performance tire to make sure the car could break 100 miles of range and keep the Mini performance. But I could not believe that even when pushed our dealer repeatedly told us we could not chose an all season option.

Sometime this fall I’m going to switch over the the Michelin Pilot Sport 4. The Mini will generally not be driven in the snow or ice weather but you never know and I don’t want my kids or wife to be caught out in bad weather on summer tires. But I’d like to keep the Mini demeanor in tact as well.



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mikeg0305 said:
I’m with you Lainey as I don’t understand what Mini is thinking as we live in the MidAtlantic and we get winter weather. Our 2022 SE came with the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymetrics, which are a dedicated summer performance tire. Let me rephrase, I understand Mini was looking for a lower rolling resistance performance tire to make sure the car could break 100 miles of range and keep the Mini performance. But I could not believe that even when pushed our dealer repeatedly told us we could not chose an all season option.

Sometime this fall I’m going to switch over the the Michelin Pilot Sport 4. The Mini will generally not be driven in the snow or ice weather but you never know and I don’t want my kids or wife to be caught out in bad weather on summer tires. But I’d like to keep the Mini demeanor in tact as well.



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I have the same tires. I like them under normal circumstances and do plan to keep the set on rims for 3/4 of the year. An all season tire would have been nice. We had a lot of snow days in Feb this year and there were days when my car was not drivable.

It is my car, and while my husband working from home made it so I could go out in Feb, I don't want to worry about that this year. I'm very certain I will be going with winter tires, but I do live in a solid 4 season location where if I am going to go with 2 sets of tires, I might as well go for winter and summer.
 
I like the fact mini is putting performance tires on these as it makes it much more fun to drive, as in toy. For serious nasty weather, I have a Jeep. We have to be out regardless of weather and a mini even with snow tires isn't going to cut it. After years of dealing with snow/summer tire change overs, I found my best compromise is alternate vehicles... I'm ready at any time for fun or work... but thats just me. I'm happy Mini didn't compromise on performance tires from the factory.

Tires are a compromise, regardless of what Mini puts on at the factory, folks are going to be swapping them. Just saying that I think they made the right choice.
 
mikeg0305 said:
I understand Mini was looking for a lower rolling resistance performance tire to make sure the car could break 100 miles of range and keep the Mini performance.
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Every year more and more EV-friendly tire options become available. My winter tires (Nokian) also have a low rolling resistance so I didn't see much drop in range during the winter, except due to temperature. MINI doesn't use that brand, though.
 
ColdCase said:
Tires are a compromise, regardless of what Mini puts on at the factory, folks are going to be swapping them. Just saying that I think they made the right choice.
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I definitely agree! I'd prefer all seasons just because summer tires tend to get torn up really fast on the gravel roads around here and also like to throw a lot of gravel around... I don't know why MINI couldn't make tires a choice when building the car
 
Cold case I agree that it’s a nice option to have summer performance tires but would’ve also been nice to have a choice instead of having to shell out another grand on new tires for a new car. Many new cars give a performance and all season tire option.

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Newkirk said:
How are the summer tires in rain or heavy rain? Snow is not a concern in Florida, but rain is.
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So far my Eagle F1s have been just great

ColdCase said:
I like the fact mini is putting performance tires on these as it makes it much more fun to drive, as in toy. For serious nasty weather, I have a Jeep. We have to be out regardless of weather and a mini even with snow tires isn't going to cut it. After years of dealing with snow/summer tire change overs, I found my best compromise is alternate vehicles... I'm ready at any time for fun or work... but thats just me. I'm happy Mini didn't compromise on performance tires from the factory.

Tires are a compromise, regardless of what Mini puts on at the factory, folks are going to be swapping them. Just saying that I think they made the right choice.
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I think offering a choice is better. Assuming people can afford an extra car in terms of space or cost is a bad fall back. I've also had 4WD and AWD (not Jeep though, as economically they suck for petite drivers) and a Mini for years. Mini works more than just fine in snow with the right tires. I didn’t even switch out, but chose an all season that worked just dandy in snow. Switching tires will be fine for me. Keeping a spare car for the snow hours (our roads are cleared fast here) feels beyond excessive. Especially since we still are just starting to get a real selection of EVs that AWD. Suppose I find 4WD/AWD in snow to be overrated.

