Tires (Summer/Winter/All-Season)

So there are now two different widths of silver Revolite wheels: The new 2022 electric Revolite and the older, skinnier non-electric Revolite? Confusing.

 

I'm excited by this announcement, and look forward to more like it: Michelin Announces Pilot Sport EV Tires Designed For Sporty Electric Cars

I have been really impressed with the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 4 tires--especially for all-seasons, so have high expectations for these.

 

I'll sell you one for one cent, plus $29.99 shipping and handling.



https://www.bridgestonetire.com/tread-and-trend/drivers-ed/how-to-check-your-tire-tread-penny-test#

 

I love the concept of the Pilot Sport EVs. Unfortunately, the article says the tires will be sized 18 - 22". Since Mini won't sell us an SE with 18s, this would require also buying four new wheels. That won't be in my budget for a while.

 

...Which is why I look forward to more announcements like this, e.g. for 17" sizes.

Conventional wisdom assumes "sporty" cars require 18" or larger wheels, but I prefer not to go any larger than 17" if I can help it. My real-world driving involves surfaces that are not well-groomed driving courses.

 

I just want a good-handling tire and don't care about one that can supposedly "boost range by up to 37 miles." As every automotive journalist knows, we MINI Cooper SE drivers HATE range, right?

 

Totally!

Funny enough my dealer called for a follow up. To see how it was going and if my range was okay. I'm laughing because it would be a rare day for me to do more than 50 miles

 

Absolutely not! I'm just a suburbanite who has most everything just a few miles away lol

 

I've had a great experience with Michelin Primacy AS, and Pilot Sport 4 A/S. On dry roads the primacies have really good grip for an eco tire, good noise too. This announcement is pretty exciting!

 

That 37 miles needs to be highly qualified. In reality, it will be a percentage boost, not an absolute. According to the article, in the fine print it says "the difference (2.1kg/t) equates to more than 60km of additional range, or more than 10 percent of the original range." Only Teslas get this kind of range (600 km / 370 miles). For us, it would be a much more meager boost of 11 miles. Anyone here still interested? For the likely price boost, I would have to pass.

 

My interest in Michelin's announcement is in the fact that any tire manufacturer is finally shifting away from the mentality of "EV tires must be efficient at all costs (like reduced handling)" and towards "EV tires can offer great handling performance and good efficiency".

This particular model is clearly aimed at Taycans, hi-performance Teslas and the like, so extreme range gains probably aren't going to sell more tires to those drivers. But this signals the start of an industry shift that will eventually offer benefits to those of us who enjoy sporty, great-handling EVs which don't have hundreds of miles of range.

Next, I would love to see aftermarket wheels that are lightweight, fairly aero-efficient, but not ugly as sin (and fit our cars).

 

Hopefully 17s will be an option at some point.

 

My 2022 Mini is at the dealer. My salesman sent a close up photo of the scissor spokes - I'm liking them! But I can't tell what type of Hankook 17s these are. Can anyone tell from this partial photo?

 

Nice rims! Here's one of my SE's Hankook Ventus S1 evo 3 tires so you can stare at a different image for a long time trying to match it up. I like them a lot--especially because they don't squeal at the slightest hint of hard cornering.

 

Thank you! After I posted this my salesman emailed that my Mini would be sitting out at the dealer tonight (I think on the charger) where I can get to it. So I’m going to drive over there shortly and try to find it.