winter tires vs, all season - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Perfectlap · 08-31-2006, 11:24 AM

ok I'm lazy and I'm dreading the idea of winter tires on 18" wheels. I don't drive very hard once Autocross season is gone most of the time people are usually passing me. I don't trust other motorist as far as I can toss them.

again, I've got 18" wheels and the idea of buying winter and all seasons is really not poplular with me.

Can I run winter tires (never owned them, just keep the car parked when its
bad weather) for fall and winter?
I'm thinking of running the winter tires from now (September) and mounting summer tires during spring. Probably 5-7K miles (weekends only) for each stint.
All season tires just seem like a compromise/useless during winter/bad winter and useless for autocross. A big waste me thinks but cold temps and make summer tires just as useless once the thermometer drops below 60.
To all skip all season altogether or not? hmm..

TriGem2k · 08-31-2006, 11:35 AM

Even though I live in California and don't really know what winter is

I would say stay away from the allseason tires. I've been to Jersey in the Winter and man it blows.(sorry). I usually drive a Cayenne out there and even that with All Seaon tires sucked in the snow. I would say your best bet is a good set of Winter Tires and a good set of Summer Tires and well your set

cfos · 08-31-2006, 11:49 AM

I'm happy with my blizzaks for the winter (doubt that all seasons would do as well; October - March) and they've seen snow and ice as a daily driver. I've got 17s though. Regardless of what you get (and if you have the $$), consider getting an additional set of rims with whatever set you get. Makes it very convenient to swap out if you have a reasonable tire place that will also store your "summer" set.

johne4 · 08-31-2006, 11:51 AM

When I lived in Tahoe, I used to switch to winter tires in mid October and ran them until April, I had them mounted on differnet rims so swapping was simple. Never had any issues running winter tires, little more road noise and the grip on DRY pavement was horrible, in comparison to summer permormance tires.

Also remember, All Season tires are not necessarily rated for snow if thats what your looking for, you have to look for the MS rating.

I'm glad I don't have to go through that anymore, I moved to Florida, sorry, lol

Sammy · 08-31-2006, 12:07 PM

I am a firm believer in winter tires due to the traction they get when the bad weather hits. The traction between all-seasons and winter tires is night and day to me when there is white stuff on the ground.

I usually run my winter tires on my truck from November to April.

The only reason I would go with all-seasons was if I didn't want to spend the extra dough on a second set of wheels and I didn't want to take advantage of the Boxster abilities at autocrosses. I'm not even sure they make winter tires that would fit your wheels as 18" may be a little bit big, and then you add the profile and the width?

If I were in your position (my Boxster is going to be parked during the winter) I would buy the second set of wheels in 17" size (narrow) and throw on some Blizzaks. I would then keep performance tires on my 18"s for warm weather driving and autocrosses. Of course you could throw in a 3rd set of wheels for competition tires...

Just my two cents...

johne4 · 08-31-2006, 12:11 PM

A follow up to my post, "cfos" reminded me of something, is that I run 17", but when I had my winters I went with 16", the rims and tires are a lot cheaper, just make sure you size the tires accordingly. Any reputable tire company can help you there.

super66 · 08-31-2006, 12:22 PM

I run 18 Boxster S rims on my 05 with 18 snow tires during the winter and its great, I've had rear wheel cars with all season and it sucks....if you plan on seeing snow, get snow tires....by the way, I runthem usually as close to thanksgiving as possible through the end of march, depends how lazy I get....

the summer tires absolutely suck was you drop below 40.....it can actually be quite dangerous the amount of slip they have....

MikenOH · 08-31-2006, 12:23 PM

Blizzaks (WS-50?) on her RX8 and those tires have transformed the car from scarey on the OEM tires to rock solid with the Blizzaks.
Great in snow or on ice. The best $1000 (included rims) I ever spent at Tirerack.

Brucelee · 08-31-2006, 12:37 PM

All Season tires are worthless in the snow.

VTvaster · 08-31-2006, 12:53 PM

Perfectlap:

Having lived in Jersey for the last 25 year (just recently moved to Richmond VA) I would have to say go with the All Season. I have had every car from camaros to jettas and been able to drive in the snow using all seasons. The real question is how often is your car gonna be out when there is snow on the ground. I would think, not much. The recent winters haven't been that bad and getting snow tires would be less then fun driving when the roads are nice. Unless there is more snow days then nice days I would say out with the snow tires.

chows4us · 08-31-2006, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

again, I've got 18" wheels and the idea of buying winter and all seasons is really not poplular with me.

