Ready for winter

[Gogs]

Where we’re going Marty, we don’t need tyres...

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[oalsaker]

Where we’re going Marty, we don’t need tyres...

Just be sure to hit 88 mph!

 

[Poluski]

Interesting perspectives in this post. Thank you for all replies. Here is my calculus for getting winter wheel tire set from Porsche...
-Four wheel drive does nothing for braking (as was pointed out) snow/ice. Thus going with snow tires
-Having the better performance VS. All-Season tires just ONE time in winter, whether traction for going through snow or braking, can save a big headache.
-$6k cost is about 3-4% of total cost of car. Seems minor.
-Going with off brand will save less than 1% of cost of total car. For me not worth it.
-I'm assured that I'll have the right ET wheel off-sets.
-I'm assured that the wheel quality and manufacturing method is up to Porsche standards. I'm not a fan of sand cast wheels from China.
-Porsche originality

 

[Mouse House]

-$6k cost is about 3-4% of total cost of car. Seems minor.

You don't have to get a second set of alloys. Just get the tyres, if you want to keep the same rims.

Cost even here in Expensiveland is CHF 1500 for a set of Pirelli P Zero Winters. And then a couple hundred for the tyres to get swapped October/Easter and stored. It's a no-brainer.

 

[svp6]

I see you are in Minneapolis, as am I. I’m hoping my all weather tires on the same wheels will work, especially since will be doing mainly urban driving. All weather tires seemed to work on my 2017 Panamera 4S. Guess I’ll see, right now, maybe I’m just being cheap.

Got the P Zero's in 20" from tirerack. They have the backs in stock, fronts "when available" but when you call they actually have them all, but at different warehouse. Would love some non-OEM cheaper wheels for winter, but could not find any yet. If you guys know of source for 20" wheels, pray let a fellow Minnesotan know....

I was originally thinking about Nokian Hapakeliita R3, but the Consumer Reports said they are much noisier than others. Went with the P Zeros

 

[svp6]

I've been waiting for TireRack to list Winter/Tire wheel packages for the Taycan. I really don't want to put an expensive set of Porsche rims on the car only to be beat up during the winter... (Plus, its significantly cheaper to get them elsewhere...)

So, TireRack (my favorite source) is not listing ANY Wheels for the Taycan...

But, it looks like DiscountTire has some interesting wheel options. They list several, but I think these would work well on my Turbo S. Unfortunately, they don't list a complete matching winter tire set to go with them! (For some reason, they only list the fronts...)

Then, if I go back to TireRack, I can get a matching set of Winter Tires (Pirelli Winter Sottozero Serie II).

So that's $4500 for the entire set of Winter Wheels/Tires but I would prefer to order the whole package from a single source so they can be pre-mounted/balanced and ready to bolt on.

I may end up ordering these separately and just have them mounted/balanced locally - but there are a few weeks left before having to make that decision...

I called to order the 20" tires (see my other post why), asked about rims. Covid strikes again - they said they did not get to measure most of the new models, that is why no wheels are listed.... I know you have the 21", but did you happen to stumble on the 20" wheels?

 

[4SJB]

#TAYC4N
Whilst we have had little snow in the South of England for 3 years, the country is gridlocked if we do. 4wd makes little difference for moving forward or braking. I live on top of theChilterns and if it does snow there are often 4wd Porsches and BMWs abandoned at the bottom of the hills. One of the best cars I ever had in the snow (apart from ground clearance)was a diesel Mini with winter tyres.
However summer tyres loose grip below 7 degrees and with such wide footprints even on the 19” wheels, it might be worth considering winter tyres from mid November until mid February.
If you live in a big town or city and do mostly main road driving, it is less of an issue as our major road network is well gritted, but even so, it’s a lot of weight to keep under control!
For those who want ultimate handling, the Devils option of all season tyres will be out, but I have recently swapped all 4 tyres to Michelin Cross Climates on my 3.0 Audi A4 Avant from Pilot Sport 4s and it is a lot more playful!
As with everything, you pay your money and take your choice and as I have delivery set early December, I will keep my fingers crossed for a mild Winter and consider my options when the tyres need replacing toward the end of 2021.

 

[evanevery]

I called to order the 20" tires (see my other post why), asked about rims. Covid strikes again - they said they did not get to measure most of the new models, that is why no wheels are listed.... I know you have the 21", but did you happen to stumble on the 20" wheels?

I have CCB's on my M4 (as I do on the Turbo S) and I learned very early on that you have to be very careful about downsizing your rims with CCB's. The rotors are so big that very often you can not use a smaller wheel. (Ironically, I've since replaced the CCB's on the M4 since its a track car and there is no way I'm footing $20K worth of brakes every year for a marginal increase in braking performance... $0.02: CCB's to eliminate brake dust on street cars but never on a real track car!)

Anyway, I never researched the 20's because of potential fitment issues. I guess they might fit as I think you can opt for 20's with the CCB's but once I saw the 21's were available I didn't look any further.

I' understand the benefits of smaller and narrower rims for winter tires but if the conditions require that level of performance I will simply be using a different vehicle..

 

[Sonic]

#TAYC4N
Whilst we have had little snow in the South of England for 3 years, the country is gridlocked if we do. 4wd makes little difference for moving forward or braking. I live on top of theChilterns and if it does snow there are often 4wd Porsches and BMWs abandoned at the bottom of the hills. One of the best cars I ever had in the snow (apart from ground clearance)was a diesel Mini with winter tyres.
However summer tyres loose grip below 7 degrees and with such wide footprints even on the 19” wheels, it might be worth considering winter tyres from mid November until mid February.
If you live in a big town or city and do mostly main road driving, it is less of an issue as our major road network is well gritted, but even so, it’s a lot of weight to keep under control!
For those who want ultimate handling, the Devils option of all season tyres will be out, but I have recently swapped all 4 tyres to Michelin Cross Climates on my 3.0 Audi A4 Avant from Pilot Sport 4s and it is a lot more playful!
As with everything, you pay your money and take your choice and as I have delivery set early December, I will keep my fingers crossed for a mild Winter and consider my options when the tyres need replacing toward the end of 2021.

