Ted991

Do I really need to buy the set of tyres and wheels?
I would rather keep my wheels which porsche don't offer for winter set.
Surely just a set of winter tyres will do?
Or am I going to ruin my wheels?
Thanks

Hurricane

My winter wheel set arrives today! Woohoo! It will save some wear and tear on my summer tires. Also, with temperatures getting so cold my summer tires seem to be less grippy. If there is an occasional snow storm, there will be nothing stopping me!

When the temperatures warm up in the spring, I will put my summer tires/wheels back on.

If you put winter tires on your current wheels, won't you just have to have them taken off and summer tires put back on your wheels later? Much easier if you have two sets of wheels.

pap2828

I purchased a set of tire/wheels and a week later found out they won't fit on my new GTS so was a waste....!!!:bang head:

However, they do make a huge difference to grip in winter.

..Anyone in UK interested in some C2s tire/wheels? cost me £2900 new and done 600 miles......? offers..?

Available anytime after Jan 14th....

Happy New Year!

John@Fabspeed

It's always good to have an extra set of wheels for the winter. I know that over here in the North Eastern side of the US the winters can get pretty brutal. The roads getting chewed up by snow plows, curbs become almost invisible because of the snow, or just damage from the salt. It is definitely a good safety precaution if you have some nice wheels and you drive your vehicle daily throughout the full year.

chuck911

Hard questions to answer without knowing where you live (UK?) and especially the conditions you'll be driving in. If you get a lot of snow and ice that sticks around all winter then you definitely should get a set of winter wheels and true snow tires. But if the snow is light, occasional, and you're hardly ever on compact snow or ice then all that pavement driving will wear out snows real fast and you'll be better off driving good all-season tires.

There really is no one right answer. For decades, even while driving lots of snowy mountain passes going to WSU or skiing I drove nothing but high performance summer tires. Even crossed Snoqualmie Pass one time with CHAINS ONLY lights and traffic creeping and a Stater standing right out there on I90- drove right past him with my window down saying "hi" hoping to distract him from spotting my near treadless Stahlflex performance summer tires. (And I had chains, just didn't see the need….) But risk tolerance/skill factors vary tremendously. DYODD.

John@Fabspeed

+1

STG

Do you live in Arizona or Canada?

Summer tires that come on the 991 will get you nowhere in snow!

You'll be lucky to make it out of the driveway, and you'll never make it to the legendary Chuck snowy mountain passes!

Even in temps under 45 degrees on DRY roads the grip is terrible.

Dgags

Chuck911, the only all seasons I found to fit my 245 front and 295 rear are Toyo Proxes 4 Plus. Wish there were other options. P Zero All Season wont have my size until the end of 2015.

6 months per year here in the Pacific Northwest, all seasons are the only tire that make sense.

Vise

Up here in lovely Toronto I wouldn't contemplate driving any car in the winter on summer performance tires. Our winters downtown really aren't that bad either but still, summer tires are rock hard below 45F as mentioned and grip is terrible.

In the past I've always run winter tires on the stock/OEM wheels and swapped wheels to a set of aftermarket wheels + summer tires... looks like that trend might be continuing with the GTS too. Just priced out a set of winter tires and will likely have them mounted when the car arrives end of January. Will have to determine if a set of dedicated summer rims/tires is in my future...

chuck911

Right. True snow tires here will only get worn down being driven on so much wet or dry pavement. I was just in Costco, big stack of Blizzaks, I was checking them out. At warehouse temp you can squirm the tread hugely just with mild thumb pressure. So imagine what happens under real driving loads. Which is fine and what they are designed to do sub-freezing on compact snow and ice. But around Seattle? In a typical winter there's an average of about 45 min when that's really necessary. Rest of the time, anything with more and smaller tread blocks than a summer tire will do just fine.

It wasn't until I got my 911 that I ever ran anything but performance tires all year round. In my experience the right tire helps a lot- but if you're relying on the tire you're relying on the wrong thing. Not that there aren't times when you really do need the gear. One of the coolest things I ever saw, the first guy to give me a ride in a 911, a brand new 75 Turbo had a sheet of plywood on the wall behind the car and two deep ruts in the garage floor. With Spokane winter snow, even with studded tires he had to do burn-out launches to get out his driveway. The sparks at night were something to see. Now that's hard core winter driving!

Ted991

I should have been clearer.
Can I keep my wheels and just change the tyres?
Some say you can damage the wheel?

LSV

It depend of the tyre. Some manufacturer don't recommand to swap the tyre on rims for seasonal use. Have you ever seen a tyre change: pretty rough for the rubber.
Rim conception is made for tyre change too, but your tyre-partner must be equipped with tools for 20'' rims with /35 tires.

Hammer911

Of course you can keep the same wheels and just change out the tires. My biggest concern would be damage to the wheel by a careless technician doing the work.

STG

The easiest and smartest thing to do is have another separate set of a wheel/winter tire set up.

Bolt on, bolt off.

You're going to beat up your nice wheels from salt, idiots mounting new tires on twice a year, and more wheel weight sticky messes than you care to see.

Plus, the cost and irritation of mounting tires on twice a year!

chuck911

Of course you can. It won't harm the tire at all. As for the wheel, many shops have the right no-touch equipment, but few have the right conscientious and skilled employees doing the work. Tire mounting seems to be regarded as the lowest of the low-skiiled jobs around. Just above lot boy car washer. A cheap set of winter wheels and tires will pay for themselves in a few years, with most to the up-front cost being recouped when you sell the wheels.