Moving...need advice on tires/brakes for a safe road trip

I'm traveling 700 miles next week from South Carolina to Pennsylvania. I bought the car with 34k in june, tires were in very good condition during PPI. Now I have 42k on the dash and still the same tires. I assume weather wont be too fun through the WV mountains, so I'm wondering what tires to get, and if i need to switch out all four. (Also brakes were checked around 40k and indy said they were still good for a few more thousand miles) I do not plan on driving my car that much in the winter, but I plan on starting it up and driving it around the block once a week instead of letting it sit in the garage for January and February. On a side note, is this a good idea? I am leaving my car with my parents in PA while i take one of their SUVs to CT for the winter where i'll be stationed. Any advice would be helpful. Ive driven FWD in snow alot, but never RWD.

hard to tell from your post... maybe some pics?

Yeah i agree my post was confusing. I have a ton of questions and i dont want to spam with a bunch of new threads. Basically, I think i need to get new tires for the road trip...the rears have been on for about 10k...but I dont think that I need to get winter tires. I have little knowledge of tires from a few searches on this forum. Getting a new set of tires is my primary concern. Once i arrive safely in PA with new tires, I have to decide whether to keep my car in my parents garage for 9 weeks, or allow a family member to drive it once or twice a week so it isnt garaged all winter. Two major questions...hopefully that cleared it up. What would you want pics of, the tires themselves? My pos camera wont be able to show the tread.

PA is full of salt in the winter, if it was me, I'd store the car... I'm sure others will disagree. :-) what kind of tires depends on what you want, how you drive, and how much you want to spend.

Where in PA are you moving??

your brakes have wear sensors, when they are too low to drive, the light will come on. If you are not tracking the car that will be a good way to know (or have them checked when you put the tires on) as for tires, you want a winter tire? Blissak LM25's are pretty good, people like them Summer (low cost) Sumi HTR ZIII's (3's) yes replace all 4 if you are only driving around the block in the winter and can do it when its rainy or only light snow, no need for winter tires... however your motor is basicaly a vacuum pump and it sucks air in, condenses it and then expands it, this leave water vapor behind and unless you run the motor at operating temprature long enough to evaporate the water vapors they will collect inside the motor and cause more damage than good as the water can rust any metal internal parts... run it, or leave it...... dont start it for 5 minutes and then shut it off

FWIW I'm in western PA and drive several times a month to the DC area for work year round. I can say that snow tires are wonderful to have crossing the ridges and hilly terrain of the mid-atlantic states like PA/Maryland/VA/WVA.... We have snow tires on each of our three cars--Mazda 3 five-door that my wife drives, our Audi A4 Avant, and my 1999 C4. We have Blizzaks on the Mazda and the C4. Hakkas on the Audi. I am using my c4 year-round; it's currently filthy but resting comfortably in our garage with the Audi. I am extremely familiar with the PA - South Carolina road trip as my parents live in SC, and we made the trip in the Audi as recently as this past August. Personally, I'm all for driving these cars and not worrying about mileage and seasonal wear. In any given season, our cars are loaded with dogs, bikes, skis, home depot garbage.... Last weekend I shot several rounds of skeet with a buddy from work; it was a blast (literally and figuratively i suppose) showing up at the range in the C4 filled to capacity with shotgun and shotgun shells and ~ two inches of fresh snow... All that said, my suggestion would be to buy the wheels/snow tires if you can spare the change. Our winters here are cold more than anything else, and you can get plenty of use from the car even in coldest, darkest winter without subjecting it unnecessarily to snow and road salt (or whatever the PA turnpike commission is throwing down these days)...... I am running 17" twist knock-offs from Tire Rack with the Blizzaks. Performance is very good in cold, rainy conditions too.

You do not want to drive through Appalachia next week without snow tires.

I missed the "I'm driving" part... yea snow/winter tires for sure, pick up a spare set of wheels is the easiest - then you can swap tham on and off yourself as needed. RWD in the snow is not the same as Porsche RWD in the snow, these cars are amazing - I found my 996 to be better in the snow than almost anything I had ever drivin before. Very capable and the feedback being instant allowed so much better response time. The car is litterally point and shoot, a blast yet controlled and confident

Yes i will be personally driving to pa (Pittsburgh region)..Earliest i can drive home is the 21st, so that doesnt leave me too many days to wait out a potential storm if i want to make it home for christmas. Will your average tire shop have the necessary snow tires and wheels that I would need for this trip? Or should i start calling around and stuff so people can order special wheels/tires? I'm only 6 months out of college, so while money is starting to flow, I wasnt planning on spending a fortune on a set of wheels too. I dont really plan to have the car driven in the snow except for the possibility of snow on my drive up to PA (next move is to FL and wont be till april)

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Over the years I've gone through quite a few sets of tires on first my Boxster and more recently on my Turbo. In fact just a couple of weeks ago I set out in the Turbo for a 4K mile (round trip) road trip across 58 (CA), I-40, I-44 and into MO and back on worn Contis. Mistake. I'll skip the gory details but managed to source a set of 4 new n-rated Bridgestones at the Sacramento Porsche dealer. Right after I left the dealer I ran into heavy rain. New tires were just fine. However, I slow way down just in case. On the trip proper a couple of days later going across I-40 in NM ran into a bad snow storm and had to tippy toe the car at about 20mph for over 20 miles -- all of it behind a slow moving big rig that I allowed to help clear a path through the worst of the snow -- until I was out of the snow. This even though the Turbo is AWD, has ABS, PSM, and traction control. I could tell with a bit of experiementation while the tires were gripping in the snow the grip was very tenuous and I avoided any sudden moves or braking etc. But this is a very unenjoyable experience to have to drive sitting on the edge of one's seat with a death grip on the wheel. Might add on the drive through the snow I spotted more than a few cars/vehicles (including one wrecker) off the freeway -- in the median or on the shoulder -- after a spin out cause the driver was driving too fast for the road conditions and probably on the wrong tires, or worn tires, too. My advice would be to fit new proper tires to the car: Pirelli, Continental, Michelin ($) or Bridgestone. They won't be snow tires or even all weather but if you can avoid snow/ice they'll be ok. Once home then you can limit yourself to enjoying the car on days the roads are clear. 'course the roads will be cold and so will the tires but if you keep this in mind you should be ok. Or fit a set of proper winter tires/wheels and drive the car over the winter then buy a set of summer tires and enjoy the car in the warm weather. Brakes will be ok. Even if the wear light comes on you have a couple of thousand miles of pad life left. Sincerely, Macster.

I ordered snow tires (not for pcar) from tire rack and they were delivered the next day. I live in eastern PA and drive my pcar on nice days but not in snow.

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Hey! When you get here look me up this summer for some drives!!!!!

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yea 0 and take a pic of his secretary for us