I just purchased my first Mini, a 2005 Mini Cooper S and it came with 16" x-lite rims. I am thinking about buying the 17" S-Lite rims from a guy online. I checked the standard tire sizes for my year and it shows 205/45/17 and 215/45/17. The rims that I am planning to buy come with tire size 225/45/17. I am not very knowledgable at all when it comes to this stuff and was wondering if that tire size is ok for my car. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

...I should also mention that I plan to lower the car using Eibach sportline or proline springs. Will that also affect the size of tire I can use. I feel like the answer is yes, but want to double check.

 

225's might be too large with the drop ...
I run 205/40/17's

I use this : http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp I use this to size them

 

Thanks for the info. That website will come in handy. So if I went ahead and bought the rims with the 225 tires and kept the stock springs I should be fine though right? Then I can just wait until I get new tires and maybe go with a 205 at that point and then lower the car?

 

The 225's are 3/4" LARGER then the stock wheels ... You should be OK without a drop , but it will throw of the speedo and the Odometer by 3% or so
The 205's I'm running make the speedo match PERFECT to the GPS and the "Speed Signs"