No TC, open diff, Michelin all seasons: do I need winter tires?

Hi, all. Memorial Day weekend is coming up, a perfect time to think about winter tires. At the moment, my C2 rides on Michelin Pilot Sport all season 4 tires and they�re fine by me. But given that I have no traction control and an open rear diff, am I going to wish I had winters come January?

Your good up to 3 inches 996 has good traction BUT it’s rear engined so weight transfer is a real issue in snow practice practice practice the limits of you because your car is capable

Where do u live? In Fl no, CO maybe.

Winter tyres ? What's that ??? Where I live we have 4X4's with 33" tires for that ( but mostly for mud / off road ) ..We only get 3-4 days a year of the white stuff...

Well that is a relief to hear. I’m not going to plow snow or anything, but figure I could find myself on slush, ice, a dusting, etc. Anyhow, I can’t find winters that fit the stock 17-inch rear wheels.

I’m in Chicago. My daily has TC, a limited-slip diff, and BFG all-terrains (not to mention four wheel drive, although I’ve rarely used it on pavement) so I’m used to a little more technological assistance with low traction.

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Depends on where you live and the winter conditions you drive in. My 996.2 originally came with an open diff and no traction control. I had fun driving it around the suburbs of Chicago in the snow with winter tires without a problem. As Evom said, your ok up to around 3 inches of snow. After 3 inches it starts to push because the car is pretty low and builds up snow in the front. However, the midwest terrain is flat in relation to the east and west coast which makes it easier in the snow. After a few years of ownership i then put on a Guard LSD for stability on the track and found that the LSD also made a huge improvement in the snow with snow tires, adding incremental stability, control and the ability to rotate and slow the car much better. Snow tires and LSD made a huge difference. However, I just put a set of Michelin AS4s on an extra set of wheels. First time i have purchased AS tires for the 996 in 22 years of ownership. I wanted a set of tires that would allow me to enjoy the car in the cold weather months and as a "just in case", be able to handle heavy rains and minor snow. But I won't know until til winter how the AS4s perform in the snow. Quite frankly, the first thing I would do if you plan on driving in the snow or lousy weather year round is to get a LSD. If you have alot of hills, you probably will need snow tires as well. But who knows, the AS4s may surprise us.

I guess we'll both find out—I'm in Chicago, too. Thanks for the tip on the LSD. Was thinking about that as an upgrade for next year.

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For sure. Pm me if I can be of help here in the Chicago area. Hope to cross paths. The 996 is an incredible car.

I put a wavetrac in a few years back which works well and would likely suffice for the snow/rain and light track/AX usage, going for a Guard LSD seems worth it if you plan to do heavy motorsport as its a known good piece of kit which has plenty of history for that application, however you're on the hook to periodically rebuild it every few years vs the wavetrac which will not need further servicing, but if that kind of periodic servicing is not a deal breaker then certainly the Guard is quite excellent. If you can find anywhere to do it in your area, doing a couple wet skidpad events is probably the best bang for your buck in terms of learning how your car feels once it starts losing traction and helps you learn the right way to react to the car once you've got over/understeer. I was able to go out about once a month last year for skidpad and it really improved my feel for how the car is handling in all four corners, I was surprised how much that translated to feeling minor loss of traction in the rain around town, also drifting laps is a lot of fun once you get the hang of it.

I�m also in Chicagoland (Oak Park Area), have a 99 with a factory LSD (probably doesn�t work anymore), and run Michelin all season (as/3) tires. You won�t get stuck in the snow with these tires, and I�ve been able to drive well past 3� However, you�ll still be sliding around quite a bit. Not just the rear, but the front as well, under braking. Winter tires are still way better in the snow. The closer you get to the city where they plow, it�s really a non-issue for me. The all seasons are still very grippy in very cold temps. I think it comes down to: how many sets of wheels/tires do you want to deal with. If just one, AS/4s will work.

Skid pad is a good idea. My first car was rwd with an open diff and no TC and I had a decent handle on it, but that was ages and ages ago.

Ha, yeah, that’s the other issue: what do I do with multiple sets of tires? I’m in the city, so it’s not like I have someplace to stash them. But I’m glad to hear you’ve been ok in cold temperatures; that’s really my main concern since I don’t plan on heading out into howling blizzards or anything.

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When I was in the city, I had to find a tire shop that would be willing to store the tires for me. And because I only had one set of wheels, it was a pain to change them twice a year, because they also needed to check the balance. That shop - I don�t remember which one - ended up having to charge me for tire storage. And then they eventually said they weren�t storing tires for anyone any longer. I guess if I were you, I�d go with AS/4s and then just rely on the snowplows and salt trucks. That�s one thing Chicago has plenty of - salt trucks.