I currently have 12x5 Minator wheels on my car with Yokohama A539 tyres. The outside edge of the tyre is rubbing on the guards under compression. This has caused the flair on one side to crack and on the other side to be dislodged. The car isn't particularly low, and it has actually been suggested that it should be lowered a bit to improve performance in motorkhanas.

I pretty much only drive the car two and from motorsport events and occasionally I take it on a cruise or something.

I'd like to put some A048's or A032's on it and am willing to get some new wheels. I want to get the best wheel/tyre package I can for performance and driveability. It's got 8.4" discs on it, so they're going to have to be 12" or above and I'm happy to cut the guards to get them to fit.

What do people consider the best alternative in this situation? I originally thought I'd get 13x7's for more rubber on the road, but apparently there's a lot more to it than that.

Discuss

I know that you specified due to disk size - but go 10 inch and spend some money... Better tyres - not cheep.

Best Grip comes from biggest foot-print & sticky-est rubber

but,,, as allways, there is a compromise or a "trade-off"

bigest foot-print tends to usually mean heavier wheel assy , therfor slower responding suspension movements ,,,,,,,wider section wheel/tyre combo also usually means needing wide wheel arch flares,,, which obviously leads to more wind resistance,,,, & also nessecitates the need for the "possiblity" cutting of the guards to enable the fitment of said big wide rubber things

also there tends to be a need for some major suspension geometry changes to effect the return to a delightful handling package, such as the mini 'Usually" is with 10inch wheel/tyres fitted

soooooo,,,, a good compromise is maybe 12inch x 5.5inch wide, light weight spun alloy 3 piece rims, with yoko AO48R spec rubber bands fitted

I personally run AO48R spec 13x7 on one of my cars,,, but also run 10inch hoosiers or AO32Rs on the other mini

"Horses for courses"

sorts sedans usually run 13"diam x9 or 10 inch wide,,, but that`s for BIG Hp circuit race situations & maybe the occasional hillclimb or street sprint etc

But if you`re only doing Morokhanas, then might be best to go with 10s or 12s

only my opinion tho,,, depends on lots of "other" factors as well

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

Keep the wheels and tyres you've got and cut the guards.

Better to spend you money on some adjustable suspension and hi los. Some decent shocks too....


What type of flares are you running?? The cheap plastic incidenti (??) ones?

If so.. you will need to find something different if you cut the guards.

minimad

Ps. The AO48R is not avaiable inAussie... special order from UK... but as Matt says, A very good tyre for your application

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You can take the boy out of the racer.........but not the racer out of the boy!

I won't be doing just motorkhana's. In fact, I probably won't do more than 1 motorkhana this year due to my supercharger making things a little difficult. I'll use it mostly for hillclimbs and sprints. I also want to do some khanacross but obviously for that I'll be using different wheels/tyres and that will not be a priority.

I already have adjustable suspension and hi los and decent shocks .

I'm happy also to change my flares. The ones I have at the moment are plastic and attach to some sheet metal which is pop rivetted to the lip of the guard. The rubbing on the guard caused the sheet metal to pull away (and cut the tyre pretty bad) which caused the flare to become dislodged.

North Terrace Tyres here in Adelaide told me last time I was in there that they could get me A048Rs.

If I look at some 12x5.5's, what about offset?

A048R's are definitely available in Oz.

Matt,

What changes did you make to get the 13x7's working better?

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Starlet Conversion:
http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15484

copy & pasted from another thread on the 12" wheels on the chat page-->

This is/was my car fitted with 13s--->



But it doesn`t look "Tall" does it????????

No,,,,,,,,,,,,, It`s actually lower than a std Cooper "S",,,, BUT!!!!!!!!! That`s because we changed all the control arm pivot points,.,, lifted them up in the subframe & shortened the towers & made special short "Hi-los" ... all in an effort to combat the inherant geometry & ride height problems usually associated with running 13inch

we obviously also cut the guards for clearance

OOOOHHH!!!!!!!!!! Edit---> Just so you all know,,, i definately wouldn`t attempt to do all that sort of work if you havn`t done it before,,,, it`s a rather Major opperation & if you stuff it up & don`t have the geometry spot on,,, then you will end up with a poor handling bucket of puss,,,

This car is "THE BEST" handling 13inch wheeled mini i`ve "EVER" driven!!!!!!!!! Very possitive,,, very predictable,,, very confident,,, Just sh!TLoaDs of work.

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

i'm looking at putting 13 x 7 on the front and 13 x 5.5 on the rear of my LS

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120bhp with 450kg just fun waiting to happen

We were prob. drunk when we set it up last and thought this will be a good idea

I found I had to trim a fair bit off my front gaurds and move my flares up (14mm) in order to stop my 13x7"s cutting into my tyres on hard cornering. Mine is lowered mind you, but you will still have issues with the tyre hitting the front of the wheel arch on full lock on a standard height mini.

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Too many cars, and too little time.

what are your rubber cones and bump stops like?

maybe you're just getting too much bump compression...

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?