Winter tires for 996 C4

[bnewport]

Hi,

I'm looking at getting winter tires. My choices are tirerack and Dunlop SP Winter Sports or Pirelli 240 Winters on 17" rims.

I'm also wondering about simply getting Michelin Alpin Sport A/S tires on my existing 18" rims and using them the whole year round. They aren't as good as my Pirello Asymmetricos in Summer and won't be as good in hard winter as the Dunlops above but should be fine in almost all conditions and have much better tread life.

I'm looking for opinions on the A/S compromise rather than dedicated summer/winter tires. My porsche dealers says the 911 is too torquey for the pilots which my pilot dealer says is bull. He has corvettes using the pilots with no problems. He also says thread life is significantly better using the A/S than dedicated tires, he claims 30K miles on Corvette, obviously depending on how hard you drive but 30K is a lot better than what I hear for my pirelli summers (10K ish) or Dunlop winters (10K).

I got a quote of 1300 all in to mount the A/S on my 18's versus between 1600 and 1950 for a winter set (tirerack or dealer). The A/S isn't cheap but if they give 30K miles then they are worth it.

Any ideas or experiences welcome.

[viken]

All-season tires are nothing but a compromise. They don't do anything good. If you are going to make the switch between winter and summer, you are better off getting dedicated tires. Porsche approves the Pirelli Winter W240 for both 17" and 18" sizes.

[vjd3]

I would recommend getting a set of winter wheels; you can keep your eyes open for deals. I got a set of Porsche factory 17" twists with Dunlop Wintersports from a Porsche dealer on Ebay for $1325; brand new factory mounted set, still in the crate from Germany. If your 18s are in nice shape, you're better off not scraping them on the ice and bathing them in salt water. Plus, I believe you'll do (slightly) better with 17" than with 18". My C2 did very well in our Boston blizzard on the 17"s and WinterSports, as good as my girlfriend's Audi TT Quattro on Pirelli P6 all-seasons.

Vic

99 C2

[alter_schwede]

I'm have Pirelli Snowsport 240 N1 on 17" (7.5 + 9) TurboLook I from Mille Miglia and I would strongly recommend these Tires for the winter, great on dry and wet roads and pretty good on snow.

As the winter tires normally have softer rubber mix for the cold so driving winter tires on the summer with temp 30° - 40° on road will more or less melt your tires and they will propably not held 30k miles.

cheers,

Tony

[mark wheeler]

I bought one of the winter tires Porsche recommends in the most recent "Approved Winter Tires" TSB - the Dunlop Winter Sport M2 M + S. I have to say that I'm very impressed with them. They seem to have excellent grip in rain and snow. And the dry grip is excellent too. I got a pretty good deal from Tirerack.com. If I were going to do it again, I would have "sprung" for the tire & rim combos because there are lots of really good deals out there.

I totally concur that an all season tire is a huge compromise and it's an even bigger risk that you'll lose control of your beautiful P-car and end up wrapped around a tree or in the ditch. For that reason alone, I forked out the cash for Porsche approved winter tires. And don't believe for a minute that summer tires will suffice, because their gripping ability in cold winter weather is greatly diminished to the point of being extremely hazardous.

Good luck,

Mark

[mark wheeler]

BTW, M + S = mud and snow.