Winter Driving?

So, as many of you know already, I'm a 911 newbie which simply means that I don't know much other than I am having the time of my life driving my cab as much as I can. I have an '02 911 C4 Cab with 38k miles (IMS retrofit scheduled for next Monday) but I live in CT and come the winter months, it's going to kill me not to be able to drive her. While I have no intention of driving her when its snowing out, I would like to drive her in the winter once the roads are plowed. My questions are pointed to those who drive their 911's during the cold winter months. I realize that I will have to get something other than summer tires, which i have on her now and I'm not looking for tire recommendations, at least not yet that is but what am I curious about is the following: How is the C4 traction in light snow? I realize its not built for it but I curious. Would you recommend a seperate set of rims if I go with a seperate set of tires for the winter months or just swap the tires on the gorgeous rims I have already? What's the big fear over road salt? If you wash the car regularly, does it really matter that much as the cars are rust proofed, no? Any insight would be greatly appreciated as the thought of not driving her for 3-4 months is killing me. Thanks. PS - Before you start yelling and screaming, my first instinct was to use the search feature as you would have thought that this topic would have been beaten to death by now but I struggled to find much useful information on it. Blame it on being a newbie but I did at least try the search function.

I live in Fairfield county also and own 3 sets of your sport design rims. One set has winter tires on it and only used for the first 3 years of owning the car. I went last winter without putting my winters on and it was fine as long as you choose when to run the car to move fluids and be smart about it. If you want to drive it with snow, then 17" rims with winter tires is my recommendation.

you need winter tires and this thread https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...your-pics.html

A C4 with proper winter tires (notice I didn't say snow tires) will drive beautifully in light snow. The things that make this car handle well on dry roads also apply on wet or snowy roads. Ground clearance is the only issue. I drive my C4S year round, and it never disappoints me.

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Same here, drive it all year round. Just get an extra set of snow wheels/tires, you will not be dissapointed.

What is the "snow" you speak of? I live in Florida 6 months out of the year, so mine is a year round summer tire deal.

It snowed in my neighborhood yesterday. Granted, it was up on the hill at an altitude a few hundred feet above me, but it was close enough that I could easily walk up and touch it. Snow on June 20th...

Thanks for the input

CHSU74 - Who do you use for service in Fairfield? I used Fairfield County Motorsport over by the Fairfield Train station to do the PPI and some basic service but they will be doing the IMS retrofit for me next week.

I live in FF county too...I have a 2001 C2, and drive it in the winter. It hasn't really seen any snow, just slush and stuff, and it did fine. I don't take it on bad days due to the imbeciles we have on our roads, plus the SUV needs to be driven once in a while too.... :-)

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I have a guy in E Norwalk who is good for basic maintenance. The most competitive Indy for an IMS retrofit is a Rennlist sponsor based in NJ. I will be dropping the engine for a complete R&R at some point this year with the car hitting 100K miles.

I get nervous using indy's that aren't specialists in pcars just becuase of all the things that can and do go wrong. The guys i use in Fairfield seem to be very knowledgable but along with knowledge comes higher prices. So far, no complaints and they always have some beauty's in their shop to look at as they do track cars as well. The nice thing about their shop is that its right at the train station so i can drop it off on days I go to the city and not have to worry about getting a ride. I thought about the place in NJ and there is another up in South Windsor for the retrofit but both are a haul and would require a ride their and back twice to pick up and drop off the car, something i don't think my wife would be too keen on. The guys in fairfield, while not an authorized LN shop, have supposedly done their fare of retrofits and price wise, were competitive with the shop in NJ and South Windsor but estimates are one thing, reality is another. If interested, i'll let you know how it all turns out. PS - If you have any interest is selling one of your 3 sets of rims, let me know as I would prefer to use a seperate set for the winter if possible. PSS - If you decide to use the shop in NJ for the complete R&R and your wife isn't keen on the idea of driving out there either, i am always looking for an excuse to go for a long ride.

ditto on 17rims+winter tires. used to daily-drive my C2 in NJ for 3 winters, never a problem,

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My guy in E Norwalk is Glen's Garage. Kip Harris, one of the managers who used to work at Farnbacher Loles in Danbury, is there now with Glen. Spencer ***, Kip Harris and Glen used to work at a Porsche racing team/tuning shop in Norwalk over 15 years ago. Spencer *** and Kip Harris then went to work for Farnbacher Loles until two years ago when Greg Loles was found embezzling money from his church and all kinds of nasty stuff. The good guy around you up in Fairfield is Dan Jacobs. I go to him for alignment exclusively but he is expensive. For other basic stuff, I use Glen or shop around. 996s are very easy to work on. I change oil, brakes and filters...

