Tires (Summer/Winter/All-Season)

That's the guy that I bought my loop spokes from. Just picked them up today and he gave them to me for free. He apparently really wanted them out of his shop! They're in pretty good condition with almost new tires (Bridgestone drive guards, A/S run flats). I just had to drive 7 hours round trip to grab them, but was worth it for free wheels and tires.

 

@wessy are you still liking these tires?
Do the sidewalls flex easily?
Are they still quiet?
Anything else?

 

I'm about to replace my 2nd tire in the first 600 miles - 1st was a puncture from a piece of driveway gravel at 200 miles which was annoying but at the time I shrugged it off, 2nd is a slow-ish leak, losing 10 psi in 5 days after filling it up on a 30 degree day when it dropped to 22 psi. They're the Pirelli Cinturato P7 205/45/17 summer tires.

Would you cut your losses & find something else?

 

Here's my massively anecdotal response: Driving my Dad's Fiat 1500 sports car in 1967 I had 2 Pirelli tires go flat within a mile. Never found out what caused them to go flat, but after replacing them with the same model of Pirelli tire, we never had another flat tire. So you'll be OK after you get that slow leak fixed.

 

Where do I find the EU Tire label, particularly if I’m not in the EU?


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs

 

Summer tires get very unhappy below 45F, so I personally would have switched to at least all-season tires for colder temperatures. Perhaps it's losing air because the summer tire's rubber compound isn't responding well to the colder temperature?

 

For my own research, I:

1. Search for the manufacturer's European web site (or UK web site).
2. Search on https://whattyre.com
3. Search on https://www.tyrereviews.com

 

2022 Mini SE build December 2021 pic up from dealer January 3rd 2022 .Wearing Summer Hankook Ventus Prime 3 195/55/16 87 W Made in Hungary. W-168 m/h The symbol K 125 stands for Summer tire but symbol K125 B stands for run flat from UK side info.

 

I guess it depends on what "unhappy" means.

Less traction, slippery corners, "worse" feel? Sure. But would they really make a compound so fragile that a brand new tire is expected to literally leak at a non-extreme cold temperature? If that were the case then wouldn't most cars north of Oklahoma have flat tires between November & April?

 

My winter conditions are 25-40 degrees & dry pavement, plus I drive like an octogenarian. Do I really need snow tires or even all-seasons to avoid slow leaks in those conditions?

 

I doubt the slow leaks are just from the temperatures alone, and I have driven summer performance tires on a RWD car in 20F during a snowy September morning. No leaks. Actually come to think of it, I've driven in snow every month of the year (it melts in the afternoon). I have separate tires and wheels for summer and winter for all my vehicles.

Other tire leaks can come from the valve or the sidewall if the tire is not mounted properly.

 

Are you willing to gamble ~$400 worth of tires against your $30,000 car that someone isn't going to cut you off at some point? No matter how you drive, there are other people on the road and braking distances MASSIVELY increase with summer tires under 45F (dry or wet)

Some high performance all seasons should be a good year round compromise for 25F and dry. Any chance of snow/ice or much colder and I'd just go for dedicated winter tires

 

Kinda.

I'm trying to solve the 80% problem first - being able to get through the 10 miles a week at under 25mph in non-extreme road conditions. Then once I can do that without having to check the pressure before every single 1.5 mile trip I'll worry about edge cases.

 

As you said above, I'd cut your losses and find something else that would solve both problems.

10psi in 5 days is most likely a small pinhole. You can try a spray bottle of soapy water to find the leak (spray a section, look for bubbles, if none roll forward and repeat) or take it to a shop where they'll do the same thing just faster

 

Are they delivering 22 Se’s with summer tires even in northern climates? I’m planning to get snow tires anyway, but I’d probably prefer all-seasons. The all-season Pirellis on my Clubman are good enough I don’t even need snow tires (it has AWD though.)

 

AFAIK, all MINI Cooper SEs coming to North America have been delivered with non-runflat summer performance tires. Evidently the non-runflat tires MINI selected provide greater effiency and range--all other MINI Coopers come with runflat tires. There's some kind of lottery that determines if the tires come from from Hankook, Goodyear, or Pirelli.

If you live in a northern clime, you'll find winter tires essential. I bought some used MINI Loop Spoke rims for my Michelin X-Ice winter tires.