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Author Topic: Dunlops annihilated!  (Read 334 times)
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Noahthered
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« on: August 29, 2011, 06:23:16 PM »
Alright, so I've had Clarkson now for about 9 months and he came with a set of the Dunlop runflats. Unfortunately, the alignment was off and over time has managed to tear up the inside edge of them...leaving my front wheels with little more than steel and willpower to run on :( We found this out today when I took it over to the tire center to fix a flat I got last night in Hampton at Towncenter. The mechanics showed that both front wheels were in need of replacement. So this brings me to my question. I can't afford to replace them with another set of Dunlops (damn teacher pay) so I want to try and switch my front pair over to regular tires and wait on the rear pair. What kind of recommendations do yall have? I don't do autox or track, but do enjoy spirited driving on the Blueridge parkway and such. I've got the 17" wheels if that affects anything. Thanks :)
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maacodale
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« Reply #1 on: August 29, 2011, 08:19:42 PM »
Get ready, you'll get more suggestions than there are tires likely. It's kinda like asking what flavor of ice cream is best. Most of us have ditched the run flats (RF) in favor of conventional tires. Don't put a lot of faith in the RFs either. One of the DC guys had a flat on the Fall Colors Tour with his RFs. Trust me, he wouldn't have gone much further.

If you're concerned do what a lot of us do, either buy a space saver spare from a civic or cobalt (like I did) or invest in a can of fix a flat and a small compressor. A tire plugging kit isn't a bad addition either. I only pack my spare when we're going out of town. Locally I can always find someone to get me or bring the tire to me if needed

Having said that, here are MY tire recommendations:
Yokohama S drives: Loved them at first, got very noisy as they wore. VERY! Also lost a good deal of wet traction.

General UHPs: discontinued, but a good tire. The boy child had them on his MCS and loved them. You might still be able to find a left over set. BabyBMW (Steve) also liked them.

Continental DW: My current tires of choice in 8K miles, have seen NO down side. Highly recommend these.

Continental DWS: Basically an all season version of the DW tires. I don't drive my MINI in ice or snow, so the minimal trade off in an all season and tread wear is fine with me!Many MINI owners like these as well. If you're looking for more performance oriented tire, go with the DW, if all season and slightly better  tread wear is important, DWS is the way to go.

Go to tirerack.com and there yo can search tires by category and even do a side by side comparison.

But get ready for a lot of suggestions!
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Dale Blankenship
Poquoson, VA
09 Laser Blue Clubman S
Wife thinks it's hers!
07 Mellow Yellow Cooper S
Of course son thinks it's his!
Guess I need a third MINI!
Noahthered
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« Reply #2 on: August 30, 2011, 12:54:18 PM »
Thanks for the recommendations. I was initially looking at the Goodyear Eagle GTs, but the Continental DW and DWS look pretty spiffy. I don't drive in snow/ice (less because of driving ability and more because I don't want someone slamming into Clarkson when they lose control) so I'll probably go for the DW. Do you recommend any specific shops for getting them installed and a realignment? If this was something I saw coming, I'd take it down to Checkered Flag and just get them to take care of it, but unfortunately it's literally at the worst possible time money wise :P
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maacodale
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« Reply #3 on: August 30, 2011, 02:02:14 PM »
Any competent alignment shop should be able to do the alignment. Same goes for mounting, though some shops like Kramer Tire won't mount any tires they don't sell.
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Dale Blankenship
Poquoson, VA
09 Laser Blue Clubman S
Wife thinks it's hers!
07 Mellow Yellow Cooper S
Of course son thinks it's his!
Guess I need a third MINI!
JumpingJackFlash
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« Reply #4 on: August 31, 2011, 05:58:21 PM »
Yeah, lots of flavors.  I have great luck with Hankooks.  The Ventus V4 ES are most likely retired by now.  The last set I bought were Ventus V12 K110s.  They have good grip and are fairly quiet, even after 20K miles (or whenever you wear them out).
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Noahthered
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« Reply #5 on: September 01, 2011, 02:36:54 PM »
Thanks :) I ordered Ventus V12s off Tirerack on Tuesday at the recommendation of a friend of mine. They arrived today at Precision Auto Tune and I'm getting them put on and a realignment after work today. I was pretty impressed not only with the price, but also customer support. Tirerack called yesterday to confirm shipping info and let me know that they would ship by noon. Precision Auto Tune called this morning to let me know my tires were in and I scheduled to get them on today. Again, thanks for the help!
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