996 c2 in snow - how does it do?

I've been leaning toward a c4s, but have come across some beautiful c2's in the mean time. Who here drives their car year round, and how does it do in the snow? The 2wd and lack of LSD worries me, especially living in the north east. Do you find the c2 is more than capable of getting in and out of snow, and handling most snowy roads? I'm trying to figure out how keen a local dealer would be about letting me take one out in the snow, which I hope to do, but just curious about some real experienced input as well

I won't say that all wheel drive doesn't help, but realistically you should be fine with snow tires and by driving appropriately for the conditions. I think if you do a quick search you'll find a number of responses on this topic.

LINK to thread on snow Porsches a C2 is the most amazing car to drive in the snow...WITH snow tires... I have a 4x4 and I prefer the P-car over it (with exception of really deep snow (clearance))

Hello neighbor! I live in Fairfield County. I have snows on my C2 and its fine during the winter. The real problem is clearance when the snow fall exceeds 3 inches. If its going to be a true DD car, I would get a C4 and snow tires. It is more fun driving C2 compared to my AWD bimmer in the snow though.

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Does porsche have some kind of e-lsd (like bmw) to replace the lack of a real one, or is it fine w/o? hey. Yeah I have a bike as well, but that's really no good in the winter . I DD my 944 for 2.5 years, and DD my M3 now. Clearance was always a problem, but I have just gotten used tot hat. Its good to hear the C2 is good around here tho. The ice this year has been horrible! Where in ffld county are you?

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Its fine w/o LSD. I drove up a hill with 3 inches of snow on the ground last winter in my snows. It performs beautifully. only '99 came with LSD as options and even if you get a hold of one, you still have to double check it still works and not worn out.

It's awesome in the snow! You don't NEED snow tires, either. I don't have LSD, PSM, TC, or any of that stuff - and I "only" have all-season tires, and I'm amazed at how well it does. I drove to Grand Rapids, MI over Christmas, and over half of the way it was snowing VERY hard (and icy in parts of Ohio), and I made it just fine. In fact, the ENTIRE way across Michigan I couldn't even see the pavement, and it was completely unplowed and unsalted.. Hardly any cars on the road, lots of them OFF the road, and I just cruised along. When I got into Grand Rapids, it was very, very deep going through the neighborhoods (deeper than my ground clearance, in fact), and I plowed right through it. I got home and found my nephew had to spend the night because he got stuck just trying to get out of my Mom's driveway - but I was plowing through miles of the stuff in the backroads just to get there. Noone could believe I didn't get stuck, but I was never even close to getting stuck. Sure, snow tires are the best - but you don't need them necessarily. You'll do much better than most cars on the road, and you'll do fine. Get yourself some good quality all-season performance tires and you'll be very surprised at how well it does. btw - summer performance tires are terrible in the snow, and dangerous. My all-season tires perform excellent in the snow, rain, sleet, and dry roads - summer or winter.

I live in downtown South Norwalk. I will go for a fluid warming/ battery charging drive on Sunday. PM me if you want to meet up.

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Okay nice. I always get a set of summer and winter tires. Good to know it made it thru all of that tho Okay sounds good. I may be going snowboarding, but I should have that figured out tomorrow. I'll send a PM if im around

I dont drive my 996 in the snow but I did drive a 951 as a DD for 8+ years, it's all about the tires. as long as you have clearance yuo should be fine.

What is the clearance for a C2? Is it over 3 inches? Snow tires work great for me.

My setup is lowered and its an aero.

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Tell us what tires do this well, in every season? I'd love to keep my 18" Twists on the car year-round. Maybe selling my winter rims and tires and getting good all-seasons is a decent option, my car not being a daily driver and all.

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Don't fall for that! You will not get max performance out of your car in both seasons.

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Sounded too good to be true!

For winter driving tips PM "Phil G". I know for a fact that he has NEVER gotten stuck in the snow, REGARDLESS of the tires.

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Truer words were never spoken!

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However he does get stuck in the summer because square flat spotted tires do not roll well.