Just to agree with this and a couple of other posts.

I live in north bucks and whilst i wouldn't say winter tyres are essential by any means, they're night and day vs summer tyres in terms of performance during the couple of months we do get colder and more miserable weather.

I've been a convert since living up in Cumbria, where for several weeks of the year they were essential.

A good comparison, like yours, was an Audi S2 Coupe Quattro i had on summer rubber, which has a phenomenal old-skool mechanical 4wd quattro system, but was basically just big heavy lump of metal in any icy/slushy/snowy conditions. You certainly felt the weight, and i had to abandon it at the bottom of my hill several times!... vs the formiddable FWD 1.2 16v Renault Clio that was absolutely unstoppable on proper Nokian winter tyres. I swear it would go anywhere and there was no drama about it.

During one storm i was heading out in the clio to Blackpool for a night out (yes - i know ) and a friend in a Subaru Impreza who'd just struggled to make it home thought i was absolutely insane. In the clio it was no issue at all, no different to popping out to the shops in the summer when there's a bit of a storm on - but you continually come across other folk crawling along in vehicles completely unsuited to the conditions, and they think you're insane when you overtake driving at "normal" speeds. I then came across a Land Rover Discovery that had carried too much speed into a sharp corner, locked up and gone straight on into a ditch... my little Clio on its winter tyres managed to provide enough traction to assist it out with a tow rope

To me, in the UK, winter tyres allow you to drive your vehicle almost like normal during the season with no real concerns for safety or conditions, and ensure you will be able to get home if the conditions suddenly turn, as they occassionally do. But, there's nothing quite like being stuck in a traffic jam with a car kitted out for the conditions, but gridlocked because of muppets sliding around everywhere that don't have adapted cars or know how to drive

 

[evanevery]

...I live in north bucks and whilst i wouldn't say winter tyres are essential by any means...

What are these "tyre" things of which you speak?

 

[Ejnork]

How about N tires? Is that necessary?

 

[GreggT]

Good comments here.....I'd 2nd the advice that 'All Season' are not up to the challenge as Winter/Snows.....and, that tires are more important than the 'All Wheel'.
Driven 911s in the Great White North for 30 years and am shopping right now for Tay fitments.

I've mentioned before that I've never followed Porsche specs (other than the front-rear rolling diameter differential) and, have always gone w/narrower fitments (than Porsche recommends) for the rears.
Wide-wide tire patch in the snow-snow is just no help.
I'm anal about the way the car looks, even in the winter, and so I either get the right custom offset or space out as needed......just added the spacers to the summer 21's.

Porsche recommended 20s for the winter with 245F, 285R........285 is a wider winter rear than I've ever run.

 

[Christian J]

Good comments here.....I'd 2nd the advice that 'All Season' are not up to the challenge as Winter/Snows.....and, that tires are more important than the 'All Wheel'.
Driven 911s in the Great White North for 30 years and am shopping right now for Tay fitments.

I've mentioned before that I've never followed Porsche specs (other than the front-rear rolling diameter differential) and, have always gone w/narrower fitments (than Porsche recommends) for the rears.
Wide-wide tire patch in the snow-snow is just no help.
I'm anal about the way the car looks, even in the winter, and so I either get the right custom offset or space out as needed......just added the spacers to the summer 21's.

Porsche recommended 20s for the winter with 245F, 285R........285 is a wider winter rear than I've ever run.

I'm in this same boat. I want narrower 20's on cheaper and narrower aftermarket wheels. My turbo 20 rims actually look too wide for the oem tire size to my style-based judgement.

 

[svp6]

Good comments here.....I'd 2nd the advice that 'All Season' are not up to the challenge as Winter/Snows.....and, that tires are more important than the 'All Wheel'.
Driven 911s in the Great White North for 30 years and am shopping right now for Tay fitments.

I've mentioned before that I've never followed Porsche specs (other than the front-rear rolling diameter differential) and, have always gone w/narrower fitments (than Porsche recommends) for the rears.
Wide-wide tire patch in the snow-snow is just no help.
I'm anal about the way the car looks, even in the winter, and so I either get the right custom offset or space out as needed......just added the spacers to the summer 21's.

Porsche recommended 20s for the winter with 245F, 285R........285 is a wider winter rear than I've ever run.

@GreggT and @Christian J , I did the same for the longest time - smaller / narrower winter tires. Last car I had before the Taycan was a Merc E coupe. Mercedes had on sale an AMG-style wheel we staggered setup and Michelin Pilot Alpin. I really liked the style, and I really hated the standard winter offerings, so I bought it. Even if the set was actually larger than the all-seasons, the experience was the best winter driving of many cars I leased over last 15 years.

My take was that if the tire quality is very good, that in itself may be more important than going one size smaller, so I got the PZero staggered 20". Will see how that works on the Taycan.

 

[GreggT]

Thanks for sharing......not sure how to explain our difference in impressions.
One of our cars an E55 AMG has separate winter fitments though reg wide AMG profile fitted w/ Dunlop winter snows.....but not all-wheel.
There is no way the AMG would compare to a C4S w/narrower Sotos. The C4S would leave everything behind and just go. I always say, that car in the winter is a blast to drive.
I agree that the type of tire does trump all.

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