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Winter wheel dilemma

Longp2

Well-known member
Joined
10 Apr 2017
Messages
133
Evening all, I'm after some advice

I don't plan to use my C2S that much during the winter, especially once the roads start to get gritted but I wouldn't mind the odd sunny winters day blast just to blow the cobwebs off.

Now I've heard that the pirellis that I have on the car are not particularly good once the temperature drops so I'm wondering whether it's worth getting a set of winter wheels. I have room in the garage for another set but would rather not have them taking up space plus I don't have a jack so will need to buy one or get a local garage to change them for me.

Do any of you have experience of using your cars during the colder months on summer tyres and if so is it advisable?

Any feedback would be most appreciated.
 
Not on the Porsche, but on my X5 i change the wheels at the end of this month/early December.

It has been a bit 'hit and miss' - TBH - winter tyres really work best when the temperature is below 7 degrees and the last couple of winters have not been that cold - at least not in the south. Lot of expense unless you really need them - or you plan to drive to the Alps!
 
If you are only going to drive it in the dry with no possibility of frost or ice and aren't going to go silly, you ought to be okay. But that said - I have winters for the GT3 because when it gets to single digit temperatures the Cups don't really bite the road at all (even in the dry) and in sleet or snow the car turns into a hovercraft without the winters. As such I am an advocate for winter rubber and would certainly recommend it if you are going to use a car in all seasons (I have them for all of the family fleet).

If you do go ahead - used wheels from eBay will mean that you can get most or all of your money back by resale if you change car (long term this way a winter wheel set can ultimately be cost neutral if you have somewhere to store them). Used tyres - yes if they are nearly new (best value) but otherwise get fresh ones. Winters are past their best long before they are illegal (far more so than summers). Worn but legal winters are generally okay in most weathers but will not effectively work on snow once the shallow surface riffles are gone.
 
I drove my C4S straight from the freight forwarders to the tyre fitters on Friday morning. It was between 0-1c and the Michelins were useless. The car was moving around a lot, and it was probably a bit daft. Once I got the Nokians fitted, it was like driving on rails.

I've always said that yes you can drive on summers, but you can also go out in flip flops. The chances are, however, when you look down, you'll have boots at the end of your legs... [/u]
 
I drove my last 2 911 year round, and winter wheels/tyres are a no brainer.
I drove just as hard in winter as in summer, and would reccomend the reassurance winter tyres give you to everyone.
I found the Pirelli pzeros summers on my 991 particularly bad once the temps got much below 10C.
There's a set for sale in the classifieds on here (my old set)
You can get a decent jack for £60, and it takes less than 1/2 hour to swap all 4 as long as you're not unfit, back problems etc.
My winter set will be going on my macan any day now.
 
Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Sorely tempted by wilko1s set so just need to decide how much I'll actually use my 991 over the winter - I'm away for the whole of December and February and my daily has a set of Michelin cross climates on so i don't need to take her out and definitely don't want to encourage my wife to!

I'll ponder some more over a few pints on Wednesday night before I fly home on leave.

Cheers

Paul
 
Wilko1 said:
I drove my last 2 911 year round, and winter wheels/tyres are a no brainer.
I drove just as hard in winter as in summer, and would reccomend the reassurance winter tyres give you to everyone.
I found the Pirelli pzeros summers on my 991 particularly bad once the temps got much below 10C.
There's a set for sale in the classifieds on here (my old set)
You can get a decent jack for £60, and it takes less than 1/2 hour to swap all 4 as long as you're not unfit, back problems etc.
My winter set will be going on my macan any day now.

Kin hell ...30 mins to change 4 wheels over ...I took 3 hours on my GT4.... I'm ***** when it comes to the procedure , taking precision care to get the jack pads in exactly the right place in case it punches a hole through the sill ..
Wheel bolts and slide pins .....
Not to mention seeing that the new wheels had not been cleaned and waxed properly so had to go over them again .....
AND I had more aches and pains the next day , I couldn't understand why I could hardly get out of bed on the morning!!

If ever there was a case to get a nice shiny hydraulic lift job installed in the garage .... now is the time !!
30 mins ... I doff my cap sir!
 
911TEL said:
Kin hell ...30 mins to change 4 wheels over ...I took 3 hours on my GT4.... I'm ***** when it comes to the procedure , taking precision care to get the jack pads in exactly the right place in case it punches a hole through the sill ..
Wheel bolts and slide pins .....
Not to mention seeing that the new wheels had not been cleaned and waxed properly so had to go over them again .....
AND I had more aches and pains the next day , I couldn't understand why I could hardly get out of bed on the morning!!

If ever there was a case to get a nice shiny hydraulic lift job installed in the garage .... now is the time !!
30 mins ... I doff my cap sir!


