Goughary

What is up with winter tires? Not too long ago there were a lot of options. Now Porsche gives us a list of approved tires, that don't seem to be sold anywhere....

What are the snow tire options aside from Yokohama ice guard for 17 inch wheels in 205/50 and 255/40 or 225/45 and 255/40? Anyone find anything I'm not seeing?

Rocket Rob

I checked Tire Rack and they only offer the Yokohama you found. Discount Tire has several others offered.

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/di...8&rd=17&cs=205

Goughary

Not for the 255/40/17 size though.

I was thinking 215/50 and 245/45 would work. Blizzak ws80 are available in those sizes. They are within the c4 outer diameter specs.

But itd be nice to have the option to buy the right oem size. I've got an older set of blizzaks now on my cup 2, in the correct sizes. And a set of Michelin Alpin on my D90...but neither is available anymore...

JasonAndreas

Nobody seems to offer winter tires in 255/40-R17. Otherwise first choice would be Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2, I run them 255/40-R19 on another car. There is no comparison to Blizzaks, not even close. Have you tried any of your local tire shops? When I was in New England they were substantially cheaper than buying from TireRack, DiscountTire, etc. for winter tires. Which is the exact opposite of my current situation. I buy wheels & tires full mounted from Tire Rack, ship them by boat and it's still (literally) half the price of what the local shops on island are asking.

Vandit

You probably want narrow tires in the winter anyway.

Goughary

I would if the snow ever really stayed on the ground. But for our roads since we have snow for a few hours at a time - better to have correct tires for dry cold frozen roads for daily driving. And then the added traction is a nice to have for snow days.

HalV

I agree with Vandit. I'd just go with the narrow tires. I drive most of the time with my 16" rims and 205s(F)/225s(R) so the 215(F)/245(R) will give you plenty of traction for winter conditions. That said, I don't drive my car on the Minnesota roads in the winter (too much salt).

-Teme-

Doesn't Vredestein do the Wintrack Extreme in 205/50r17 and 255/40r17 sizes?

Personally I have the Nankang Snow SV-2 in 205/50r17 and 235/45r17 sizes as the winter tyres on my 964. The good things about the Nankang are that they are cheap, but also that they are made of a more grippy, softer, Nordic compound than most "winter" tyres available in suitable sizes.

If I were buying winter wheels are tyres now, I would go for 16" wheels and Nokian Hakka R2 tyres in 205/55r16 and 225/50r16 sizes (the studded Nokian Hakka 8 is also available in these sizes).

memo555

FWIW I went with 205/50/17 and 225/45/17 on 17" x 7"/8" Cup replicas.

At the rear, the diameter is spot on compared to the stock 255/40/17 size. The narrower tire does look very slightly stretched on the 8" rears but this is very minor. I went with the narrower tire to get better traction on ice and snow because we get a lot of that around here.

The tires are Continental TS850s. Very happy so far but I haven't driven on snow yet. Just dry/wet so far...

Porschenut_Lee

Goughary,

I've got some winter tires........let me see what brand and size. Less than 1,500 miles on them. They are presently on 10-spoke 996 wheels. 9" rear, 7" front. I can pop them off the rims easy enough and drop off if you have a decent set of summer tires to trade........

Goughary

Thanks lee. I've got winter tires for this season. So I'm good for the moment. Mike and some other guys may need them. But the real question is what's available on the market in context sizes. And why is the sottozero on porsches list if they aren't actually in production.

I think we should all wrote letters to Bridgestone, Michelin, pirelli, Nokian, and Dunlop et al, and ask for the proper tire sizes to be made available - a lot of us drive our cars in the winter....and dws all seasons are great- but not a great snow tire.

-Teme-

If you want the ultimate winter tyre and can have studs on them, the Nokian Hakka 8 is available in 205/50-17 up front and 245/40-17 at the rear. That can be a bit extreme depending on where you live, but I have those on my winter daily (which is not a Porsche, though).

Also a fantastic winter tyre is the Nokian Hakka R2 which is available in 205/50-17 for the front and 235/45-17 for the rear. Another one I would also consider are the Michelin X-Ice Xi3 Nordic that is available in the same sizes as the Hakka R2.

And as noted above, what I actually have on my 964 for winter are the cheap Nankang Snow SV-2 in 205/50-17 and 235/45-17.

All the tires mentioned above are of the softer Nordic compounds, the last one just being by far the cheapest. The positive of the softer compound is of course that it grips in cold temperatures in a completely different way than your average all season or "winter" tyre. If you haven't tried a proper winter tyre before, you should. The Nokian's for example are such good fun when on snow and it is cold. The downside is naturally that when the temperatures rise the compound is too soft and the tyres will feel like that, too - but that's why you have proper summer tyres, right

Goughary

With a C4 in the northeast of the US- where we only have snow on the roads a few hours per winter, it's best to keep the stock oem outer rolling diameters of the tires. If it were snow all the time it wouldn't be too bad to go to the higher range of "within spec" since the wheels would be always slipping. But for dry cold roads and occasional snow use, best to not put the added wear on the clutch packs and planetary gear...

Porschenut_Lee

Goughary,

My Winter tires are Pirelli in 205/50 and 255/40

Are those no longer available?

Goughary

I wasn't able to find anything other than Yokohama use guard from anyone. We even had sunset looking into tires for us...and nada...