mini love - part 48

Once I was satisfied with the preliminary fit check of the Konig Dial-In wheel in 15x8, I proceed to order the other three for a full set. Amazon has 5 of these wheels and I bought 4, leaving one in their inventory. It would turned out that all 5 passed through my hands.
the street car named Desire was visibly thrilled with the shinny new wide wheels

I ordered a set of Nitto NT01 in 225/45ZR15. The tires that I really wanted are Toyo R888R in the same size. As it was the end of driving season there was no stock and the back order status has no ETA date. I have no experience with either and I have little doubt the NT01 should be quite good for road course.

shinny new toys

this label tells a few things about Amazon's logistics; shipped from Konig in California to Amazon's warehouse in Texas, and the lot were 84 in total in this size and color alone

 I weighed all four wheels and they are all under the specified weight of 12.25 lb

as I don't take any chance of letting someone else over tighten the lug bolts I always bring the wheels and tires to the tire shop to have them mounted and balanced

the NT01 has massive tread blocks so you would not want to use them in very wet tracks; the holes are for measuring thread wear like those on racing slicks

The specified weight of the Nitto NT01 in 225/45ZR15 is 21.41 lb. I weighted all four mounted wheels. Of course they have varied amount of balancing weights. They range from 33.79 lb to 34.20 lb.

Nitto NT01 specs

I knew in advance that the tires would protrude out of the wheel arches a little. As the Mini has limited suspension travel I am quite sure the tires won't touch the plastic wheel arches.

I prefer the gun metal gray finish over the black as it delineate the wheel, tires, and the wheel arch better than black. The black wheels are difficult to photograph under most lighting conditions.

gun metal gray in 15x8

this is my other set of black in 15x7

only after the wheels are mounted and I was ready to give them a cleaning that I notice one has a bent outer lip; I recalled the event sequence and I was sure I didn't cause the bent

I immediate went back to the tire shop and consulted the owner. He is very nice and explain to me no way the tire machine can cause the bent. We both agreed it is a manufacturer defect. He has encountered new wheel that are bent from time to time.

this is an interesting no-touch machine

I have the tire shop dismounted the tire and I immediate ordered the remaining one at Amazon. At the mean time Mini had to sit in the driveway 3-legged.

Thankfully the I grabbed the last one Amazon had and it arrive in 3 days. I returned the bad wheel to them and all worked out.

these tires are not for Oregon rainy seasons so soon they would come off the Mini and saved for track use only next season