dresler

The thing that never thrilled me about Blizzaks is the winter compound is only through the first 2/3 of the tread, then the rest is all season compound, unless this has changed in the past decade or so......

ElTorrente

No, having a C2 isn't gonna make TOO big of a difference. You have all that weight over the drive wheels so it'll do fine in the snow.

I used to live in Michigan and drove a '67 912 in the snow, in fact I used to deliver pizzas in it. I became the master of e-brake turns on the unplowed roads- it was a blast . I never drove any car in the snow with actual winter tires, though, used to drive on half-bald summer tires in all my cars and I did just fine, so snow tires would be a gift from the gods as far as I'm concerned.

As far as salt and corrosion goes, it isn't a big deal as long as you have the bottom of the car sprayed clean whenever the weather allows. A few months of the worst sludge and salt conditions will wash away and isn't going to hurt anything.

Livefreeandrive

I finally looked at the manual for my C4S and it suggested 265s for rear with 10 inch wheels. Since I am using the stock turbo twist wheels I am going to call Damon and order the same size that came with the car originally and am leaning toward Pirelli.?

StephenB

This will be my 7th winter with the 996 C2. I have had 17" Pirelli's for a few years but switched to Blizzaks. I like the 17" Blizzaks better. They are not noisy and do better in icy conditions. Deep snow (especially refrozen) beats up the plastic undertrays. Most of mine are either cracked or broken. They use a combo of sand and salt around here so I do run the ugly removable clip on mud flaps from Tweeks. The sand will strip the paint off the rear quarters in a hurry. A local Shell station has a no touch/no rail carwash with underbody wash that i use during the winter months.

nycebo

Nothing looks better than a Porsche driving in the snow. With my winter tires on, my car handles better than most SUVs sporting all seasons on the road. The only caveat is really deep snow which turns the front of our lower cars into a plow.

AgeRebel

I am also planning to go with Porsche recommended Pirelli Winter 240 SnowSport 225/40R18 fronts and 265/35R18 rears. They recommend 10J x 18 for the rear but my stock Turbo Look II wheels are 11J x 18. According to my dealer, the 265/35R18s will fit and work fine with the 11J x 18 but "will look a bit odd" because the tire contact tread width will be noticeably narrower than wheel rims.

Can anyone share any experiences or shed some light with 265/35R18s on the 11J x 18? Or is it necessary for safety and/or performance to get a pair of 10J x 18 rears just for winter use?

Luckyr

I got the narrower wheels but for a different reason. Since you are likely to get 5 seasons or so off of the winter tires, do you really want the bead to be stretched over the lip five times? I don't, so I sprung for some inexpensive rims. Plus it makes the switchout so much easier.

Ray S

I use 17" wheels with Blizzaks on my C2 during the winter in Chicago. The skinny tires look like **** on the 996, but they work great!

Livefreeandrive

I went with the advice of Pongobaz:
Last winter I went with Pirelli Snowsports 240 N-rated (Porsche approved) winter tires on OEM turbo twist wheels; bought the second set used off the PCA classifieds. Fronts are 235/40/18, rear are 295/35/18. Slightly higher sidewalls than the summer tires and the ride is a bit softer, but it works great in the white stuff and absolutely no issues with ABS and PSM. Car handles better in the wet, ice, slush, etc... than any SUV I've ever driven.


Damon at T/R says that with stock ride height this set up should work. I am having the tires mounted on my my stock wheels today which have an 11 inch width in the rear. I should have them on by 5 pm e.s.t. today so I will post pics and any issues.
Steve

Riad

So you're getting winter tires that fit on the stock C4S wheels?

Livefreeandrive

FYI, for C4S owners, the difference in overall diameter is a half an inch. Does anybody remember how to calculate circumfrence?

Livefreeandrive

Riad, yes. I have MPSCs on GT2 wheels so I thought I would put the originals to work since they are hard to sell? The fronts are a bit wider but the diameter is pretty darn close.
Steve

gota911

Go to this link and enter the front summer tire size and then the front winter tire size and it will do all of the calcs for you. Then repeat the process with the rear tire sizes.

Tire Size Calculator

pongobaz

Riad,
you won't have any issues with that set-up. I'm about to head into the garage and bolt them on. This will be the second winter with them. No rubbing issues or clearance issues. There is a guy I know running the same set-up in winter on his C4S and his car is lowered with PSS9s; no probs there either.

Riad

I have a set of replica 18" wheels that I use for snow tires so I use 25mm rear spacers.