Mike1982

Hi there everybody, it is snowing NONE stop here today!! We have about 5" now with another 4-6 on the way. I have a '86 951 non-lsd tranny with semi-winter tires on the car, I was wonder what I could do to get more traction without buying different tires, don't that the money right now for that. Is there anything else I can do to get more traction? With the tires I have now, I don't get stuck, YET (Knock on wood), but I really don't want to push it. I have a party I have to go to tonight and will all the snow coming I am a little worry about getting home. I am only use to rear wheel drive in snow but the place I am going does have a sloop up to get out plus there is a large/long hill on the way home. Can you put weight in the back, does that help at all? I have some cement bags I could put back there over the axel but is that about all I can do? I REALLY wish I had a LSD so bad!! Any suggestions?

Mike1982

Oh yea, last winter I drove on summer high performance tires all winter, boy that was not fun. With the tires I have now is a world of difference compared to those!

Yabo

Put sandbags in the hatch , a good 2 - 4 of them should do a great deal... the volvo wagon used to not go anywehre and then put sandbags in and it would do pretty well.

Good luck!

xsboost90

get a couple bags of salt and put them in the hatch, not too many as your torsions will not like you.

Mike1982

Well, that was the other question I really didn't ask, how much weight over the axel would be safe to run during winter? I think I have like 2 bags I an test out tonight but each one weights I think 80 or 90 pounds so I don't want to put in some 180 pounds back there then hurt something either. Next thing would be to split the bags and put into smaller bags to keep weight not as high. Also, just over the rear axel or should I try to put right over the wheels?

944Fest (aka Dan P)

You'd be surprised how much "beater" you can get for $500. I sold my 88 Audi 5000 quattro for that last year, and it ran OK. I'd hate to see what happens when some idiot slides in to your car, or a curb, or a pole, whatever. I KNOW many guys drive these all year.. but I like the other option. One pass of a salt truck headed the other way and you can get $500 in damage to your front end paint. I know, if you don't have $$ for tires how can you buy a 2nd car.. but sometimes all the costs of Porsche ownership aren't obvious up front. With 1-wheel drive and so-so tires, I recommend you do not drive it until the plows have worked 24 hrs and cleared your routes. Sorry for the reality check.

944Ecology

Hey, if you can't afford good winter tires, how are you going to afford a replacement car when yours is totalled because you can't stop when you lock up the brakes.

Buy some decent snow tires or park it...

gb

bloodraven

i drove the red one last year in the snow..i skidded through a red light....thankfully there was nothing coming and teh cop that stopped me was too busy wowing over the car to write me a ticket...

Stan944

When I lived in NY, I remember you could buy a spray can that would temporarily enhance traction on ice/snow. It was meant to last for a few miles only. I never used this product, and I don't see it here in Canada. Somebody else could chime in here?

Manning

Hey Mike,

When I first bought my car I tried to drive the first winter I had it on a brand new set of Pirelli P6000s. It was one of the worst and most embarrassing experiences I have ever had in my car. There were times when I literally could not get the car to move forward because traction was almost nonexistent. The following fall I had Michelin Arctic Alpin X tires installed and on the same streets in Cleveland Heights, a city known for never plowing kind of like here in west Akron, I was able to get fantastic traction. Moral of that story is that you really, really need to scrape the dough together to get some winters if you plan on driving the car around here this time of year.

That said, there have been times when even on winter tires I have gotten kind of stuck when my car would get beached on particularly deep snow. It sure would be nice if the city of Akron would plow the neighborhood streets once in a while. This is why I now keep a collapsible snow shovel in the back of all 3 of our cars.

And don't keep bags of salt in the back unless you are keeping them in a plastic tote of some sort. It is bad enough that we have to subject our cars to salted roads. If you keep bags of salt in your car they will sweat brine into your carpet and rust the hatch floor from the inside out.

Rich Sandor

buy ice racing tyres with spikes in them.

Techno Duck

Manning, i had those P6000's on my 924S. Two winters with them. They werent bad on dry and in the rain. But they were terrible in the snow. Granted i am lucky to have never been in an emergency situation, there were a few times were i slid through stop signs and traffic lights on empty roads. And one occasion were the car did a nice 270 leaving my old college (only a jeep traveling very slowly behind me). Mind you i was not even pushing it on this turn, i was going extremeley slow and it still spun around on me. With that said, go with a good set of winter tires if this is your only car. I am lucky enough to be able to borrow my sisters Jeep this winter.

Manning

Yeah, those P6000s where a heaping helping of SUCK. They were only a year old when I had them removed, never to be reinstalled again.

Chris_924s

6 years of snowy winters. Fresh Eagle LS 195/65 15's. good grip, narrower tire, and great when wet.
Not loud on the hiway as some all-seasons are.
75 lbs of ballast (TOOL BOX- DUH) ontop of the rear axle.

Marc Gelefsky

9 winters in my 951, REAL snow tires are the key