2023 SE Tires in USA

Pretty much, lol, the overlap is... large. At least there is a minimum requirement to meet to get the 3 peak mountain / snowflake symbol. Some "regular" all seasons probably perform well enough in snow to achieve this just did not request the testing.

I have had some "all seasons" which were truly bad at everything. I called then "no seasons."

 

My 2022 came with the Hankook Ventus Prime 3’s. I have about 4,500 miles on them and they are really starting to wear. Of course I always drive My Mini like it is stolen.

I will parrot what the others have said: all-seasons do a pretty good job at everything, but do a great job at nothing. Because my Mini came with summer tires, I purchased a used set of rims and then purchased some Hankook Winter iCept iZ2’s. Rims, tires, and TPMS sensors came out to around $500. Discount Tire Direct has the iCept’s for around $75 per tire here in the States.

Separate winter and summer tires make a huge difference in handling, although that depends on how you drive. If you are a cautious driver and are focused on getting good range through easy starts and stops, the difference between dedicated summer/winter and all-seasons will be less.

YMMV. Literally.

 

That's pretty good getting a full winter setup for $500. How is range on the iCept? The good thing, at least for me, is that winter range isn't nearly as important as summer. The longest trip I would make would be to the airport--around 70 miles round-trip.

 

I’m not sure how the iCepts will effect range. I haven’t tried them yet. This past winter, in the cold temps, I couldn’t actually count on 70 miles round trip. Range takes a huge hit with the cold temps we sometimes get in Minnesota. I read that the rolling resistance is low-ish, so keeping my fingers crossed.

 

I like Tire Rack as a information source on tires and wheels. They fully test them both here for summer tires and in Finland for winter winter tires.
You may want to look at https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Yokohama&tireModel=AVID+ENVigor+ZPS&partnum=955VR6ENVZPS&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes&cameFrom=WinterSection

 

Actually, I ran a cold-weather test (in Minnesota) and found it's the heater that causes the biggest hit to range in the winter.

 

I posted previously about initial impressions with the Vredestein Hitracs 205/55/16 91V. Replacing the Hankook Ventus Prime 3 throughout winter. Tire shares similar dimensions to the OEM 195 summer tires, no spacers requires with the slightly wider section width.

Wet grip performance was particularly important for Pacific Northwest winters, and they didn't disappoint one bit. Fantastic wet road cornering, fantastic grip for wet and dry acceleration, hydroplaning was nonexistent, but they did aggressively dig into each puddle with noticable deceleration, a byproduct of a light car and positive wet road characteristics I guess. Snow performance was a welcome positive, we don't get a whole lot of snow here, but did experience a few days of snow over a thin layer of ice, the Mini made it up the hill with little effort. Also managed a day with thick slush covered roads, made it up the hill only to get stuck after slowing while pulling into the driveway.

Tread wear is minimal, only put 5,000 miles on the tires, but compared to the soft OEM Hankooks, they look untouched.

Negatives include reduced road and steering feel when compared to the OEM Ventus Prime 3 summer. I didn't really notice this difference until swapping back into the OEM set about a month ago. Road noise may be slightly elevated over the OEM, but this may be isolated to dry roads. Wet roads are noticably quieter with the Vredestein, but this cabin noise delta appears to originate from the rear wheel wells. Efficiency took a slight hit over OEM. The OEMs over report speeds by approximately 2 MPH. The Vredesteins over report by 1 MPH... take that for what it's worth. Efficiency figures below...

Wet roads, temperatures 45-50F, climate mostly off with heated seats / wheel on, sunroof mostly cracked, averaging 40-45 MPH over mixed driving:

>OEM Ventus Prime 3 - 4.4 to 4.6 miles/kWh

>Vredestein Hitrac - 3.7 to 4.0 miles/kWh
(Similar efficiency with temps in low 30s F, but drop to 3.5-3.7 with climate on at 70F)

Dry roads, temperatures 55-65F, climate off, sunroof cracked / open, averaging 40-45 mph over mixed driving:

>OEM Ventus Prime 3 - 5.2 to 5.7 miles/kWh

>Vredestein Hitrac - 4.3 - 4.7 miles/kWh (only saw 4.7 once on a 65F day before swapping to the OEM set)





Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk

 

posting on an older but still relevant thread.
Anybody tried old (gen2) mini rims and tires? I was thinking about getting an inexpensive set of 2014 mini same spec rims 16x6.5" and fitting them with winter tires so that I can just swap them out seasonally. Any reason it wouldn't work? As far as I know, the offset is the same, but it's hard finding offset patterns. I realize the gen1s probably wouldn't work because of the hole size, but from what I can tell the Gen2 should.

 

Correct me if I am wrong, but aren't R56 wheels 4 bolt pattern compared to the F56 5 bolt?

 

Yes indeed (I have both generations of MINI in my garage). Any of the MINI 5-bolt pattern wheels will work, as long as they're 16" or 17". The brake calipers on the SE are too big for 15" wheels, and I don't know if 18" or bigger will have clearance.

 

Threw down for some nokian hakkapeliitta 10 studded tires (4) and some TOUREN TR60 wheels with new TPMS all from Discount Tire. They look beefy and should get us easily through winter.

many thanks for all the help and support!

 

Excellent choice! If I lived somewhere less urban/suburban I'd have gone with the studded 10s too, instead of the R5s. But while I live in one of the snowiest large cities in the world, it has the world's largest snow-clearing budget, so we drive on bare main roads and highways through most of the winter.

 

The main road to our home is at the bottom of a small canyon and always shady, cold AF, and icy for days after a snow. And ant 8200 fr. Our truck runs ATs but the mini needed the studded snows to be functional. Stoked to have the mini snow/ice ready!!!