MINI - winter driving experiences?

[alfaisgone]

Someone dear to me is being pulled in by the gravitation pull of a new Mini, and will probably buy one soon. As we are in Rochester NY the winter drivability is a concern - yes, I am aware this like any unique fun auto is a question of priorities (miss my Alfa spyder).

Could any of you share some brief observations/anectdotes/stories about driving in the snow and ice with a Mini???? I see that the weight distribution is not the normal 50/50 from BMW, but would also guess that with a set of four snows (what kind do you use?) they probably are not bad.

Any stories about failing to find your Mini in a deep snowfall would be appreciated as well.. ;-P

Thanks. I remember the original Mini, and was overjoyed that BMW spent a gazillion $ to buy Rover just so they could get the Mini and dump the rest.

[TSR53]

I live in Northern Vermont and drive my 2006 MINI Cooper S daily, through every imaginable road and driving condition our rallye style roads dish out. I have owned over nine Audi quattros and have many years of driving in the snow experience, including Lake Tahoe where we used to get 20+ feet of snow.

At delivery in March '06, I bought a set of R90 rims and had the dealer remove the new Goodyear RS-A all season tires from the S-Lite rims to the BBS R90s. I then bought a set of 215/45-17 Dunlop Winter Sport M3 snow tires and had these mounted up for my winter setup on the S-Lites.

I couldn't be happier with how well the MINI Cooper S works with the LSD (limited slip) and DSC (traction control) in snowy and icy conditions. The braking, handling and ABS rival my 1995 Audi //S6 quattro for stability and traction. I know this is a very bold statement, but it's the truth. Taking off from a standing start isn't the same a quattro, but it does well.

As well as the the MINI Cooper handles in the dry, it does the same in the snow. Have fun.

[Brad5161]

We drive our 02 MCS year round here in Maryland, through snow, rain, ice, locusts, whatever. No problem.

[havand]

Quick question related to winter driving. Are the Cooper (regular) performance tires ok in the snow? Any idea how much worse they are than actual 'all season' tires?

[benaj]

We run Dunlop Wintersport M3 DSST tires on 16" Rota wheels in the winter on our MCS, never had an issue in either Chicago or Cleveland blizzards. Not quite as godly as our AWD Audi (with snow tires) in the snow, but certainly much easier than my old perfect 50:50 M3 in the snow (don't laugh, the old M3 actually did an honorable job for a few winters with a set of good snow tires).

To answer havand's question, all season tires are just "ok" in light snow and slush, usually not "ok" in heavy snow or icy conditions. "Performance" tires usually go downhill from there when it comes to performance in winter conditions, some even warn that they are summer-only performance tires. I don't know what compound came standard on the MC, so hard to say in your case. I would bet to guess that All season tires should be bare minimum standards if you somewhere that gets any kind of regular snow in the winter.

Good handling FWD (and AWD) cars can give the driver a false sense of security when it comes to bad tires in bad weather, masking the problem of poor traction until it is too late and you find yourself on a slow uncontrolable slide into some expensive bodywork damage. In an ideal world, northern and midwest states would mandate the use of snow rated (snowflake) tires on passenger cars during winter months. Once you have driven on winter tires, you quickly realize just how poor most all seaon tires are for winter conditions.

[Brad5161]

We get our share of ice and snow in Maryland and I've never run a dedicated snow tire nor had problems in snow with all season tires. Rule #1... slow down:D. The Kumho ASX's on our Mini Cooper S did fine this year.

[Shivan000]

I haven't had a problem here in northern Indiana. Last winter I had bald rear tires, and it only made driving more fun, since I could break the rear end out easily.

I don't have traction control or LSD, btw.

[Donedirect Phil]

In Rochester, tires are key. Fortunatly tires for the MINI are not that bad. We got a set of dedicated tire/wheel combo from Tirerack for about 500.00.

[peteymedic]

bump

[PG123]

Some snow tires should do it...my buddy hasn't had any problems in the snow