jinto

Hi,
This is my first post on this very informative forum. I'm considering to buy a 996 or 997 C4S (2003~2005) in the next couple years. And I want to drive it year round. From past posts, this is definitely doable with good set of winter tires. But I still want to hear more opinions. either positive or negative.

Thank!

jumper5836

Only negative is that the car is low. Going through snow plough drifts with hard ice chunks can damage your car or when your plowing through the snow the front license plate could be torn off.
Also highway driving with sand/salt can chip your paint and the salt can also rust parts of the suspension and corrode the ignition coils and oil pressure contacts more quickly.

Other then that my car has made it through 5 winters and still looks good but I do spend a lot on cleaning and taking care of it. As well as adding clear bra on the whole front bumper.

jinto

have you used any kind of rust prevention stuff? like anti corrosion spray.

Do you park inside garage at night or leave it out? I heard people say leave it in garage will speed up rust/corrosion

jumper5836

garaged at night, never used any rust prevention stuff.

Christien

I can't see why you wouldn't drive a 996 or 997 all year round. It's really no different than any other car, in terms of winter resistance. Any car will rust and deteriorate more quickly with salt, but that can be minimized with regular washing and good care.

As I understand it, the bit about parking in a garage speeding up corrosion applies to stored cars - if it's stored in a garage where another car is constantly coming in and out, that other car is constantly bringing moisture and salt into the garage, and the other car could potentially be absorbing that.

Certainly if I had a 964 or newer 911, it would be on the road all year round, no doubt.

Turbodan

If you park a car inside that you drive, the ice will melt and the salt water will drip into the corners of the body. if it is frozen all winter it stays frozen so if driven it is better to leave outside but will be much colder when you get in.

pongobaz

DON'T use aftermarket rust proofing. It is not necessary on a modern Porsche and might cause problems with your corrosion warranty on the car.
I always park mine in the garage, but it not heated (that's the key). As others have said, wash it often and you won't have an rust issues. Mine is winter driven and my tech said "you obviously don't drive this car in the winter" as he was standing under it!

Receiver

No problem in the winter other than as noted above. Mine is parked in an unheated garage every night but sits all day in a heated in door parking lot. No rust but I'm a nut about religiously washing it every Saturday all winter and I wash as much of the bottom as I can get at.

jinto

Thanks for all the replies As many of you have said, wash often during winter is important. Where you wash your car during winter? I don't think its good idea to use those auto car wash as the water is filtered and reused. I'm not sure those coin car wash, fresh water? I heard there are Shell car wash they have indoor heated car wash pay by minute, anyone used those?

pongobaz

Get a pocket full of coins and go to the coin wash and use the high pressure jet to blast away the bad stuff (don't forget wheel wells and underbody!). Then bring it home, park it in the garage and mix up a bucket full of Optimum No Rinse (ONR is available through www.eshine.ca) and wash her up and dry her using microfibre towels (again at eshine). Since you are literally only using one bucket of warm water, there is no standing water left on the ground. I use this stuff even in summer. Do a search in the concours forum and you'll see lots of explanations of how to use it.
I go to Deny's car wash on Mavis at Central once in awhile. They do a pretty good job with their no touch system and their track can accommodate the 11" wide wheels on the back of my car without damage. You see a lot of higher end cars there in the winter.

AM993

+1 for Denny's car wash. Once a week in winter

Turbodan

I believe the laws in Ontario require all commercial car washes to filter and reuse the water. I don't think that there is anything wrong with this as all water is filtered and no water is really fresh. the water from the tap goes through water processing plants. beware the soaps used at most car washes contain strong detergents that will remove your wax.

DrXenon

Long time lurker; first time poster. Thanks for the useful information about winter driving. The stars are aligning for me to buy a 996 in the US in the next few months (even my gmail account is sending messages).

Is Tire Rack a good place to get a set of winter wheels/tires? It looks like that would run close to $2k. Ouch.

pongobaz

$2K for a set of winter tires AND wheels is pretty reasonable. I have to replace just the two rear winter tires on my C4S and that's $950 at tirerack!

jasonintoronto

tirerack is great - i highly recommend them