Don't wait till the last minute to order your snow tires,they sell out in the fall.

The car will do just fine in the snow...just get winter tires. I'd recommend a winter performance tire if you're not planning on being in much snow. Please do not drive it in the winter on summer tires even on dry pavement--you won't realize why it's a bad idea until it's too late.

Summa tires get "squirley" below 40F.

Thanks for the info all. It looks like I'll be getting a second set of tires for the non-winter months and will likely get a seperate set of rims for them. Anyone have an extra set of 17" rims they are looking to part with for a reasonable price? Need them for winter use.

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You gotta love Colorado! Rest of the country under heat alerts and we're fighting global warming with snow. Supposed to be snow skiing to at least 4th of July.

As a newbie myself, I had a lot of the same questions. There is good info on "winterizing" your car if you don't want to drive it. However living in Connecticut as you do and Minnesota as I do, not driving it in winter means that it sits for almost half of the year. My take on all the various advice out there was that: 1) these are cars meant to be driven in the winter; 2) there is definitely more wear and tear on your car when driven in the winter, as it gets salty, you can't hand wash it and the alternative isn't perfect; and 3) there may be some validity to the theory that the cars that are garage queens and/or stored for the winter may be more prone to catastrophic engine failures. I'm not trying to start any new "I" threads with this last one, please refrain, all. I did get winter tires on a new set of fairly cheap wheels, but after driving it in the snow I didn't feel that the winter tires were really much better than good all-weather tires. These cars (and by that I mean C4s) are great in the snow, with the exception of when there are clearance issues. We have a Lexus SUV and an Acura SUV, and the C4 goes up my very steep and slippery driveway better than either of them. The weight is in the back, and the tires are huge. You will want to find a place that can gently wash for you, or even wash by hand if you're willing to pay for that. I also found that my cab seems like a completely new car once the hard top is on because it's so much quieter inside. If you do have a hard top, before you put it on, make sure to wipe some silicone spray on the rubber gasket at the top of the windshield/front of the top to avoid the the squeaking that comes along with any body flex if this isn't done. There were times this last winter when I didn't drive it much. We had a really bad winter. I bought a trickle charger to keep the battery charged, and tried to drive it every few days when there was a break in the weather and the world didn't seem so white and Porsche-hostile. I definitely was glad to have my SUV backup, but did enjoy the P-car in the snow as well. So, there's my .02, hope it's helpful! q

I drive mine year round. Winter time I have a set of 18" Pirelli snows. They are a separate set (tires and wheels) all together. The car is un-stoppable with anything 6" of snow. The car is justa blast to drive in snow.

I live where there's REAL winter (see pic, that's -25 F) and I drove my 2003 C4S all winter. Had it on 18" narrow winter rims (w/ Conti WinterContact "sport" tires) as recommended in the manual; used some spacers on the rears for visual appeal. It was amazing. I've had several 4x4 SUVS in the past, and they weren't even close to the traction, braking, cornering, everything I had with this car in the snow! Also heats up fast in the interior. Granted, you don't have a ton of clearance, so if it's a really snowy day probably better not to take it out - but this wasn't a problem for me here in Calgary. Best winter car I've ever owned!

[QUOTE=spender;8658899]I live where there's REAL winter (see pic, that's -25 F)" Wow, that's cold. my coldest in the P-car is below, "only" -13 F. Sometimes I'm amazed that there is a whole country north of Minnesota. Incredible that anyone lives there!

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QUIX: I hadn't thought about getting a hard top for my '02 cab but not a bad idea. I'll take a look into it although if i end up deumping $2k+ on new rims & tires for the winter, the new top may have to wait another year, especially since i am doing the IMS retrofit next week.

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There may be some out there for less $$ than you think. Some folks who live in areas of the country where it's perpetually summery probably don't put them on much, and may be willing to part with theirs. q Just looked down the page a bit and there's someone offering an arctic silver top for $5-800 in Houston..

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I just sent the guy in Houston a PM to see if he's willing to ship it. I love a nice drive but CT to TX is even beyond what i would consider a fun drive, especially with the hard top on for half the trip.

I live in Colorado...granted....I have a C2, but would never take it out in the snow. My wife has an Audi A6 Quattro....just like my last BMW, even with snow tires, I leave the Porsche in the garage. Main reason....other drivers...and sand/gravel rock chips. That weather is what my Durango 5.9 R/T is for...and it is still not the best in it, but I will not get that upset if something happens to that or if someone slides into me. Just my personal opinion.

The nice thing about our cars is that they are no longer worth a ton. I agree that if I had bought mine new ($140,000 new in my city), I would park it in the winter. But I paid less than a quarter of that, so why not? Life is too short to drive lame cars! Anyway, my Porsche loves the snow!