WJGreer

I know, I know, nothing like snow tires for traction in the winter and all-seasons don't compare. Assume I agree with that, but hear me out.

I'm considering running all-seasons on my 991.1 C4S. Here's why:

• I live in Denver. Our winter weather here tends to be sporadic, and the roads don't stay icy for long.
• I have a Chevy Tahoe that I can use whenever. It's a snow tank.
• I work from home, always sometimes but lately almost all the time. Aside from airport runs, which are few and far between right now, I just about never have to go anywhere at any certain time.

In my situation I'd rather avoid the expense and upkeep of a separate set of snow wheels and tires, plus I don't plan to track my car. But I'd rather not be driving around on summer tires in the unlikely event I do get caught in a storm. There's a guy in my neighborhood who has an R8 and I've seen him struggle mightily up the road from the grocery store.

So - maybe all-seasons. Anybody running them all the time? Recommendations?

I only see the Bridgestone Potenza RE980 A/S as an option from Discount Tire. I remember someone recommending those on the BMW forum a lifetime ago (might have been @K-A actually) but haven't heard much about them lately. What else do people use?

TonyVan

Check to see if the Michelin Pilot A/S 4 comes in your size. I’m running the A/S 3 on my ‘74 and live in Ca. Great tires. The 4 is tested to be better in snow using a new compound. They handle great, are relatively quiet and last a long time. I’ve run them on COA at a PCA event and they were surprisingly competent. Check out the recent tests on Tire Rack.
tony

WJGreer

I ran those on a BMW E60 at one point; agree they were excellent. I don’t find them in 991.1 C4S size on either Tirerack or Discount Tire though. Neither the Continental ExtremeContact DWS that have such a good reputation on the BMW side. Only the Bridgestones. Might have something to do with supply chain disruption.

BlackOptic

I love my Bridgestone AS tires. I even used them on the track last year.

There is a pretty good thread on the Bridgestones here. https://rennlist.com/forums/991/1103...a-re980as.html

(And here https://rennlist.com/forums/991/1207...l#post16825225)

asellus

Mm, kind of on the same page, but I'm up in Minnesota.

I'll never not run snow tires in the wintertime and I recommend this to everyone who lives anywhere that it snows. 4WD doesn't matter. Having a truck doesn't matter (and in fact is worse in most cases). Get proper snow tires. From a compound perspective alone it's objectively safer, but then you add in that proper tread siping and that's when the worlds of difference come in.

I would LOVE to run allseasons instead of summer tires, though. Summer tires suck major *** under around 50F and, honestly, aren't great until 70+ degree weather. Conversely, a good all-season is good at high summer temps as well as into the barely-sub-freezing ranges like 20F. Around here we get a lot of time in the 40F range, which is a touch warm for snow tires but WAY too cold for winters.

WJGreer

Yeah, winter life in Denver is pretty much long stretches of dry days in the 25-40F range, with maybe 6 or 7 storm events. Those can drop inches to feet of snow, but then they blow out and the streets are dry a day later. Snow tires are definitely superior to all-seasons, but it's hard to rationalize the cost when the advantage would only come into play a handful of times a year, most of those avoidable for a guy with another car available.

asellus

So long as the truck is properly outfit, I don't see an issue driving that in the snow. Do note that ATs are objectively worse than all-season tires in most snow, though.

WJGreer

The Tahoe is great in the snow, and I run Defender LTX M/S all-seasons on it. I've had it in some hideous conditions and it's done great. Went up and down Vail Pass last year and couldn't see 50 yards. Scary as hell but the truck held. Defenders are possibly the best tire made, considering their intended use.

jdcolombo

FWIW - I live in central Illinois, where the temps will be below 40 most of the time from mid-December through mid-March. I just bought my 2013 Carrera S Cabrio on Saturday, when we had an unusual run of 70-degree weather. On Monday, I'm having the Bridgestone RE980AS tires put on it to replace the Michelin PS4S tires. I'm 65 years old, not planning on tracking the car, and want to be able to drive it when it's dry and sunny in the winter (assuming no salt on the roads). Don't want to mess with either mounting summer/winter tires on the factory rims, or buying a new set of rims with winter tires and switching them out (and finding a place to store the ones not being used). For me, the Bridgestone AS tires make perfect sense. Even when I do "fun" driving in the summer on the backroads (probably in the Ozark mountains in SW Missouri or up in Wisconsin lake country), I won't be pushing the Bridgestones. I had these tires on a BMW after ditching the summer run-flats, and was very happy with them. Major improvement in tread life is another benefit, as is the reasonable price. If I planned to routinely take the car to its limit, I'd use a winter/summer setup, but I won't, so that's that. And we have a BMW X5 for when the weather truly sucks, which is often in the winter here.

John C.

Mike Murphy

I’ve been running AS3+ (Michelin) for almost 4 years now on my 996. In urban Chicagoland, they plow most of the streets. I’m fine in unplowed snow up to about 8” - I won’t get stuck like I would with summers. I used to have 2 sets - dedicated summers and dedicated winters, but the AS3’s actually perform better in the winter than those winter tires I had.

The problem that all season tires solve is the wild swings in temps problem. Could be 30F one day and 70F the next. And it’s often that a sudden great sunny nice day in January would be a great day to take the 911 out, but it’s unlikely one would change tires just for the one day.

I forgot to mention that my AS3s still did OK on a couple of track days too. All seasons have come a long way.

Jack F

What All Weather rated tires are available in sizes for the 991?

TamiyaGuy

I run these on a different car for Seattle weather. Remarkably quiet tires and decent wet traction in the cold. Very different than running summer tires that's for sure.

jdcolombo

The Tire Rack only lists one: The Bridgestone Potenza RE980AS. My Carrera S Cabrio currently has Michelin PS4S 245/35 R20 fronts and 295/30 R20 rears. My rims are the stock Carrera S rims, 8.5" fronts and 11" rears. Note that the tread width on the Bridgestones is a bit narrower than equivalent Micheline PS4S sizes. For example, the tread width on the 305/30 PS4S is 11.2" measured on an 11" rim, while the tread width on the 305/30 Bridgestone is 10.4" measured on an 11" rim. As a result, though my car currently has Michelin 295's on the rear, I'm going with the 305's on the Bridgestone. Bridgestone specs say the 305 size will fit rims from 10.5" to 11.5" wide.

I read somewhere that Michelin is planning on releasing the A/S3 tires in sizes to fit the stock 911 rims in 2021, but I want to replace my tires now, so I'm going with the Bridgestones.

John C.

ODR247

Very happy with Bridgestone all seasons, have had them on my car in Virginia for about a year and don't plan to go back to my summer Michelins.

Quadcammer

Lol what is this nonsense now?