Delivering a car in mid Jan with Summer Tires with no other option as in the past for Mini was a very bad idea IMO. It made my car unusable for some mornings about 5 days.
 
Summer tires (even in winter) is pretty typical for a performance or enthusiast car. Like ColdCase alluded to they think of it as a toy. (I know I do!)

They also want to sell you a new set of winter tires.

Totally agree though that it’s dangerous to expect the consumer to know this beforehand.
 
I think it's not right to label these cars the same as true performance cars. I agree they are fun, but they are not the same as a real performance car. Honestly to even compare doesn't make sense. These are fun go-kart like cars, not performance.

But further, the default at my dealership was always not to use summer tires. Being a previous Mini driver who had the choice between summer and all season at least in the past (default at *my* dealership was all season except JCW), I find lack of choice to be the problem. I can tell you that even my dealership was not clued in and had been informed that unless requested, all Minis to that specific dealership would be all season run flats. Only here did it clue me in it might be an issue, but when I asked I was told they wouldn't ship a Mini with summer unless specified. That's on Mini.

So yes, this car is fun, but not spec'd enough to think that summer tires are automatic. The BMW side is rearing its head too far. Choice and customization was Mini's MO - MINI Yours was the idea with millions of ways to make it your own. BMW removing choices and acting like this is a performance car is highly disappointing to me. I love my Mini, but I'm not going to pretend it's more than it is - a super fun car to drive. Now the JCW versions, I'd lean towards thinking summer could be default. Not a regular S though.
 
Newkirk said:
How are the summer tires in rain or heavy rain? Snow is not a concern in Florida, but rain is.
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The issue with summer tires is temperature, not road conditions. They perform great until down to about 40 ºF, when the rubber gets too stiff and they lose traction. No issues with rain as long as the temperature is warm.
 
I wouldn’t call it a performance car either. I do consider it to be an enthusiast vehicle though.

There are some particular challenges that an EV presents with tires: road noise being more apparent, heavier load, and eco/lower rolling resistance. It’s a tough balance, which means they may not have had many great options.

Even an EV sedan like the Tesla Model 3 has only a couple good options, which is probably why they include the $1200 Michelin Primacy tires as OEM.

I still think they just wanted to sell more tires though.
 
Lainey said:
I think it's not right to label these cars the same as true performance cars. I agree they are fun, but they are not the same as a real performance car.
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polyphonic said:
I wouldn’t call it a performance car either.
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A MINI Cooper SE is quicker to 60 than the 1964 Pontiac GTO, which became the definition of a performance car in my youth. It's quicker to 60 than some Shelby Mustangs, too.

On the other hand, as a sports car fanatic, I do not consider the much quicker Tesla sedans to be performance cars. I guess it's all a matter of personal context what counts as a performance car, but I've never owned a car that offered more performance than my SE.

If MINI had been content to put regular old all-season tires on the SE, I probably would have been content because I've never been a tire-upgrader, however, my SE's Hankooks really opened my eyes (and confirmed through the seat of my pants) to the advantages of summer performance tires and I love them.
 
I believe the term of art for the MINI is "hot hatch". While that is more commonly used in Europe than North America, I think it embodies the MINI quite well. It's a fun, quick car but I guess it depends on one's definition of a "performance" car. It has been, from the beginning, a rally car.
 
Puppethead said:
I believe the term of art for the MINI is "hot hatch". While that is more commonly used in Europe than North America, I think it embodies the MINI quite well. It's a fun, quick car but I guess it depends on one's definition of a "performance" car. It has been, from the beginning, a rally car.
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Yes, hot hatch is a phrase I'm used to. This is my third hot hatch actually with another Mini and a Civic Si in the mix. I have a thing for them even over real performance cars.
 
Where I live, winter lasts for 4-5 months. I have always gotten two sets of tires for my cars, and the Mini is no exception. I am glad they put summer tires on the car. If they had put all-seasons, it would have been a waste for me. I'd be looking to offload them and get true summer/winter tires.

Although I wouldn't begrudge them offering the choice. Give us summer tires by default, but offer the option to replace them with all-seasons.
 
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