Tires (Summer/Winter/All-Season)

I speculate it's the Style 508 winter wheel and tire.

 

Be aware that for the MINI, the thread size is M14 x 1.25. The ones on amazon are 14 x 1.5.

This is a good option

 

I thought the 1.5 is the length of the bolts, which must be .25 inches longer than stock to account for the thickness of the spacer. Am I mistaken?

 

I dislike that metric has 3 'fine' pitch options for some given diameters.

 

So, MINI being European use metric sizes
M14 is the thread size ie, measurement taken across the outside diameter of the lug bolt thread.
The 1.5 or 1.25 is the thread pitch which is the distance in millimeters between the threads for metric applications.

To compensate for the width of the spacer, we need to get bolts with longer shank length. The outmotoring spacers come as a kit with longer bolts matched for the width of the spacer.
Another thing to look out for when buying stand alone lug bolts for wheels is to make sure they are the right seat type ie, either conical or spherical. I believe most after market wheels require conical bolts while OEM ones can be spherical. See pic below



I would rather go with prematched spacers and bolts for MINI from outmotoring or similar websites to take the guess work out.

 

There are times when I don't know what I dont know that nearly kill me; this is one of them. Thank you so much for saying something. I can just picture myself sitting there with Jessie up on jacks, impacting the first bolt I just know is going to fit into the hub and realizing I now have a very, very bad problem to fix. (To be fair to myself, I probably would have hand-started the bolt, but then again maybe if it felt tight I would have chalked it up to being new and just hammered away at it...)

 

Thats why we have this forum... happy to help!!

 

So if anyone is still interested, I just talked to Michelin and they are not planning to make the new X-Ice Snow in a 195/55R16 size sadly. Now I'm trying to decide if it's worth just buying the X-Ice3 and paying $80 a season to have them remounted on the stock wheels (I have the 16" Revolite wheels). I could also buy a new low-weight set of rims (Sport Edition A10-2 which are only 17 lbs.) from Tirerack.com for $650 including TPMS. Anyone have any guidance to offer here? I'm half expecting to trade the car in in 4-5 years for a newer model...

 

Oh! I forgot to mention this in my previous post! I talked to my dealer today, and they quoted me $2,359.18 for a set of 4 Revolites with the Michelin X-Ice3 tires. Crazy! Come to think of it, I may want to call back and confirm that this was for the 16" Electrolite Spoke and not the funky Corona wheels from the Iconic, but he took my VIN to look up what I had...

 

Well Mini's standard winter wheel set is $1280, which is on par. I really like the look of those too, too bad it's not the lighter tires and wheels.

https://www.shopminiusa.com/PRODUCT/2030/MINI-16”-STYLE-508-BLACK-RADIAL-SPOKE-WINTER-COMPLETE-WHEEL-AND-TIRE-SET

 

I would expect all of MINI's wheel/tire sets to have the heavier run-flat tires.

@ScottIJ, I expected to get a call from our local Discount Tire telling me my X-Ice tires had arrived, but no call came. When I was there ordering the Michelins, I heard them calling Tire Rack for some tires they couldn't get any other way. If they're willing to go to Tire Rack to get the tires they promised and they haven't found my tires yet, that suggests the X-Ice tires might be difficult to come by. I hope they can find a set for me--I already paid for them. I thought I was ordering early, but those Minnesota MINI owners must have emptied the bin first.

 

Yikes, let me know how it goes! Belle store had some in stock today. I don't like their wheel selection as much though.

 

I'm happy and relieved to report my $732.80 (including all the bell & whistle add-ons) Michelin X-Ice tires arrived at Discount Tire today.

 

So do you just remount them onto the same wheels, or did you already have a spare set of wheels to put them on?

 

Long before my SE arrived I was worried about curbing the Energetic Yellow stripe around the circumference of my Power Spoke wheels, so I purchased a set of slightly used Loop Spoke wheels on ebay. The Loop Spoke wheels will get the 195/55R16 X-Ice tires. When Spring arrives, I'll have a dilemma. I want to save the Power Spokes and their factory-mounted Hankooks for special events. That way I won't be dependent on a MINI dealer having the special tool needed to balance those unique wheels and I can put one of them in my man cave to enjoy as a work of art. Then, to conserve the Power Spokes, I'll either put some Summer tires on the Loop Spokes or, preferably, try sneak another set of 17" wheels (current choice: silver Cosmos Spokes) onto the car without my wife complaining about my "need" to have 3 sets of wheels for one car. Life is so complicated!

 

I convinced my wife it was good to have dedicated sets of wheels for different purposes when I bought her some winter tires for her car and she was able to drive in last winter's ice without issue and then we didn't need to make an appointment to have them changed, I just needed to break out the impact gun and jack

 

I can vouch for this strategy!