ken1.9

Before buying my 2008 Boxster I searched for any information I could find on its abilities in the snow. Information was limited and for that reason I'm adding this post for those in the future questioning its abilities. When I purchased my car it had Michelin tires made for summer driving and when the first light snow came I couldn't get out of the driveway. Now with all season tires (Continental Extreme Contact DWS) I find that with the PSM (stability management) I can go just about anywhere with ground clearance being my only limiting factor. It's not my only car but there are times in the winter when I do have to depend on it so I needed something I could get around in. It has gone well beyond what I expected. The only way I seem to be able to "have some fun" is to turn the PSM off. On dry pavement the all season tires also improved the ride but at a cost of handling. I may have to budget for another set of wheels so I can put those summer tires back on again.

Periokid

My preference would be to run real snow tires. That should give you real winter ability.

Macster

I'm with David. Were I going to (again) drive my Boxster in the snow I'd have real snow tires mounted on steel rims.

The joke is all weather tires are really no weather tires. All weather tires are a compromise.

Add some weight -- equal amounts -- the front and rear trunks. 50lbs or so of sand. If you do get stuck the sand comes in handy to help you get the car free.

Sincerely,

Macster.

ken1.9

I guess we will agree to disagree as I'm finding the all season tires I have are great. I live in Colorado and drive in a lot of snow and rarely see snow tires anymore as the all season tires are doing the job. You're right about the sand and I do carry about 5 lbs but only to put under the tires if I find I'm in a real bind. Maybe I should consider a little more sand and put it up front. I should also mention that I bought the rubber floor mats that Suncoast has (my local dealer didn't carry them for some reason) and they go up on the side of the floorpan as well and really hold the water. One of the best purchases I have made.

Macster

Well, if you're happy with the all season tires that's all that matters.

I've found adding 50 to 80lbs to the car's front and rear trunks helps. The Boxster has good weight distribution (nearly 60% of the car's weight) over the rear/driving wheels which helps the car in marginal traction conditions.

But as I learned a long time ago in the snow it ain't the going that's a real problem, it is the turning and slowing/stopping and all cars are the same as they have the same number of tires: 4.

If my Boxster couldn't go then the car sits. But if it goes it has to steer and stop or it runs off the road or into another car.

So more weight front and rear helps.

5lbs of sand is not much even if you just use it to help provide a bit of traction by tossing handfuls under the rear tires. I like enough sand that I can lay a trail -- using a small shovel -- ahead of or behind the rear tires to provide enough grip to move the car a few feet or more in either direction to get the car out of wherever it might be stuck.

Also, I carried a nice long tow strap so in a pinch I could attach the strap and have another vehicle pull my car out of a snow bank or whatever.

When I drove my VW TDi through Colorado in the winter I carried a set of tire cables. I never even used the cables except to test fit them once to make sure they fit. Bought then in Grand Jct., CO when it looked like I was going to run into heavier snow going east on I-70.

I never bought any for the Boxster. I managed to get by (barely) on summer tires -- but never going through Colorado in the winter -- but in doing so scared myself silly more than once.

Oh, and scared myself silly in the VW one day too. Left a Best Western motel in Williams AZ and on a snowy frontage road along side I-40 came to an unfamiliar kink in the road. 'course I turned the wheel to navigate the car through the kink.

But before I knew it the rear of the car had broke loose -- some ice under the snow -- and I was looking -- through the passenger's window the car was that crossed up -- for a soft place to let the car go off the road.

Thankfully though a bit of light throttle, some counter steering, and some luck I managed to get the car back off the shoulder and away from the weeds with my heart in my throat.

The VW had Energy MXV4 Plus all season tires mounted on it, too. They were quite good tires up until they almost weren't.

All it takes is one mistake. There's not much margin in all season tires.

Sincerely,

Macster.

sweitznr

I think I figured out a big reason why I traded my late model Vette for the Boxster. I put a set of Pirelli Sottozero II winter tires on the Boxster and it seems to go through everything (well up to about 3 or 4 inches of snow, anyway). Question on the sand: do you really need the weight over the back wheels? I was planning on putting sand bags in my front trunk to put some weight over the steering, but hadn't thought additional weight would be needed in the rear.

Macster

I put the same weight in the front and rear to keep the car's weight distribution the same and the car's feel the same.

You can of course try just putting the 80lbs in the front to help the front tires bite a bit better and see if you like the way the car feels. I never tried this and had I done so I might not have been able to tell the difference.

Some might want to forego the extra weight for better fuel mileage. Sure, while foregoing 80lbs of sand in the rear trunk will of course cost less in terms of gas mileage a bit gas mileage in the winter and driving in the snow/ice will be crummy anyhow and I don't think carrying 160lbs or even just 80lbs extra weight will matter any.

(In one snow storm by the time I drove out of it my Boxster must have weighed hundreds of pounds more from all of the snow/ice that collected on the hood around the windshield base, in the radiator ducts, and under the wheel wells.)

Sincerely,

Macster.

VGM911

I could have written the same story, Ken. I, too, recently went to the same Continentals on my Boxster since the Z-rated tires make the car unusable in the winter. They are a welcome improvement.

While I don't claim that the all-season tires match winter tire performance in the snow, I made the assumption that there have been advances in all-season tire tread design and rubber compound formulation that make them better than the all-season tires that were available on the market five or ten years ago. Since two sets of tires (winter and summer) don't work for me (for reasons too long to mention), I'm thankful that we have these newer all-season alternatives.

00r101

To be safe and secure in a Boxster in the snow you need real snow tires, not all seasons. That means another set of wheels. so you can change from summer to winter tires yourself.

So here's what it costs to drive the Boxster in the snow
4 snow tires every 3-4 years (about $800)
4 extra wheels (by used takeoff 17" for about $500)

So it costs you $1300 the first year and an additional $800 every 3-4 years thereafter.

