pietpara

I understand an all season tyre will save a significant amount of coins, but hey, isn't an all season tyre by definition a tyre that's never a good summer nor a winter tyre? If it's also about safety then I'm not convinced that this is the way to go.
Of course I'm talking about areas where summer is warm and winter is before zero C.
If climate is mild all year round with winter being a rainy season, I assume all weather tyres are great.

Maybe this is a thought...
Using a winter tyre in the summer wouldn't be such a big deal since they're only softer grippier, but wear quicker. Using a summer tyre in winter, however, is more dangerous since the rubber will be to hard.

Anyway, I'm also tossing and turning about whether to go for separate winter wheels and tyres.

Brett - 1996 C4

One advantage to separate wheelsets (at least for DIYers) is that when I take a set off, I wash and wax them, then put them away for the next swap. This lets you examine the wheels for damage and you don't get grime buildup on parts of the wheel you can't reach without it off the car.

Then again, I don't have a separate set for our Outback, so I just take one wheel off at a time (doing the whole set of four) and give them the same treatment. Three years after purchase, those wheels still look like new.

pietpara

I asked today at the Porsche centre what a complete set of winter tyres on 20" rims would cost.
In the Netherlands that would be €5.3k for the Panamera Turbo design with Michelin Pilot Alpin tyres.

The ones I like, however, are the platinum Panamera exclusive design and cost 7.6k.

ReinoudW

Whereas I just ordered 20" winter tires at about EUR 1.5k. Still a lot cheaper and nice to get your wheels balanced twice a year as well :-)

SaratogaLefty

As far as summer tires go, the Pirelli P7 Cinturato All Season is an excellent tire. I previously owned a 911 that I tracked for five years and I ran PZero tires to remain in the "stock" class. Yes they were very good but wear was a factor. As I mentioned earlier, I attended the Porsche Driving Experience in LA and the E-Hybrid that I drove there had the same All Season Pirelli tires and the handling was exceptional at very high speeds on the track driven by myself and the instructor. The car performed beautifully. As for winter use, I have only driven with them in very hard rain, no snow experience thus far. However, I believe given that the E-Hybrid is four wheel drive, the All Season tires should be pretty safe. So in my opinion, unless you are going to track the car I don't really see a need for two sets of wheels/tires but I do understand some may like to have true winter tires for added security.

pietpara

The Porsche dealer discouraged me swapping tyres on rims too often because with such wide flat tyres it would cause issues to the tyre. I don´t drive that many kms so a tyre might be swapped 6 or 8 times before they're ditched.
Could be a true story, but hey, it's in their interest too.

pietpara

Thanks, it sounds lucrative. But I imagine that in LA the temperature never drops below 0şC, or temps at which summer rubber starts to harden up too much. And indeed for snow, e.g. going to a ski resort, it's a world of difference with winter profiles, and in many places mandatory.

SaratogaLefty

I actually live in Northern California but purchased the E-Hybrid from an LA Dealer because the deal was better. Anyway, we do get temperatures at or slightly below freezing but no snow where I live. Here in California when you drive to the ski resorts there are times when tire chains are required but even then if you have four wheel drive and All Season tires they exempt you from the chains requirement. I have driven in pretty extreme conditions in the Sierra Mountains on All Season tires with four wheel drive cars, but not yet with the E-Hybrid.

pietpara

Thanks for the feedback, SaratogaLefty!

I have a totally different question...

I use a USB drive for my music library and plug it into the center armrest storage. I noticed that after adding more music the PCM does not update its library (album list). Only after plugging in a different USB device and then plugging the USB drive back in, did it show the new content.
Is there a way to force the PCM Media player to re-index ?

bosch

So annoying... I don't know why the next radio station is a next frequency instead of the next favourite...

Wilson Laidlaw

Different tyre availability in different countries has been around for a long time. Because winter and/or all season tyre sales are quite low in England, other than folks living in the Pennines, the range imported by the manufacturers is very limited.

It is not just winter tyres. I have had great difficulty sourcing the correct 275/45 x r15" for the back of my 1977 3.3L 911 RSR rally car. The only tyres I can buy in this size are road legal race tyres, Michelin TB5/15 or Pirelli P7 Corsa Classic. These arrive new with very shallow tread depth. The Michelin TB15 work very well in the wet or dry. The Pirelli's are poor to very poor in the wet, which given they are only minimally treaded slicks, is no surprise. Both makes only last just over 1000 miles per pair and around £500 each, that gets expensive and a logistical problem for longer rallies like the London-Lisbon. I am currently running Michelin MXV 255/45 R15 which are just about OK, have normal tread depth but have to be run on 9" wide rears not the correct 10". Michelin increased the load rating of these a couple of years ago up to 102, which then made them suitable, if not perfect, for the rear tyres on 911 RSR's and Lancia Stratos, running the FIA homologated 15" diameter wheels. In the USA, there are a number of options available for 275/45 or 40 x r15". How good they are, I have no idea.

Wilson

J Reid

Rupdog

yep and its great coz you can choose funky colours - I have a bright yellow one (stops idiots tripping etc). I had to swap the first one I got as I underestimated the length of the Panamera! also there's only one green charging space in the village where my office is (I now fight with a Tesla driver) - and the power point is on the wrong end of the space! means I have to swerve to the opposite side of the road facing the wrong way to reach 😂
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Rupdog

I found a Subaru Impreza WRX mint - £2,500 - should I?

Rupdog

Yeah I think our dealer charges £250 per annum storage and fit which is about right - especially of they also clean etc. Told me last night the new rims plus Winters 20" - £4,400 incl VAT (so I guess I look at minus both 20% and my CT bill saving) hmmm. He reckons they look sweet even though some might say 'underwheeled' (great term, right up there with entry to the range) - picture coming,
r