I have to admit to being a bit of a pro at it, in that i've been doing twice yearly wheel swaps on 2 cars for the last ten + years.
I have a jack that lifts one side from the rear on a 911, so I can do front and rear from one lift, and torque wrench set correctly for wheel bolts, and a slide pin for easy remounting. The wife's golf is a single lift from the front for each side.
The first year it took me ages, but now its an hours job for both cars, and then another hour to wash and wax the 8 wheels i've taken off ready for storage.
I'm 50 next birthday, so no spring chicken, but I must admit that I miss my Saturday workout the day I do my wheel swap, and I always feeel like I've earned a beer at lunchtime.

I've found winter wheels to be cost neutral on my last 4 cars (11years), as the summers wear really quickly in winter, and I've always got 70-75% of the wheel cost back when I sell them on.

What sealed it for me was 10 years ago, I'd dropped my daughter at nursery, and with 1" of snow on the ground, I couldn't get my BM3 series up a small incline out of the car park. Bought a set of used winters a week later and never looked back. However the biggest thing now is the water clearing ability and cold weather grip.

The other thing you'll notice dropping a rim size is how refined the car feels. It feels lighter on its feet, and quieter. The winters work fine upto 13-14C, so until march/early April, I preferred the handling on winters rather than summers, and the whole car just seemed more playful and forgiving.
 
Much like Wilko, I swap rims all the time. We have three cars (rather, my wife has one, and I have two) and we have summers and winters for each, plus I have an extra set of rims with semi-slicks for track days.

It really helps to have a lowjack (the Finns call it a 'rally jack') to lift one side of the car at a time, an extendable wheel wrench (for the leverage), a torque wrench, a wheel gun (mine's a simple battery powered handheld), long 19mm sockets and - on the car - wheel studs instead of wheel bolts. Once you get the sequence right, half and hour is plenty of time. Not including cleaning of course.

It also helps to have plenty of storage, those flat little trolleys to stack the rims on, and a nice warm garage... :thumb:
 
Wilko1 said:
911TEL said:
Kin hell ...30 mins to change 4 wheels over ...I took 3 hours on my GT4.... I'm ***** when it comes to the procedure , taking precision care to get the jack pads in exactly the right place in case it punches a hole through the sill ..
Wheel bolts and slide pins .....
Not to mention seeing that the new wheels had not been cleaned and waxed properly so had to go over them again .....
AND I had more aches and pains the next day , I couldn't understand why I could hardly get out of bed on the morning!!

If ever there was a case to get a nice shiny hydraulic lift job installed in the garage .... now is the time !!
30 mins ... I doff my cap sir!


I have to admit to being a bit of a pro at it, in that i've been doing twice yearly wheel swaps on 2 cars for the last ten + years.
I have a jack that lifts one side from the rear on a 911, so I can do front and rear from one lift, and torque wrench set correctly for wheel bolts, and a slide pin for easy remounting. The wife's golf is a single lift from the front for each side.
The first year it took me ages, but now its an hours job for both cars, and then another hour to wash and wax the 8 wheels i've taken off ready for storage.
I'm 50 next birthday, so no spring chicken, but I must admit that I miss my Saturday workout the day I do my wheel swap, and I always feeel like I've earned a beer at lunchtime.

I've found winter wheels to be cost neutral on my last 4 cars (11years), as the summers wear really quickly in winter, and I've always got 70-75% of the wheel cost back when I sell them on.

What sealed it for me was 10 years ago, I'd dropped my daughter at nursery, and with 1" of snow on the ground, I couldn't get my BM3 series up a small incline out of the car park. Bought a set of used winters a week later and never looked back. However the biggest thing now is the water clearing ability and cold weather grip.

The other thing you'll notice dropping a rim size is how refined the car feels. It feels lighter on its feet, and quieter. The winters work fine upto 13-14C, so until march/early April, I preferred the handling on winters rather than summers, and the whole car just seemed more playful and forgiving.

I had much the same issue that converted me re the 1" of snow ....with my SL a few tears ago , went out in it one winter morning after sweeping a dusting of snow off my drive , came back from short trip out to 1" inch on my approach ... tried to turn into my drive while tyres moved up a small lip on the kerb , nearly pranged the old girl into my wall pillar .....she was promised a set of winter boots there and then but I never found a set to fit .... so she hibernates and a RR sport was bought to do the duties the next year ....
Now gone and the V8 cayenne is in service , winter wheels going on her in December ..... now , there is a total transformation with winter tyres Rather than the summers.....,! Like night an day .....!

I even ran my turbo S through the winter last year with a set of Sotozeros on .... great .....!
4wd ... turbo .....winter treads .....I am a total convert to winter tyres .... it should be law ..!( so that everyone can enjoy , not worry about their motor in winter ...)
It's a no brainer .....
 
Definitely more fors than againsts so I'll be taking wilko1s off his hands very soon.

Thanks for all of the feedback

Paul
 
I've driven my car all year round and the only no no would be with snow on the ground with the summer tyres. Once your on gritted roads I've never had any problems. All with a healthy dose of caution mind you.
 
I got around to fitting the winter wheels and tyres today. I wasn't convinced that I liked the wheels, but I reckon they look better on the car. If anything, they show off the red calipers better than the original wheels.
 

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