red carrera

I think a lot depends on how you drive. Some folks "drive the car" and others let the car drive them. Nothing wrong with either one, but they demand different tire solutions.

So, if you want to make a fact-based decision, go to Pacific Raceway, or whatever it's called now, on a cold, wet day and see how your car behaves with your driving style. If you are comfortable with the decreased grip, cool, keep your rubber. If you don't like the way it behaves, go for a second set optimized for the lower grip conditions.

Dave R.

+1 for dedicated winter tires if you drive here in Seattle area through all seasons.

Most of the time all-seasons will work OK, but when we get bad snow/ice conditions it can get *really* slick - e.g. slushing snowfall that melts off during day but begins to freeze during evening commute. Every several years there is a storm that brings everything to a standstill, cars and buses sliding down hills... I lived in UT for 5 years, and it was never as slick there as I've seen it occasionally get here.

On the plus side the temperatures are fairly cool in Fall, Winter & Spring, so unless you break traction often the winter tires will last quite a long time and behave nicely when temps are cool. I'm running Michelin Alpins on a daily driver and like them.

And welcome to the area! It is a nice place to live.

w00tPORSCHE

This thread that I started might interest you.

https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...ferrerid=76429

BTW, I am the guy that seapar was referring to as his friend in his post. I love my 18 inch wheel/tire set for the winter. Have the OZ' wheels and Michelin PA 2. Stunning performance

Minok

I'm in the Puget Sound, driving from the Sammamish Plateau to Bellevue, Seattle, Renton, Tukwila and back regularly in the winter. I've had good success with my Michelin Alpin's for three winters now on my Targa 4 997.2.

The problem with the Puget Sound area, though being down at Joint Base Lewis McChord will be a bit different terrain, is that the weather has so many changes and microclimates.

On a commute from Kent to Bellevue in 2004 I went from Sunny in Kent, to rain storm around Bellvue, to snowfall as I drove up Cougar Mountain in Bellevue... all in a 40 min commute home in the afternoon.

The terrain is windy roads and lots of elevation changes, so there are steep hills in many places. That isn't too much of an issue normally, as the folks in Chicago would point out, but in the Puget Sound we have lots of oscillation of temps around freezing, as others have pointed out.

So its freezing at night, then in the day it may warm up, things melt, then it freezes again. So you don't get so much a typical midwest snowpack but more what is called Cascade Concrete... a bonded mix of layers of ice and snow that result from the cycles.

That is hell to drive on and even with an AWD system AND winter tires, my Targa 4 had problems getting up the 20 degree slope driveway from the road on occasion because it was covered wtih a partly frozen slush.. think of all 4 wheels driving on a 4 inch thick layer of slurpie on top of a frozen exposed aggregate driveway. The cars cannot get traction if all 4 tires are on BBs... the AWD system just freaks out without something solid to grab on to.

The point is, when you get here, take it slow in the first winter to get an understanding of whats going on. Major hills are regularly closed in icy conditions because of the risks. Get proper winter tires.. don't even think about all seasons.