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BF Goodrich G-Force Super Sport A/S While you are basically correct, people shouldn't be too misled by this statement. Tirerack tested this tire on a BMW 328i, and they pulled .96G's on a skidpad . It's within a couple tenths of a G of total grip compared to equivalent "extreme performance" summer only tires- actually better than many of them (..and who goes around pulling 1G on public roads anyway?) These tires are MUCH better than the standard summer tires that came with the car back when it was new. The sidewalls are actually quite stiff also, and it is suprisingly responsive on slalom-type moves. In fact, it tested the best of all all-season high performance tires on tirerack - plus it's fairly cheap for that class of tire. They are also quiet, should last decently long, do well in any driving condition, and you only need one set of tires. I've had all sorts of different tires and these are my favorite, and I don't really miss my PS2's or my F1's that I've owned in the past, since I don't track my car - and even if I did, these are still very, very capable tires. Gone are the days where you can say "all season tires are tires that perform bad in all seasons..." that's how it used to be, but things aren't so cut-and-dry nowadays.

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But the good thing is you don't need a groundhog. Just listen for the whump-whump...whump-whump of Phil's tires, and you know it's spring!

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Do you have the testing conditions for the tire rack tests? I am not saying that A/S tires do not perform during winter driving. What I am saying is that A/S tires harden at a higher temperature than winters. Thus, it will not perform as well as you say it does consistently in snow and on ice. I have A/S on my AWD bimmer for daily use and only do that because of AWD help. I can cheat and get away with it. Will it work in the northeast if someone buys a C4 and puts on A/S tires for daily use? Sure.

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It's the same track they use for basically all of their tests, for all of their tires - plus the same car - so it's easy to compare relative performance. They have a dedicated track at their facility. I'm not saying they perform as well as winter tires do - I'm just saying they perform MUCH better than most tires that are on typical passenger cars. I've driven with them in the snow several times and they do great. Are they like Blizzaks? No, of course not - but they still work really well. When I lived in Michigan, I used to drive around all the time on old-school tires that weren't made for all-season, and I did just fine (on old-school cars). In a C2 with the engine sitting over the drive tires, with modern all-season tires, they are very capable. If you don't want to mess around with having two sets of tires, get the all-seasons. If you want to spend an extra grand on tires and wheels for even more capability, than go ahead. My only point is that you don't NEED to get dedicated winter tires. Dedicated winter tires would be a luxory. People shouldn't assume that's the only option, otherwise they're destined to end up in a ditch or at the bottom of a ravine or something.. Just drive responsibley and you shouldn't have any trouble.

According to the Tirerack survey, the Bridgestone Potenza 960's crush the BF Goodrich G-force in most catagories. But the reviews still complain about the road noise. If I can get good warm weather performance, and decent cold weather / caught in the light snow performance, I would do it in a minute!

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what are you running now? have you tried it in the snow? Are you needing new tires? or just asking....

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I have Bridgestone Potenza Pole Position RE050's for non-winter, and I have Pirelli Snow Sports on 17" Twist rims for winter. If I can narrow it down to one set of rims and tires, without losing either winter safety, or summer adhesion, I would be happy! PS--I'm not racing or tracking the car, just having fun with it, so I don't need ultra high performance. I just don't want to short change this great car by putting tires on it that make the ride harsh, etc.

ok... so you have 2 sets of tires and wheels and it takes like 20 minutes to swap twice a year. You have to store 4 wheels always and that takes space. Other than space saved there is no reason for you to get differant tires. The advantages to having 2 sets of wheels and tires are more than just space lost though. Some that come to mind are...twice a year you check the tire preassue... you take the wheels off and look at the parts under the car... your "good" tires only see 1/2 as much driving time... your good wheels also see 1/2 as much road muck and recieve 1/2 as many chances for scratching....while the wheels are off they are easy to clean and wax.. changing tires allow you to see the tread wear and preempt alignment issues... UMMM... Its cool to say "these are my winter wheels and tires" or "I just put my summer tires on" .I dont know. For me having 2 sets is an advantage, not something I would want to avoid and if it meant any less performance in either season...then I would say NO... LIke you, I dont drive 175mph... mostly commute and a very few track days, but still....why not i know others will agree, and other wont.... just my $.02 Peace

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The 996 C2 is awesome in the snow (with snow tires of course). My 996 is a daily driver and works well through Chicago winters every year. I've never gotten stuck in the snow, however if it gets really deep the front spoiler turns into a plow. Good luck......

