Winter or All Season Tires Question

I'm shopping for a C4 right now and I've been wondering about it's ability in the winter. I'd like to know whether or not good all season tires are suitable for me or if I should go performance winter tires instead? I live in Vancouver, BC so it rains all winter long. The temperatures are above freezing the vast majority of the time in the winter. The roads get very wet in the rain and they are always very clean. The only problem is that once a month, I drive to Kelowna, BC which requires me to go over two mountain passes; one is 5600 feet and the other is 4900 feet elevation. Most of the time, the roads are good. They are just sanded and wet. Sometimes there is packed and well sanded snow on the road. The odd time, you can encounter bad conditions. It's easy for me to check ahead and just fly if that's the case. Since most of my winter driving is on decent roads, I'm leaning towards good quality all season tires. What do you guys think?

Winter tires in the cold weather and performance tires in the summer. You will make too many compromises in trying to go all season. The compounds, tread patterns, etc. anre two different to get the best performance in both conditions with one set of tires.

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X2 Although, I guess a lot also depends on what you plan to do with the car. If its only going to go on Drive & Dines, and won't come out of the garage during winter's worst, then all season tires may actually be a reasonable compromise. But if intent is to track/autocross and need a daily driver regardless of conditions, then a set of performance tires for the summer and a separate set of winter snows makes some sense. And if the track/autox stuff gets serious....then a set of dedicated track tires comes into the picture. See how simple this is....

I use snows on my C2 and it gets around pretty good. Snows are preferred, however I used all-seasons on my WRX which is AWD (50/50 split). An AWD car with all seasons gets better traction than any 2WD car with snows. If you don't need high performance summer tires, then all seasons would be okay from my experiences...but 2 sets (snows & summer) is the best option.

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I agree that 2 sets is the best, but I don't agree that an AWD car with all-seasons is better than a 2WD with snows. I'd take a C2 with snow tires in the winter over a C4 with all-seasons. The AWD car might have a slight advantage in initial traction from a stop, but that's where the advantage ends.

2 sets

Find a set of used 17" wheels and mount dedicated winter snow tires on them. Keep your stock wheels for summer rubber. You have a very nice performance car - why compromise it w/ all-season rubber? Do it and you won't be disappointed.

While you would probably be okay in Vancouver 85% of the time with all seasons, given the limited snow, you would only be okay in the city area. For the other15% of the time, and if you go to Whistler or anywhere else, you would want snows. As such, for the safety and soundness of mind I would do what all the other have recommended and put on snows.

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I completely agree. My DD is an awd Mazdaspeed6 with Falken all season tires and I truly regret going the all season route. Maybe an all season tire like the Michelin Pilot A/S can better bridge the gap. Anyone who lives in the Mid atlantic or northeast at this time can tell you, all seasons don't help much with the weather we've had. I use to have a honda prelude as a DD and for the winter i fit some narrow Blizzaks from the tirerack. That car was a beast in the snow with those tires. Just a night and day difference. My area has received 75 inches of snow this winter. Not typical for Northern Delaware. Now that I plan to buy dedicated snows and go halves on a big *** snow blower (split the cost with my neighbor) it will never snow again.

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- I hear that!

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This is sound advice! The initial outlay is a bit higher (in terms of cost), but the two sets of tires will serve you well. I live on Vancouver Island and I have two sets of tires - the winter tires work well not only in the snow, but when the temperature dips a bit too!

You'll be happiest running dedicated winter tries, and dedicated summer tires...don't comprimise with the all season tires.

I should have been more clear. I definitely plan on running dedicated summer tires. I was just wondering if the C4 is good enough to run all seasons in the winter instead of winters. As I said, the majority of my winter driving is on perfectly fine roads so I would rather have the better performance of the all season over the winter. Even in the worst of winter, 95% of my driving is on wet or dry, clean roads. My cars only see bad conditions maybe 5% of the time so I'm hoping that I can get away with all seasons for that little amount of time.

I think you'd probably be fine in that scenario, but one thing to think about is that the old fashioned "snow tires" of the past don't really exist anymore. The high performance winter tires that fit modern Porsches and other sports cars perform much better than a hardcore snow and ice tire. There have been significant improvements even in the last 5 years that allow a high performance winter tire to perform very well on dry pavement in colder climates. If you're going to switch them out anyway, why not go for a proper winter tire?

All seasons are nothing but a compromise - use them if you only want one set. Since you are already committed to a seperate set, get the real deal. Modern snow tires aren't noisy and the latest compounds and tread patterns will deliver a level of performance to match your P-car. I drive my car during the winter and will get 4 seasons out of a set. While snow tires perform well on snow and ice, they will also provide improved traction for those unexpected patches of black ice that appear when you least expect them. Why risk it?

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Given the choice to drive through a blizzard in a C2 with winters or a C4 with all seasons, I'd take the C2 every time. +1 I always look at it as being just the price of the wheels or basically doubling the life of your tires. If you're going to run dedicated summer tires anyway, I'd go with winter tires. That said, if you said that it stays above freezing most of the time, for most of your driving you would probably be much better served by the all seasons...and that's keeping in mind that I'm usually a big winter tire fan.

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I've had both a C4 and C2. While the Porsche AWD is an improvement over RWD in low traction situations, it's not a huge improvement. It was engineered to handle like RWD on the road, not like an SUV on the Rubicon. In below freezing temps when the roads are slippery and cold, I would prefer to drive a C2 with winter tires than a C4 with all seasons. Even the best 4X4 system in the world isn't going to improve braking distance on ice. Also, what are the ambient temps? Even on dry roads, summer and all season rubber start getting hard below around 40 F. When rubber gets hard it's like driving on 4 bowling *****. The corollary is that above 45 F, winter rubber can get too hot and feel greasy. Doesn't it get into the 50's in Vancouver in the winter? Might want to call the TireRack and ask about tires that can handle the warmer temps and the snow and ice. To paraphrase Michelin, when so much rides on my tires, in the winter I want the best tires for the worst conditions I might face. Unlike the other 3 seasons, in winter I'm concerned about maximizing safety, as opposed to performance or handling.

Unofficial answer: I've browsed a lot of youtube videos and seen some pretty radical handling from C4's with winter tires. If you have snow and ice for winter just get snow tires on seperate rims. You can go 17" rims which will help if bumping things unplanned for. The C4 does track very good and fast in snow.

Snow tires are much better. Get a cheap pair of steel rims for the winter. Any thoughts on chains? Some areas require chains in certain road conditions even with four wheel drive and snow tires. Anybody ever use chains on a C4? What tire fitment / spacers?

Definitely snow tires for the second set.

Correct me if I'm wrong,but Do they even have "all season" z rated tires to fit a 996. Do they have steel wheels that will fit a 996. I've never seen them.