planning for winter

[bavarian]

I'm starting to plan for the winter season, and I definitely want snow tires for my '04 C4S Cab after reading various posts on this board. Last fall I got a set of rims and tires for my 745Li and it was well worth the expense. Would it be foolish to buy tires only and have them installed on my factory rims for the season? I think a new set of rims in the appropriate size and quality for my Porsche will set me back a lot of money (The complete set with tires for my BMW only cost 1700.00). Any suggestions would be welcome.

[Kirk S]

have '02 C4S coupe, in same situation as you...here is what i have learned...

Wheel Ehancements (in so cal) can set me up with used front wheels + new rear wheels (more on this later) + some Dunlop winter tires for about $3,000

i would prefer to save some bux and go with used rear wheels also, but you need an oddball rear wheel to drop down to 10" width (oem rear is 11" width) with the correct offset so that you can fit a winter tire. winter tires are not available in 295/30-18, must go with 265/35-18 and therefore need a slightly skinnier rear wheel, but it's a different offset than the normal C2 10x18" rear wheels (i believe).

the reason the rear wheel is "oddball" is because it's a special offset (if i'm understanding things correctly), presumably to properly fill out the rear wheel well area.

in other words, if you simply used a standard C2 10x18" rear wheel i'm guessing it would leave a funny look to the rear of a C4S car. therefore, you probably have to go "new" for the odd sized rear wheel in order to get them (or at least this is what i was told by Wheel Enhancements).

can also get a solution from Tirerack.com but i have not yet gotten a quote from them.

[Kirk S]

more info...from Tirerack.com this time...

they tell me they can do a set of [presumably "new"] Mille Miglia "Cup 3" wheels (whatever those are?) with the same Dunlop winter tires mounted for $1895 + about $80 shipping in my case.

now, the problem is that, while Tirerack does quote a 10x18" rear wheel, they claim 52mm is the correct offset, while the alleged official oem porsche rear wheel, for this application, has [according to Wheel Enhancements] a 47mm offset.

so, they can't both be right.

someone is wrong i think and i'm thinking it's unlikely porsche would provide the wrong-sized wheel for their own car...unless Wheel Enhacements just got their facts screwed around.

i do like the sound of $1895 a whole lot better than $3,000.....but not if it's the wrong size rear wheel for the application.