frybear

Well...about to pull the trigger on a 2005 C2S soon. Am I completely fooling myself that this car will perform decently in the snow in Chicago? It's certainly not going to be 4S capable but it is even doable? Anyone here live in the midwest and have to deal with this? I always have the option of getting a used Jeep or something similar for winter but...I have a 3 car garage and we already have 3 cars in it! My lease is up on my BMW next March so this winter is going to suck figuring out where to put one of the cars as the Porsche really needs to go in the garage and it's a cab. If figure IF there's a chance of the C2S doing ok in the snow, I would need 18 inch rims, not 19...

nerdnic

What BMW do you have? If it's a RWD sedan I can't imagine you'd be any worse off in a C2.

frybear

The BMW lease is ending next March.

kellen

I think all wheel drive adds just a slight improvement over rear wheel. My C2S did great in the snow with sottozeros. C4S marginally better and only when icy or more snow.

Regardless of all or rear wheel drive the car turns into a snow plow at 3-4”. So just know your limits and either will be fine with correct tires. I have tire socks as well just in case but have never used them.

frybear

True. and unfortunately quite often there are large blocks of ice to dodge...Porsche isn't going to handle that too well...

ShaunP

A rwd 911 with snow tires is alot of fun. I drove my 991.2 all the time in snowy weather - never really saw the need for AWD.

frybear

thanks! might try it

stiles_s

my biggest worry in the winter is salt, not snow. These cars are awesome with the right tires as long as the snow isn’t too deep.

TommyV44

I had both a RWD drive 911 and a AWD drive 911....the AWD 911 was far superior.

mpath

It's not simply about traction. Summer tires get hard in the freezing temps so a proper set of snows would be better off when the roads are dry.

ShaunP

that's actually false. in dry but freezing temps, summer tires still out perform winter tires in traction and stopping distance.

ShaunP

here are two videos with testing this.

jibmaster1

I think looking at this in "Dry, cold, and in Winter" then yes Summer's appear to be better. I live in the PNW and it is usually wet, cold and often mixed snow/rain where I live all Winter. My car is a 09' C4S and I put the N rated Sottozeros on last Winter and they performed incredibly well over my Michelin PS4's. It was fun to drive up to Mt Baker with the Box on top on the lower snow pack days or in the Spring. I think the biggest hurdle we face is ground clearance. I have another DD so that car gets used more often in the Winter.

STALKER99

In deep snow or starting from a stand still the AWD with snow tires helps.

I drove a 991.1 C4S through two winters in Toronto. It was a beast. Never got stuck.

workhurts

curious where this info came from. I’ve always thought and felt that summers when cold were not great but never really tested.

from tire rack:As ambient temperatures get colder, typically in the 40-45° Fahrenheit range, summer performance tires lose a noticeable percentage of traction as their tread compound rubber properties change from a pliable elastic to inflexible plastic. The tire industry uses the term "glass transition" to describe the temperature where a summer performance tire's grip/slip performance changes dramatically. This means the summer performance tires that provide predictable traction in warm to hot conditions will be found to be very challenging to drive in cold to freezing temperatures. This is especially true when the tires first begin to be driven or if the driver aggressively applies gas pedal pressure with today's turbocharged fours or high-torque sixes and eights. Fortunately, glass transition is a reversible condition that allows the tires' normal traction to return as the ambient temperatures climb.

If ambient temperatures drop to near- or below-freezing, driving or rolling a vehicle equipped with summer performance tires risks the possibility of tread compound cracking. Tread compound cracking is a permanent condition that requires the tires to be replaced. The other condition that can be caused by running summer performance tires in cold temperatures is the possibility of chipping away the edges of the tread blocks.