I actually prefer my C2 on all seasons to my Subaru WRX on snow tires. It's not just about acceleration or "not getting stuck", unless you really need to worry about pulling away on straight ice, or ground clearance, the C2 will do much better than most cars. The steering/chassis feedback makes it a superior car to most in slick conditions IMO. Resale for an early C4 is about the same as a C2, so if you really need all weather dependability, that ought to be an option, I would think...

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I just have to post about this - because I think it's a recommendation that can be taken the wrong way. If you have all-season tires on your Porsche, well maybe you can get by as is said in the above quoted post. But I think most of our cars have high performance rubber, and if the temp goes below like 7 degrees C (a little above freezing), then you'll have a lot less grip and stopping power. If there is a tiny sprinkling of snow, your car will be completely undrivable in that situation. I had this happen when I first got my C4, and winter rubber hadn't arrived to me yet, and I tried just for the heck of it, and slid like you cannot believe, and you probably have to experience to believe. Lucky I didn't hit the neighbors cars in the street - I slid 20 feet with not control at 2 MPH, it was wild - I couldn't believe it. So I learned from that and babied my car back into the garage and counted my blessings that day. Maybe with all season tires it's a different story - but don't even think about driving your P-car without winter/snow tires when temps are low and there is any chance of snow if you are like the majority of owners who have performance rubber on their car. BTW - I have a 99 C4 with Pirelli Snow Sports - good winter rubber and I drive daily through anything and everything and haven't been stuck in the last 3 winters. With the C4 you can accelerate hard in a straight line and not much is going to be able to get the jump on you - which is handy to get away from the pack at stoplights. C2 is probably fine, but if I were you, I'd get one with PSM - which can save you in day-to-day winter driving. For some winter drifting fun, you can switch the PSM off and go to town with scandinavian flicks all the way through your residential streets at 30Kmh sideways if you want for fun. Great winter car, just keep your radar on for those Plymouth Sunfires with bald tires, cigarette and cellphone coming up behind you at the 4-way stop with wide eyes as they realize they are sliding into you, and you'll be OK.

+1, Buddy. Same situation. Got the car and the tires took a few days to arrive. Even on dry but cold pavement it was surprisingly slippery. On snows it's more sure-footed than our Pathfinder. The funny "is he insane driving a Porsche like that in the snow?" looks have high entertainment value, too.

Yup, I used to have Goodyear F1's and PS2's on my car before I got my all-seasons. I used to live in San Diego, and once when I drove back to Michigan during the winter, I got caught in light snow and was AMAZED at how horrible the summer tires were. Having learned how to drive in Michigan, I thought I could handle it if I was to encounter snow - and boy I almost lost it several times trying to get to safe place for the night. I have NEVER encountered such slippery conditions as my PS2's in the cold on LIGHT snow.. I would be driving along slowly, and when I'd see a slight patch of snow that I had to drive over, I'd just push the clutch in a coast across it, and I'd feel the car just squirming beneath me. Big semi's and mini vans were driving by me like it was nothing, and I was limping along all squirrely down the road - and slid completely sideways on an exit ramp. When I moved to Baltimore last year, I made sure I bought all-seasons and have been extremely impressed at the transformation. Doesn't snow nearly as much as when I lived in Michigan, but when it does, I feel totally safe - I just drive reasonabley and there's no issues at all.

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+1 If they only knew it would out drive thier SUV's !! Out brake and out corner (throttle steering )

Wow, the first couple of posts had me scared until I read Buddy and Math's posts. My car is downright dangerous in snow and I just mean a dusting. I've got Michelin Pilot's and beacuse of the gravel they put up here on the roads, clearance isses (I literally can't drive down my main residential street since Calgary doesn't plow side streets in the winter and this year we've got an inordinate amount of snow) and the handling I just park it once it snows. ...........sure would be nice to go for a drive though.

Go for it! Just be sure to have winter tires. You'll be amazed.