E. J. - 993 Alumni

Okay guys,

As most of you know, I need to drive my car in rain or heaven forbid, snow (unlike Robin )

I found some tires and am wondering if I can get away with 225/45 on the back? 205/50 will be the fronts and that is fine. I checked the tire and know that physically it is not a problem to put the 225 on a 9" wheel? But I'm wondering about how the car will react. I will need to keep these tires on the car throughout the winter, so I will be using them in the dry and wet and snow.

FWIW - they are Pirelli 210 Asymetricos and I am getting a very good deal on them.

I know the obvious stuff about less grip in the back etc. and I will not be driving them at the limit anyway. Seems like the narrower tire would work better in the snow anyway, but it will not be snowy the majority of the time.

What do you think?

E. J.

Viken

According to Porsche, the 225/45 works fine at the rear. However, they recommend using an 8" wheel with that tire. OTOH, they don't seem to object the use of a 255/40 tire with the 9" wheel unless you want to use chains. Personally, I think the 225 is too small for a 9" wheel, which is the maximum recommended wheel size for a summer tire, but it does fit and work.

STLPCA

E.J.
My winter setup is 205/55F & 225/50R Dunlop Winter Sports on oem (7" & 9") 16" Cups (to be more pothole friendly). They work surprisingly well in the dry & handle very predictably, although obviously w/less understeer. In the moderate snow/ice we see here my C2 w/its winter shoes is like a mountain goat, out handling & out accelerating most SUVs on their "all seasons." I've had no trouble w/225/50-16 on a 9" rim, although the max recommended by Pirelli is 8.5". However, the Pirelli max rec for the 225/45-17 is 9" so you should be fine.

Are you looking at the Pirelli Winter 210 Snowsport? Having heard great things about those tires, I recently mounted them on my son's (my old) Volvo 850T. No snow yet, but so far I'm impressed with their dry weather performance.

Mike in Switzerland

EJ

My car came with a spare set of 17" cups & winter tyres, exactly the dimensions you list. I have had no problems too date, although since my rears now need replacing the garage is recommending going to 255's.

Regards

Mike

Greg Fishman

Ej,
I use 225 and 255 on 17 inch rims 8" and 10"
Pirelli 210's. Used these on the BMW with no problem on the snow or when it was dry. The do well but at the limit they are a little squirelly.
We don't get a lot for snow here so that is why I went with a 255. But if it looks like it won't snow for a period of time I will just put the regular tires back on until the forecast changes. I may get to try them out today looks like we are getting 6 or so inches, at this time we have about 2 on the ground.
EJ

timrod

EJ,

I'm a little late in responding - - perhaps you've already made your decision regarding winter tires. I ran my '95 C2 on 16" factory wheels with Dunlop Winter Sports (front 205, rear 225). The wheels were 9" in the rear. I found the handling a little squirrely with this setup, and was later told by the people at Wheel Enhancement (as you've heard in an earlier reply) that the max wheel width for a 225 tire should be 8.5", which was likely the cause. Currently have an '02 C2 on order and have winter wheels that will be dedicated to 17" winter tires. They will be 8.5" at the rear. Hope this helps.

Have you received any feedback from NHTSA on the wiring harness data you submitted?