There are a lot of tire and wheel options for the Mini Cooper. From the factory, the Cooper S came standard with 3.5-inch-wide slotted steel wheels that were 10 inches in diameter. Optional 4.5-inch-wide wheels were also available. On the Mk. 1 Cooper S, these wheels were all painted Old English White, which is a creamy, yellowish white, with a hint of black in it as well. We queried Mini Mania’s message board to get some answers as to how to duplicate this color.
Members suggested the original code was WT3 and that Dupont Alesta PFT50058 or Sherman Williams Almond P/142/8 are close substitutes. On either of the stock wheels, simple, lightweight, dog-dish style hubcaps were attached. We got three of these caps with the car, but one was damaged.
Our car came with a set of really cool Cosmic 10x6-inch wheels, and two of the original, optional 4.5-inch steel wheels. The Cosmics, while super cool looking, are too wide to fit under stock Mini fenders. We are trying to restore, not highly modify this car, so we decided to stick with the original wheels and caps. Fortunately, Mini Mania sells excellent reproductions of the original hub caps in either chrome or stainless steel. If we can’t find good used ones from fellow club members, we will pick up a set from Mini Mania.
We found three more 4.5-inch stock wheels from two different club members and went searching for some paint. An off-white Rust-Oleum Biscuit Appliance Epoxy paint at Wal-Mart fit the bill, and for less than $20 we had primed and painted our wheels.
On these wheels we mounted Vredestein Sprint Classic tires. We have used these tires on both our Mercedes and our Triumph TR6 project cars and love them. They look absolutely correct on a car from the ‘60s and they ride and handle very well.
Vredestein has just introduced these great tires in the original 145SR10 Mini Cooper size, so we were thrilled to try them out. They are available from Coker Tire.
| It was an itsy bitsy, teeny-weeny rally-winning project Mini. Subscribe to Classic Motorsports and get them in your mailbox. |
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Update by Tim Suddard to the
