Tires (Summer/Winter/All-Season)

I’d like to like this more than I can like it. I learned a lot about cars and auto mechanics after a few questionable experiences at the MB service department, and especially once the smart’s warranty was up. Investing in proper tools — including a Chinese MBStar clone — made a huge difference in keeping it running for 16 years!

 

Running 205 55 16 with the Vredestein Hitracs. Footprint is about the same as the Hankooks, with a slightly wider tire overall if I recall, or section width. I didn't want to add spacers, so I was extra cautious with tire dimensions. I believe the Vredestein is 7 or 8 mm narrower over the CrossClimate, but showing the same tread footprint.

Disappointed to hear about the Hankooks, but that sounds about right. I show a good amount of tread wear on the front two Hankooks as I'm getting ready to swap going into summer.... hopefully they'll last through fall, have about 4K or 5K on them currently.

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Yeah normally I have two sets of wheels and swap them at home, but I haven't gotten a second set yet. I keep hoping some will pop up on Craigslist, but we'll see, I may bite the bullet in the fall and buy a new set.

I've had a lot of good experiences at Discount Tire over the past 15+ years in 4 different states, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt this time.

Edit: actually I had ordered a second set through ECS Tuning in late December but they cancelled the order because the manufacturer didn't know when they'd have more in stock. I priced out a set at the dealer a month ago, but I'm not ready to drop 2 grand on wheels.

 

I found a great local deal on a set of Toyo Observes with 16x7 et42 wheels that this seller had on her 2018 Cooper S. I'm looking around and the size 185/55 is not too common for the F56 where it's usually 195/55

Do you guys think it will be an issue for our SE?


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Nevermind! I decided to take a chance and go buy it just because it's so cheap. Turned out the seller made a typo so they are actually 195/55/16 on 16x7 wheels. Not exactly stock size as it's half an inch wider than a stock 16", but the discrepancy is small enough that it will still do a good job next season!


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I guess I took my winter tires off too early, after weeks of sunny 60-70F weather we're back to snow and ice in central Oregon.

Probably obvious, but in case anyone was wondering UHP all seasons aren't too great in the snow! Most of the main roads were just wet or I wouldn't have bothered to leave my garage

 

Anyone know what the '23 SE's coming to the US will have on them from the factory? (17" power spoke wheels)

 

That dusting had a nice base layer of ice so worse than it looks but IMO, all all-seasons are false advertising. In other countries they're called three season tires and the actual winter capable tires are called all weather tires

 

Real winter tires aren’t “all weather tires” either: they wear more quickly on dry pavement, and and are squirmy and slick when the surface temperature is above 7°C/45°F. Blizzaks are dang sticky on ice and hard-pack, but living in the snowiest large city in the world that also has the largest snow-clearing budget in the world, we end up driving on clear or dry pavement most of the (very cold) winter… I’ve had Blizzaks wear out in one season (twice, and never again).

 

I disagree with the wear on dry pavement. Winter tires should wear fine as long as it's cold. I've heard blizzaks wear faster with their dual compound rubber but my X-ICE tires are hardly worn at all after a full season of mostly dry (but freezing) pavement.

Even back in Colorado where it could be snowing one day and 70F the next, my winter tires didn't wear that quickly

 

I had similar experience here in Ohio. Drove on mostly dry, cold/freezing pavement on my VikingContact 7s, with a fair bit of driving in the upper 40s and *gasp* the high 50s once or twice - thanks Ohio for having crazy weather. I put a total of 3k miles on them (boy, it seemed like I drove them a lots more than that), and by my calculations I should have another 6-8k miles, even with those high temp spikes.


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10k miles is on the low end of expected wear for a snow tire. Consider that Conti and Michelin, like Nokian, offer a 40k mile tread wear warranty, it’s easy to see what I’m saying. My Hakka R3s have five winters and 22k miles on them and are still at 6/32 — even though I’ve left them on until well into the milder weather in April almost every year. My wife’s Hakka 9s are through four winters and 20k and are at 8/32. My last set of Blizzak WS60 barely made it through one season and 5000 miles. The warranty was 30k, and I got most of my money back and bought the my first set of Nokian R3s which lasted almost 30k.

 

All that said, nothing contradicts my first statement: winter/snow tires are not “all weather” tires.

 

So I’ve read through pretty much this whole thread and I might have missed it, but has anyone found summer tires that match the performance and efficiency of the stock Hankook 17s and are available for purchase in the US?

It looks like I can only get replacement Hankooks through the dealership but they want $622 to replace 2 tires which seems quite high.

 

Gotcha, I’ll check in about the other 2. Are any of the 3 available for purchase outside of dealerships? Looking around it seems like they’re only available as run flats, which I understand the OEM tires are not.

 

I always buy tires from Tire Rack. They have great prices and very informative customer reviews. I just checked and they have many 17” options for the SE. Personally, I’d never get tires from the dealership. Your options of tire brands will be very limited and the cost will be higher.

 

Yeah, but...no OEM Hankooks at Tire Rack (or Discount Tire). MINI carefully chose 3 brands/models of summer performance tires that provide the best range. If I have to go to my distant MINI dealer to get new Hankooks, I'll do that and pay the big bucks because I like those tires so much.

As @Carsten Haase has indicated, you can get stickier tires but your range will suffer. You could alternatively get more range if you don't care about cornering. I drove gen-1 Honda Insights for 20 years on hard, bad-cornering, high-efficiency tires--my SE's Hankooks make driving so much fun! I never exceed my Hankooks' cornering capabilities so I'm happy, but I wish I could be a passenger in @Carsten Haase's SE to feel what an SE can do with even better rubber.

 

There's been a lot of praise for Hankook tires here, and I really don't understand why. Several of my Mini's came with Hankooks, and they uniformly delivered short life. Yeah, the handling was good, but I expect more than 10k miles on a set of tires. And, yes, I rotated fronts to back regularly. I've purchased tires (and wheels) from Tire Rack, and it's convenient if I can install them myself or if I have them delivered to a shop that can install them, but it's just as easy to go to a nearby store that has decent prices on tires and will install them. As always, your mileage may vary.