SOFTEN ride; HIGHEST profile tires that will fit?

#1 Today, 11:17 PM
BladeRunnerrr
Registered User
Location: leavenworth Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 1
Mein auto: Mini Convertible
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SOFTEN Mini's ride, TALLEST tires that'll fit?

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Off the bat, I'm sure many people are wondering why I would buy a Mini if I wanted a soft ride. Short answer, I won the car. It's fantastic in many ways, and has been a incredible car over the last year, especially when gas hit $4 a gallon. Always gets smiles and admiring looks in shiny black.

BUT, the ride in this car is so rough that I get complaints from passengers, my back, and my fillings!

Also, being a convertible, the harsh impact of manhole covers and potholes loosens the inherently more "flexy" body...I feel like the car is slowly being jarred to pieces.

It is a 2007 converible with nearly every option (except supercharger). I'm not sure about the "sport suspension"...any easy way to know if you have that?

The tires are 195/55/16, runflat of course. I was told that if I had runflats that I didn't have a spare. Literally a year after getting the car, after a late night session with the driving manual textbook, I decided to double check with a flashlight, and oila, I have DO have a spare also attached under the car. So I'm not worried about losing the runflats since I have a spare.

I know switching to regular tires will help the ride (but how much?) which it's ready for since the runflats are already used up with 15k miles on them. Runflats were a good idea on paper....

What I want to know is, how HIGH a profile tire can I fit on this car? I never liked the steamroller look of low profile tires, and not worried about super sharp handling. (Looking for more of a "touring" experience if possible.)

Luckily they are 16", so maybe I can get some decently tall sidewalls? I want to stick with the factory wheels.

Oh, and hopefully can still use the tire pressure monitor...the valve stems are rubbery like any other tire, so I think I read that meant that you don't have to do anything special when changing tires (as opposed to the newer system). I don't want to have an angry yellow light in my cluster all the time!