Tires (Summer/Winter/All-Season)

Three questions:
Does the SE parking brake lock the rear wheels, the front or all four?
Can the SE be accidently or intentionally left in Neutral when it is powered down?
With the parking brake off and the selector in Neutral, will a single front wheel spin freely when that corner is jacked up?

I ask because I wonder if it is worth carrying a small jack and trying to pull out the inevitable nail/screw in order to plug the tire in place on the side of a road rather than ruin the RDCs with the goo Mini gives you.

@insightman, I told my wife about your concerns. She says, don't worry they are brand new genuine black Mini rims/centers, RDCs, with narrow 175 (better for snow vs 195 summers from the factory) NON-runflat winter tires from Japan. To twist the knife, she made sure I told you the total for all four including mounting, balancing, tax, delivery, carry totes (and a new aluminum pizza pan to act as table top/hide my view of the rims): $678.68 with her various discounts. She did voice two concerns, the sheet that came with them says they are set to 20 for shipment but require 38 front, 35 rear for snow tires. She only inflated them to 32psi each. Also, although new with all the nibs, she says the tire code shows they were produced in early 2019--probably why the tires themselves were half price.

 

Rear wheels only.

Not exactly. I just tried this in my garage and experienced the following:

• There was a warning message that the transmission was not in Park and may roll.
• With the car in neutral, foot on the brake, and hitting the On/Off toggle made the "power down" sound play, but the HUD and headlights remained on and I got a warning that the car's ignition was still on when I opened the door.
• Hitting the Start/Stop toggle while my foot was on the brake from this state played the "power up" sound and it was ready to drive.
• However, if I hit the Start/Stop toggle with my foot OFF the brake from this state put the transmission in park and shut the car down.

I believe it would, but wouldn't recommend jacking the car up in this state given the risk of rolling. Setting the parking brake should be a minimum safety precaution.

 

Agreed, if a rear tire were punctured, put the SE in park so the car does not roll while you find the problem, power down and repair a rear tire without taking the wheel off the car.

If a front tire were punctured, set the rear-only parking brake to keep the car from rolling, leave it powered up and in neutral to inspect the tire. Find the spot, power down and repair it.

(Of course, chock the diagonal opposing wheel with whatever you can find laying around.)

 

From pages 103-104 in the 2020 Owners Manual:

 

@insightman You are the man! Thank you for the 15 minute tip. I think I should be able to find a nail/screw in 15 minutes, but it is good to know that once I find it and my hands are too dirty to reach into the cabin, all I have to do is wait a bit and the pawl will engage automatically.

I really should read the 20/21 manual, rather than wait for the 22 to post later this month.

 

And I can confirm, unsurprisingly, that on page 105 to 106 of the 2022 manual, this information has not changed.

 

The balancer might be inexpensive to manufacture, but ECS sells it for $24.90. Wait! I just found it on sale for $16! I'm ordering one.

Someone who wants to be part of Facebook should tell this guy who still calls the wheels "Corona" he can see the special tool on the backside of the wheel cover (or "hood" as he called it).

 

Today, I received my Power Spoke wheel "adapter" that simulates the off-center weight of the MINI Cooper SE Power Spoke wheels' wheel cover when the wheel cover is not in place on a wheel-balancing machine. There is a metal cylinder in at the core of the adapter that brings the weight of the adapter up to 175 grams. The back of my factory-balanced wheel (with the ghost-image of the wheel cover) shows that many wheel weights were installed to compensate for the asymmetric wheel cover.



I wonder how many meetings it took to get the green light to build such a small number of these asymmetric wheels that would also require the creation of this unique adapter? As @Puppethead noted in this post, one Brit who had his wheels balanced without having this adapter could no longer drive his SE with the wheel covers in place.

With MINI pulling back from making the SE look different from ICE MINIs, I'm surprised the Power Spoke rims continue to be an option on the high-end trims (Iconic and Electric Collection).

 

Thank you @insightman for providing the links to the on sale adapter. I am ordering mine right now.

I guess BMW/Mini expects that we will ALWAYS take our SEs to the dealership to have our wheels balanced?

 

No, if the factory had balanced the wheel w/o the adapter, there would have been fewer wheel weights on the opposite side from the asymmetric part of the wheel cover (and, like the unfortunate British SE owner, the wheel cover would cause unpleasant vibrations).

 

Reading the '22 manual--on page 29 it says "after correcting the tire inflation pressure reinitialize the Flat Tire Monitor. Reset the Tire Pressure Monitor."

This sounds like a Miata ND Flat Tire Monitor which has a regular tire valve and compares the differences in each tire's RPMs vs. a newer Ford that uses a TPMS valve that sends the actual tire pressure to the dash.

Which is it?

Does the Mini dash display each tire's pressure?

 

I think it should have been included with all SEs with Power Spoke rims. Now that you and I both have one of these essential "adapters," we share a slightly greater sense of peace-of-mind in our lives, which is tough to come by these days.

 

To the top…

Since the SE is primarily sold as a commuter car, and since several MINI models come come with run flats, as do most BMW’s, I’m really surprised the SE does not have run flats from the OEM.

Has anyone upgraded their SE to run flat tires? Why? Why not?

Thanks,
Jim


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs

 

My previous Mini came with runflats. I actually removed them after losing 2 wheels to potholes. They are noisier and provide a stiffer ride. Glad to not have them. My winter tires will also not be runflats.

Most of my friends with BMWs and Minis opt to do the same.

 

Run flats have a harsh ride. I am so glad it comes with standard tires.