If I could, I would have ditched them on day one. However, it’s a bit difficult to justify spending several hundred dollars on new tires, when your brand new MINI comes with a perfectly usable set of runflats (which just cost you roughly a thousand dollars). So they were put to use.
After 38,594 miles, those factory Continental ContiProContact SSR runflats had pretty much met their end. As you probably gleaned, I was never a fan of them to begin with. They understeer was awful, at any speed, through any corner, unless the road camber was in your favor. The grip they provided was akin to a sprinter trying to run the 100-meter dash in wooden clogs…around a hockey rink. In dry conditions, understeer aside, they were serviceable. But when precipitation fell, they struggled mightily. Once the tires worn down near the wear bars, the tires would spin at modest RPMs when accelerating away from a stoplight, or when accelerating upon exiting a corner…this was only exacerbated in the wet.
So it was finally time for a new set of tires…time to ditch the runflats, and get a proper set of tires. After spending way too much time researching and combing NAM and /r/MINI for recommendations, I went with a set of slightly wider and taller 215/45R17 Continental ExtremeContact DWs to replace the runflats. TireRack had them delivered the next day, and just yesterday my MINI dealer mounted and balanced the wheels and tires, and performed a four-wheel alignment.
Immediately, I can tell you is that not feeling every single pebble, crack, imperfection, or hair in the road is a very welcome change. I had forgotten what a revelation it was going to non-runflat rubber on my R53 so many years ago. The tires still need to be broken in, so I still expect improvement, but the understeer through corners is more-or-less gone.
Other than that…ask me in a thousand miles or so, once I have them broken in.
