AKSteve

I went on a bit of road trip yesterday from Anchorage down to the Kenai river. There's an area near Kenai that had a huge wildfire last year and even after the winter there are some areas that are still smoldering. I guess fires that last through the winter are called Zombie Fires, so thanks again 2020 for introducing me to something I never wanted to hear about. Anyway, when I was driving through this area I could smell some smoke. It also happened to start raining right around this time so this was actually the first time I ever drove my new 992 in the rain. I got the message about turning on Wet Mode and then when I looked in my rear view mirror I swore I thought I could see smoke trailing from my engine. I pulled over and checked things out and my engine was just fine. There seems to be something about the way rainwater mists off the back end of this car that makes it look exactly like wisps of smoke coming from the engine. Weird.

Metalblond

Zombie fires and weird smoke from your 992? Nothing surprises me this year! How did your car handle in the rain?

Richard_Wallace

You will get steam coming off for sure, if you have a steady down pour. My 720s (caught in the rain for the first time a few weeks ago). It also has an open engine area in the back. When pulled to a stop, tons of steam coming off the hot spots of the engine and exhaust areas..

ipse dixit

Completely normal.

AKSteve

The car drove just fine in the rain, but putting it in Wet Mode made it feel like my engine had lost significant power which was another reason for why I pulled over immediately to check on things. The smell of smoke, loss of power and what looked like a smoking engine freaked me out for a minute there.

It's good to know that this was just probably steam and that it's completely normal. My Dad was in the passenger seat with me and he also thought my engine was billowing smoke. This is my 6th 911 and I've never seen this before. I do think they changed something about the aerodynamics of the rear of the car because the rear end of this car stays much cleaner after driving in the rain. The rear end of my 991 turbo gets completely filthy in comparison.

russbert

Try this video for some nice, in-depth explanation of Wet Mode (starts at the 3:45 minute mark):

OmniBlade

I still haven’t switched from my all seasons to my summer tires yet. Going to do it when I get my wheels painted and tint done on the 29th. Been kinda scared about how it’ll handle in the rain once I get those summers on, especially since I’ll be daily driving it.

Jim Wilke

I have the Goodyear Eagle F-1s and they are solid in the wet. Heavy rain, double speed the wipers, went around a truck and then swooped into long flat corner at 85. After just passing the truck, I didn't wanna look like a dweeb and jump on the brakes so I just set the car, turned in and it was absolutely connected to the road. Not a bobble, not a wiggle. Inspires great confidence and makes me look better.

doug992

handles great

sechsgang

What you saw is nomal, so you're fine there unless you see actual flames haha. However, I HATE wet mode and think Porsche has gone too far in the electric nanny game. My 992 c4s with traction on in the wet isn't sure footed, feels like its on edge, unstable over lane changes (literally imagine the road lines turn into mini skid pads) and the brakes (in wet mode) become bricks (if you're a complete rookie driver in the wet, it may help you not put too much input in and not load up the front too much...but otherwise any car that alters its braking servo behaviors mid drive I think is a STUPID move). I made a thread about this a while ago, but realized I never tried traction FULLY off...low and behold, change it to NO PSM and the car acts like a perfectly normal beast of a 911 in the wet, as all my former 911s have been. (my car has RWS, and Pirelli tires fwiw)

inastrangeland

Good to hear that worked. Seems like wet mode and PSM are in need of a software update.

sechsgang

Completely agreed.

AKSteve

Just out of couriosity, are you originally from out of state? I'm just asking because almost no one up here seems to get all-season tires. I've always had separate summer and winter tires and I usually have them on separate sets of rims so that I can change them over myself once I'm sure the snow is here for good. I just got a set of OZ wheels with Michelin PS4S summer tires and I love them. I think car handles great in the rain. Btw, if you end up going through your summer tires quickly, I have my original Pirelli summer tires in storage and they only have 30 miles on them.

AKSteve

What about PSM Sport? I just noticed today that my car 992 this. I guess it comes with the Sports Chrono Package. I had something similar on my BMW M4 Competition and it changed my whole opinion of the car. It dialed the stability control back to where it was just right. On that car, having stability control on all the way would cause the traction control to kick in and rob the car of power way too early. And switching it off all the way made the car downright dangerous.

inastrangeland

All season tires are not good at anything. They are for people who cannot afford two sets of tires. They are marginal in Winter and not very good in summer. In fact, here in Colorado, during snow storms, you cannot go up the pass unless you have full on winter tires. The difference in performance in significant.