OR

Buy a winter beater. You can get a decent driving car with 4wd or AWD for $1500 and insure it for 6 months per year for maybe $200

This protects your $50K Boxster and you will be able to drive through anything.

Bottom line - the Boxster can work in the snow but why risk it.

jbx2

I just had my first experience driving my Cayman in the snow which Dunlop snow tires and found them to be marginally better then all seasons. Maybe there was just too much ice under the snow but I didn't over drive the car and it felt quite unstable at times mostly while turning. I'm beginning to think the brine spray on our roads actually makes them slicker once the snow covers the road surface and until traffic clears the snow (at which time the brine is useless) driving is more hazardous regardless of tires or driveline. Our Audi quattro does not generally slip but the other day it had a bit trouble too even at slow speeds.

ken1.9

Before the snows arrive here they spray on magnesium chloride which allow the snow plows to remove the snow to a bare surface easily. The snow plows send it all flying on to my property as they go by and the plants in that area are showing signs of being stunted. I hate the stuff as it is slippery and the Audi I had a few years ago would slip in it too. I find a small snow with that stuff underneath is dangerous to drive on as the snow slips on the road. A Denver station put some brake parts in a bucket of the stuff and showed the damage to the parts after a few weeks. I try to stay off the roads after it has been applied and I visit the car wash frequently in the winter. I find it hard to believe it is any better than salt or brine.

Dino944

+1

Your Boxster may be fine in the snow. Maybe you even have no problems with stopping, slowing, or turning. My big concern is even if I'm really carefull, there are plenty the "geniuses" that drive like lunatics just because they are in a huge SUV. They forget that the laws of physics still apply to vehicles that have AWD/4wd. When they slide through intersections or when turning I don't want my Boxster anywhere near them. Hell, the other week after a light snow storm, I got to see a rescue crew trying to pull a Ford Excursion, which was on its roof, out of the woods and this was near a straight section of highway.

Definitely, get yourself an inexpensive beater car with AWD/4wd, you will be happy you did.

As for AWD tires, I've used them on my Subaru and MB with 4matic and (knock on wood) most of them have been great on these cars. But I would not want all season tires on a Boxster even in really nice weather, because of the compromise in performance.

Best regards,
Dino

Macster

Can't help but relate at least one experience I had. On I-70 in Missouri east bound coming up on the 65 highway exit. My direction was south (to my parent's house) but there was some snow falling -- no accumulation yet where I was but I had heard over the CB radio west bound big rig drivers reporting snow was starting to accumulate a few miles ahead. Oh, I was in my VW Golf TDI and I wanted to see how it handled the snow.

The snow was falling at a pretty good rate but there was just blowing snow on the freeway. I knew enough to know that even blowing snow can be treacherous so I slowed down but of course almost every other vehicle passed me going at least the limit 70mph and probably more than that.

I continued on east not many miles (around 10 maybe) to the next exit where I could see from the freeway snow had started to accumulate on the surface roads. I took the exit and headed on down the county road south for a few miles. The snow level got to around 2 inches deep and in my driving through it I satisfied myself that the Golf would be ok save in a blizzard.

Back on I-70 now heading west back to the 65 highway exit.

Now it was the west bound vehicles blowing past mine car. East bound vehicles looked to be traveling at above the posted speed as well.

But the distance of just 10 or few miles I counted 6 and it may have been more accidents. Single car accidents. Cars or pickup trucks or SUVs in the media (spin outs) or off on the side of the road. In one case as I passed some very heavy brush/overgrowth I could see the hole the pickup truck had punched into the brush and deep in the stuff -- maybe nearly 100 feet into the stuff -- I could make out the top of the cab and enough of it to know it was a pickup truck.

Several of the accidents has a state trooper car or sheriff's car parked up nearby. A few already had a tow truck present.

But yet people were blowing past me like I was standing still. Thankfully my exit appeared and I took it to leave those I-70 bozos to their fate

This isn't the only time I have seen this type of behaviour. More recently -- last Nov. -- in the Turbo on I-40 east bound between Calico Corners and Santa Rosa ran into heavy snow fall and in the heaviest spots up to several inches of snow on the freeway. Plows were not out yet as the snow came in a bit unexpectedly and fast.

I tucked in behind -- at a safe distance -- a slow moving big rig (to let its tires help clear a path for my Turbo's summer tires) -- and when it is safe to do so I can see out of the corner of my eye all kinds of vehicles zipping by in the fast lane.

But a few miles down the road more than a few vehicles in the median and off on the side of the road. All that speed finally caught up with them.

Even the west bound side got its share. In fact a few miles on east and the west bound side was shut down. A wrecker had run off the road and another wrecker was blocking the two lanes (with state trooper help) to winch the other tow truck out of the weeds.

Kind of funny but the snow didn't extend all that far. A few score more miles an the snow ended and in fact the road was clear. The span of road covered by/affected by the snow was maybe 30 to 40 miles.

People (most people) are buttheads when it comes to snow and even wet weather driving.

Sincerely,

Macster.

race911

Not a Boxster, but I'm have a hilariously good time so far this winter pressing my C4S into ski duty. Got some skinny (205 + 235) Michelin X-ice studless ice and snows, and it's been wonderful running up and down I-80, plus the 4 miles of old US 40 to get to Sugar Bowl.

I'd feel just as fine with the same tires on a RWD 911, too. That you have to chain up is the non-starter.

Dino944

Hi Macster,

When it snows I'm always happy just to chug along at a reduced speed in my little AWD Subaru. Those people that are passing the slower moving traffic in snow must have an unquenchable desire to fill out insurance claims forms and police reports.

Best regards,
Dino