Your in NJ so you know you will get snow, most likely real snowstorms, not the little 3" things.

If you drive it everyday, the best thing is to get 4 cheap wheels and a set of Blizzaks, like everyone else said. Then just swap the wheels when the weather turns to spring. Otherwise, get the Blizzaks and just mount them for the winter but that can be a pain getting them mounted, balanced, etc.

I would never get all-seasons in the snow belt. All-season are best for the border states. They do BETTER than Snows from 20 - 50 degrees and, of course, better than performance tires in the same temp range with rain, cold rain, light snow. For real snow, you need real snow tires.

If you were a little bit south, maybe Maryland, Northern VA, all-seasons would be fine.

denverpete · 08-31-2006, 01:29 PM

Snows on separate rims. All seasons will get you home if it happens to snow before you switch - but I wouldn't dream of running them year-round. The problem is that if you do get all season tires that are fairly decent in the snow - you'll hate them in the summer. I certainly would race on winters when it's dry out but I never felt like I was sliding around either. But there's definately a difference in dry grip between summer, all season, and winters.

I don't know about 18's - but I managed to pick up a set of 17" rims and snow tires last year for under $750 including shipping (Ebay). The rims are identical to my OEM and might even be in a bit better shape (hmmm - note to self - switch rims).....

MNBoxster · 08-31-2006, 02:17 PM

Hi,

Maybe even more than the Snows vs All-Season debate is the width of the Tire. The stock widths for the Boxster are waay too wide for winter driving, they will plane too easy and do not have enough weight per sq. in. on them for safety.

Of course, if the roads are clear and dry, then the issue of S vs A-S is moot, they'll both provide the same level of control and safety.

But, in the muck, the slightly more soft compounds of the Snow tires won't mean nearly as much as the width. This is because your car weighs X, and all that weight is is borne by the Contact Patch (maybe 8"/tire x 4 for a total of 32"). Now, let's just use a rounded 3,000lbs. for the weight of the car, passenger, fuel, etc. That comes to 93.75lbs./sq. in. of contact patch. But, if by going to a narrower tire, and therefore a smaller Contact Patch, you would place more weight per sq. in. on the road which is going to be harder to break loose and will give more precise braking. Let's just say the narrower tires yielded a total Contact Patch of 24 sq. in., well now you are placing 125 lbs./sq. in. on the road.

Narrower tires will give you the best control and safety. The tires will be much less prone to planing up on the snow, traction will be much improved. I would go with 185 in front and 205 in the rear for optimal benefit (plus they'll be cheaper too). The aesthetics will change somewhat dramatically, but so what, it's Winter and no one is standing looking at your car anyway. Besides, think of your car's aesthetic if it has just sideswiped a guardrail or parked car because the tires gave way.

The Boxster in Winter is merely a conveyance anyway. A Car which must be used to get from A to B because the owner doesn't have another car. You shouldn't drive it with enthusiasm anyway - bad for the car in general and unless you know exactly what to expect of the road ahead, it's just foolhardy...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

Perfectlap · 08-31-2006, 02:51 PM

I've got a set of 17" OEM S wheels but I don't want to touch them because they are going back on the car nice and pristine when the car is sold. And I don't want to store two sets of wheels. Better to leave the car at home on inclement days if I'm going to skip 18" snow tires.

I got stuck in a rainstorm that quickly became a blizzard a harrowing expereince if I ever had one. One minute I'm driving slowly at 30mph and the next I'm spinning like Gilles Panizzi. Had to dump the car in a sketchy area and leave it under 30 inches of snow for two days.

How fast can you drive on Snow tires? Does it feel allot worse than an All Season or Summer Performance tire? Hitting 90mph in this car seems inately unavoidable. Is that too fast for a full snow tire? I'm sure the manufacturer has way cautious guidelines for legal reasons but what's the deal with that?

z12358 · 08-31-2006, 02:58 PM

If you only have the Boxster and you must drive it in all conditions, then separate, smaller, narrower, winter wheels+tires would be my way to go. Personally, I'm just storing mine for the winter.
Z.

xclusivecar · 08-31-2006, 07:05 PM

All season Pirelli P-Zero Nero M + S here in Chicago for the past 2 winters with no trouble. I drive it year round in all types of weather...I just make sure not to venture out when the snow is REALLY coming down. This usually happens at night and I'm already home from work. The roads in Chicago are cleared off very well and for the most part very quickly. Weather reports seem to be much better in predicting snow and this makes it a bit easier to plan my next day!