Winter tires - need wheels, too?

My '99 C2 Cabriolet and I live in Stamford, CT. We don't get a ton of snow, and if it is over a couple inches, I can work from home or wait for the plow. During the winter, we do get ice buildup on our driveway. I'm thinking about winter tires - the latest Christophorus recommends the Dunplop SP Winter Sport M2 NO for areas that do not have heavy snow. I called my local Porsche dealer and he said they recommend getting a tire + wheel set, to "reduce wear and tear" on my stock wheels. So two questions: do people have positive experiences with the M2 NO tires? I used to have a set of Blizzaks for my 96 BMW 328, and while they were good in snow, I did not like they handling / noise on dry pavement. And would you recommend that I get a second set of wheels for them? I imagine that could be expensive ... :-) Thanks, Nick

Nick....I don't think you can go wrong with either the M2s or Snowsport 240/210s (Pirelli) as Christopherous lists both I see. I have the M2s on an AMG, and Snowsports on Pcars.......personally like the current Snowsports as they are a good compromise bet fun when all's dry and also very good-going in the white stuff. Advice I'd have (& just my opinion) but I like narrower wheels than Porsche recomends (ie 10J and 265 is a bit more rubber than I think you want, plus I'd go to 17s)......also, leaving winter rubber on dedicated winter rims is always the best if you can spare the bucks (& have space for storing 4 wheels/tires year round). I don't believe winter is really any tougher on rims.....the wear-and tear you save is multiple trips a year to the tire mount machine (to say nothing of spin ballancing, lug nuts, tourque wrenches, yada, yada). Good luck to ya...enjoy the winter....drive your car

Nick, I went through the same decision about 2 months ago and I opted for the wheel/tire combination. What made up my mind was the price my dealership was going to charge me for de-mounting and mounting the tires. I bought the used (take-offs from a new Porsche, really) 17" Porsche wheels and Dunlop tires from Wheel Enhancements for winter use. I have 18" wheels for the rest of the year, but 18" wheels are much more expensive and if you are buying with the idea of driving through loose snow (not just packed or ice) then a narrower tire would be better. As to whether it is really necessary, I won't know until next year. I never had any problems with my 91' AWD Dodge Stealth R/T Turbo, but others convinced me that the C4 is different.

Nick: I live in your general area and know exactly what you mean. I have 18" rims on my c4 -so I opted to purchase a set of 17" rims and mounted Michelin Apline Sport snow tires. Snows mounted on 17" rims will be much more effective than those on 18" rims - regardless of the tire. FYI -I purchased mine offseason from Pepe in White Plains - it would be tougher to get a decent deal from a dealer during the season. A good alternative would be to purchase a set of wheels/tires from tirerack.com

Actually, I've got stock 17" wheels on the car. One thing I've been thinking about is to just get the winter tires now (probably the Dunlop M2s), and make the stock wheels my winter wheels. Then, in Spring, buy new 18" wheels+tires (Pilot Sports?). Does that make sense? Am I going to get better handling/fun out of the 18" wheels+tires outside of winter? Thanks, Nick

Yes, from what I have read on this forum from others who have changed from 17" to 18" you will have a noticable improvement in handling. Since you will be buying 18" wheels, you might go for the 8" width in the front, instead of the 7.5" width which is stock for your (and my) year. That would let you put 285/30, instead of 265/35, on the rear, 225/40 on the front and keep the same balance of mild understeer the stock setup has. At least, this is how I read what has been said on the subject in this forum. I know that these are the sizes for the optional 18" wheels on the 2002 C2 and C4 (not C4S) models.

Get the snows. Regardless of how much snow you get (and you might not even want to drive the porsche in the snow anyways..I live on Long Island btw), the snow tires are much safer when the road gets cold. Summer rubber get really hard and slick and never heat up to normal operation temps. I got the 17" wheel and M2 combo from Wheel Enhancement (get take-offs and save some money) and save the life of the expensive summer tires. In the end, I think it is safer and economical (less wear on summer tires, less chance on craking 18" rims w/ low profile tires in NYC potholes, no costs to keep mounting, dismounting and balancing and transporting the extra set of tires, etc.).