All Season tires for Panamera
 

What tires are you using for most seasons use? I'm willing to remove my Michelin Pilot Sport for the winter but don't really want to go to a full winter tire. What's available and I don't mind buying new wheels.

If you go down in size to a 19' or even better yet an 18' you have a ton of options. TireRack.com

I'm running Pirelli Sottozero's this winter. It's my 1st winter with a 20' tire and 500hp car in a mountain region so it's been different. I want an all-weather tire when I take these off but don't know of any.

I've got the same Michelins in 20" for summer & went with the $3000 Nokian 18" ugly wheels & winter tires package recommended by the dealer. Performance on snow is good, not great, performance on dry roads is a little slippery with hard cornering. I couldn't find any 20" winter rubber & all-season tires are usually sub-par in all seasons.

OK, I admit it, I want it all. I'll sacrafice from the purity of the OE summer tire but I need something that can get me around in the cold (not snow and when it does, I have other transportation optiions anyway) and when these get cold ... and it's wet, it can be a handfull. The 19" factory wheels still look good on the cars but I can't find any all season tires for my winter-ish needs with Tire Rack as my source. Anyone?

My strategy: I bought some 19" 'take off' turbo wheels and ordered the Michelin Alpin 3's "winter Performance Tires" from Tire rack. Should have them on this week. We'll see how the do. Summer wheels are the 20 inch new turbos. I'm hopeful for a very good mix, between the 2 sets.
Good luck.

I have been very happy with the Michelin Pilot Alpin 3 tires on 19 wheels. No problem in the snow, and good performance in the dry. Will go back to the Conti summer tires that came with the care this spring. This is a small price to pay for year round safety and performance in the Panamera 4S I drive.

I bought the 20" RS-Spyder winter wheel-and-tire set for my Panamera Turbo from my dealer and I couldn't be happier. The Pirelli 240 Sottozero Serie II tires work exceptionally well, especially considering how wide they are. I drove from Cincinnati to Boston through the after-Christmas blizzard and they performed better than anything other drivers were using. I was able to drive 65 mph on snow-covered sections of the New York Throughway and Mass. Pike. The only other vehicle that could maintain the same pace was some old '80s Jeep Cherokee with unknown snow tires. I let him be my rabbit to check for deteriorating conditions ahead :D

Again, the Sottozero Serie II are great in light snow, deep snow and just plain cold weather rain or dry. I've never had all season tires that compare.

Sportscommuter, which Nokians did your dealer recommend? I just picked up a Panamera 4. I was very close to going with the all season tire option but prefer performance winter tires. I am choosing between the Nokian wr gr and the Pirelli Sottozero Serie 2. I know there are people who did well with the all season option in the NYC area, where I am. However, I have driven through several bad winters driving a 997 with winter tires. The performance was outstanding. My experience with all season tires [especially in wide sizes]in cold/ snow is that they can be ok or could just lose traction during braking or cornering, even with all wheel drive. Thanks

To 56truluck:

I have a P4S with 20" PS2's for summer; 18" Sottozeros for winter. No problems with the winter tires, including several trips from SoCal where I live to Mammoth Mtn, where they got over 500" of snow this winter.

With that said - I bought the Sottozeros a year ago when they were the only 18" snow tire I could find. I've had Pirelli snow tires in the past and frankly I was never impressed. I've since discovered that Nokian has a WR tire in the appropriate 18" sizes. I've been driving on Nokian snows and all-season tires (using them as snows) on a whole series of Audi Quattros since the '80's.

The Nokians have, in my experience, been uniformly excellent. If I had it to do over there's no question in my mind, I'd get the Nokians. In another season when it's time to replace the Pirellis I'll go with the Nokians.

DMoore
'11 GTS
'10 Panamera 4S

DMoore-thanks for the feedback. The two tires I am looking at are the ,Pirelli Sootozero 240 serie 2 and the Nokian wr g2. I prefer the Nokian. My only concern is that Porsche [not the dealer] has given me contradicyory information about using non n spec tires. First they told me it would not affect the warranty and in fact the owners manuel has a reference to using non recommended tires which suggests that it would not affect warranty. Yesterday I was told that is the car had a problem related to suspension related components, the warranty could be affected if the non nspec tires were used. I do not believe they are correct. On the other hand, the last thing I want is qa warranty dispute if there is a problem with those components, unlikely as that is. My maim concern is safety. After several bad winters, I wanthe added traction and security of the right tires. This is an expensive car. It is also large and heavy as you know. thanks again

Oh, that's just nonsense. Nobody could ever conclude that a suspension problem was the result of non n-spec tires. Now if you had a 4wd car, and used the wrong tire sizes, that would be another matter. But as long as you use the right sizes with the right speed and load rating, no problem. BTW Nokian DOES make N-spec tires, but unfortunately not in Panamera sizes. Really, all that n-spec means is that Porsche has approved the tire. It's not like other tires were submitted and failed the "n-test." Get the tires you want, whether or not they're n-rated.

DMoore
'11 GTS
'10 Panamera 4S

thanks very much

I have the Nokian 107 VXLs on 18" wheels. No problems driving through snow or dry roads except for a little slippage on hard cornering & I drive the P4S about 500 miles/week.

BTW, I got 28K miles out of the 20" Michelin Pilot summer tires driving mostly highways on Sport & SportPlus with pressures 40-42 front, 46-48 rear.

The dealer says there are "all season" tires for 20" Turbo wheels on the that come on the 4S. Is that accurate?

Continental DWS tires...I think they are pretty good for all year round...