Right then you lot , been driving these things with all wheel sizes mentioned for 20 years in October .
First of all I will get my main personal thought out of the the way .
I hate the way all 12inch wheels make the Mini look .
Look at a standard 12inch wheeled Mini and how it sits , then compare it to a 10 inch wheeled one .
Thats better , got that off my chest .
Now
If your car is already fitted with them it is wise to stay with them because they were a factory size and the suspension does work with them . You will not need to change the size of your brakes either . If you go to wider alloys be prepaired to modify the front of the wheel arch as they may rub but that is trial and error and depends on wheel/ tyre width and wheel offset ( how much of the wheel sticks out from the centre) I would uprate the shocks though . Dont need fancy adjustables just uprated as sold by Minispares .
When I started driving in 88 only the 145 tyre seemed to be available until John Cooper got involved in 1990 and then the 165/60/ 12 dunlop appeared which was a amazing improvement in the handling over the 145 pirellis that were factory fitment .
If you dont want alloys are happy with the steelies I would recommend a leading brand name set of 165 tyres to replace 145's such as Yokohama . Not Falken .
12 are the compromise . One of Simons top phrases.
My Studio 2 has 13's on it . Yes they look great but they tram line and follow the ruts in the road which can be a bit unerving when the car wants to steer itself . They have loads of grip but the ride is crap , they are a b'stard to park as its so heavy to steer and the suspension was not designed for such a heavy and large wheel . All that unsprung weight is not good .
I would advise against them .
My favourite are the 10's . The car was designed for them , in fact Dunlop had to design a new Wheel and tyre just for the Mini , what does that tell you .
The ride is good thanks to the large sidewall , handling excellent , the wheels and tyres are cheap .
The only down side is your own car . If it was built from late 1984 the ten inch wheels will not fit over the 8.4 inch brakes . You will need a pair of calipers to replace the originals . The calipers will allow the fitment of smaller wheels . Your brake discs will require down sizing from 8.4 inch across to 7.9 or 7.5 depending on the caliper . Expect to pay between £20 to £30 for this job.
Calipers vary from about £260 a pair upto over £400 . Mine were just under £300 at the time and from Minisport .
Another alternative is the 7.5 inch disc Cooper S set up , this does cost more . Do not bother with the Cooper 7 inch disc . Apart from the fact the 7.5 is better the likely hood of finding good spares for the 7 inch is unlikely . I know , tried to get bits for a customers car at work . Can get the discs though .
Further to this it is possible to buy a kit with calipers and discs etc to convert from 12inch wheels to 10's .
At the moment Minisport have a excellent sale on with all the brake items mentioned above reduced to the lowest price I have ever seen .
If your still not sure on 10's ask Alan what he thought of going round Castle Combe in the mk1 . Or Simon he has seen a mk1 with modified suspension working well on 10s , only 4.5 inch wide ones too ..
Regarding mileage covered for work using 10's .................
I would much prefere to drive a on 10's a long distance over the 13s . Much more comfortable to start with ;D
Wheel/tyre Rolling radius is similar as someone has already mentioned.
The final drive can be affected , meaning you could be reving your engine harder at 60 with 10's than you would be with 12's but to be honest most of you guys have late Minis that were so high geared they will quite happily take a 10 inch wheel with out affecting things much .
These are my views and thoughts and are for guidance only .
The rest is upto you .
Decide whther you want your car to just look good.... 10,12,13's or
Look good and handle great to........ 10's ;D
As for suspension uprate all the bushes first , then you can go onto uprated shocks , wouldnt bother with adjustable unless you are going down the uprated tie rod , hi los ,neg camber lower arms and rear camber bracket route . If you do buy adjustable dont wang em down on the hardest setting you could be in for a shock
start on softest and go from there .
Lowered more than slightly will require the shortened shock absorbers and dont forget to buy the front shock absorber mounting bracket for lowered cars to .
Minispares has the best site for brakes and suspension . Even if you do not buy from them the product info is excellent .
My mark 1 has
4.5 x10 Cooper S offset Minilife minilight wheels
Yokohama 008 165/70/10 tyres
Uprated tie bars
Uprated bush's all round including subframe.
1.5 degree negative camber lower arms .
Lowered Spax adjustable shocks.
Lowered front shock mounting brackets .
Adjustable rear camber / tracking brackets
8.4 inch disc set up with discs machined to 7.9 inch to take Minisport 4 pot caliper .
Uprated Metro pads
Longer MG Midget track rod ends. Recommended with lowered cars .
Apart from the calipers all items were bought from Minispares London .
I can recommend Arrow Tyres in Newhaven 01273 515128 for setting up your Mini as they did mine . Ask for David and tell him David from Fairlight put you onto him . I use them all the time for my customers cars .They have the latest 4 wheel alignment equipment .
Remember raising and lowering the front suspension alters the front wheel alighnment . If you adjust the height you will need to check the wheel alignment.
This is not the case on the rear.
Dave
now i would like go for a new suspension set up. i would like to go for a lowered set of shocks i think but with stiffened ride to improve handling, through adjusta ride and spax lowered adjustable shocks. you info and findings out would be very much appreciated, i would also like to consider new wheels as i think that 12x6'x under sportspack arches look a tad silly i was thinking 13x6's or 13x7's.
now i would like go for a new suspension set up. i would like to go for a lowered set of shocks i think but with stiffened ride to improve handling, through adjusta ride and spax lowered adjustable shocks. you info and findings out would be very much appreciated, i would also like to consider new wheels as i think that 12x6'x under sportspack arches look a tad silly i was thinking 13x6's or 13x7's.
start on softest and go from there .