MINI Update (pun inevitable)

"functionoverfashion" (functionoverfashion)
08/22/2018 at 12:12 • Filed to: None

My wife gets her (now 9,000 mile) 2015 Mini back from the dealer today, hopefully with not one, but TWO water leaks fixed - the A/C drain and the rear hatch seal. This is the newest car we’ve owned , and the shortest time we ’ve owned a vehicle before it went to a shop for something not minor. I am hopeful it doesn’t foretell a pattern. It’s pouring rain today, and she’ll also for sure be running A/C, so I think we’ll know right away if it’s fixed.

Meanwhile, it’s August so it’s time to think about winter. With both of us driving AWD cars, we only put snows on one car because 99% of the time we’re not on snow-covered roads. I am on snow far more, so my car got full snow tire treatment, and if my wife had to drive to work in a blizzard, she’d take mine. Now, she’s rocking FWD in a little hot-hatch type thing, so she needs snows, too.

TireRack has an $80 mail in rebate right now for tons of snow tires, AND they offer compatible TMPS sensors for just $33/ea . They are typically $70 and up just about anywhere I can find (that I trust), and they claimed over the phone that these are 100% compatible with the MINI.

I asked my wife about wheels, and she said “I don’t care,” which, translated, means, “something simple and no weird colors.”

Sadly, I think that rules out these:

I think those look awesome, but she would say “It looks like I’m trying to be a boy racer/wannabe rally driver. ” Now, i f it were mine........

So 5-spokes are my go-to for winter wheels because it’s easier to clean out the snow when it gets packed in the inner part of the wheel. I also prefer gray to bright silver, especially for winter, because they don’t look as dirty as quickly as silver ones. I went with 16's to get a little more sidewall vs the 17" summer tires, because potholes and frostheaves.

I picked an Alutec straight 5-spoke gray wheel but it said, ‘ TPMS sensors not available for your vehicle’ - yet I was able to choose them when I picked the Rial fork-style 5-spoke you see below. I guess the sensors they have aren’t compatible with that particular wheel ? I can’t think of anything else. Nice side note: the Rials have a 5-year warranty on the finish, which is always a concern with cheap winter wheels. If all goes well, we’ll have this car for a lot more than 5 years.

So here we are, what do you think? 5-spoke, kinda gray, not weird, not rally wheels.

(hers is a 4-door, but same otherwise)

All-in cost: $1,130.24 - $80 = $1,050.24.

DISCUSSION (9)

Ash78, voting early and often > functionoverfashion
08/22/2018 at 12:23

RONAL BEAR.

Those are 5-spoke.

His Stigness > functionoverfashion
08/22/2018 at 12:47

Just get the boy racer ones and say they were the cheapest/best option.

functionoverfashion > His Stigness
08/22/2018 at 12:48

Every time she complains about them I’ll just refer her to you then? hahaha but a guy I met on the internet told me it would be fine

functionoverfashion > Ash78, voting early and often
08/22/2018 at 12:50

I had to look that up, and yes. Yes they are. My 4 year old daughter would love them, she loves bears.

On a practical note, I couldn’t get the snow out from behind those, uh, spokes , so... yeah that’s the reason. Right.

functionoverfashion > Ash78, voting early and often
08/22/2018 at 12:54

Also, DeMuro wrote about them, evidently:

https://www.autotrader.com/car-news/there-were-once-teddy-bear-alloy-wheels-257637

Ash78, voting early and often > functionoverfashion
08/22/2018 at 12:56

I’ll never forget thumbing through the Tire Rack ads in the back of mid-90s car magazines. They just upstaged EVERY other wheel on the page.

I once knew a girl with a Miata who actually had them. For a high school girl driving an NA Miata in the 90s, it was absolutely perfect.

His Stigness > functionoverfashion
08/22/2018 at 13:02

I see no issue with this. Nope. It should be fine. Just tell her I’m a professional.

functionoverfashion > His Stigness
08/22/2018 at 13:25

I should really stop scrolling past that Sparco picture, I really like those wheels on this car.

On top of that, I did get a new set for my car (thanks Craigslist) that are basically new - 600 miles on them - from a fellow E46 enthusiast. But they’re silver and 7-spoke. Ugh.

functionoverfashion > Ash78, voting early and often
08/22/2018 at 14:29

I once knew a girl with a Miata who actually had them. For a high school girl driving an NA Miata in the 90s, it was absolutely perfect.

This, or a New Beetle. Spot on.