Anyone out there drive the a 99 Carrera w/ traction control in the snow?

I like driving the cars I own and I am considering driving my new Carrera through the year. Obviously I would put dedicated snow tires on some 17" rims. Anyone out there that can give me there experience first hand? Thanks

Traction control in the snow is most often a negative. If you have a 6 speed, it is better just to use a higher gear to reduce the torque. Quite often you need the tires to spin to cut into the snow. This is the same drawback that ABS has. At least you can turn off the TC.

If so, I would feel alot better about driving mine. I live just outside of Cleveland.

Not as a daily driver but often in the snow. Traction control is a gimick and does nothing but keep your car from going forward. You will have to turn it off just to move up a hill. Traction control makes absolutely no sense when moving forward. Why apply the brakes when you are trying to move???? If your wheels spin and a higher gear will not get them to catch, you are either stuck where you are or have to disengage the TC and try to get the tires to cut through to the pavement. Even in my SUV, I turn off the TC most of the time. The only benefit is it will help you keep your wheels from spinning and fish tailing if you accelerate too fast through a corner.

Do you run dedicated snow tires when you drive in the snow? If so, how does the car handle? If not, how bad does it handle on your regular tires. If I drive the car through the winter, I will be running dedicated snows tires on 17" wheels. I will likely be running Dunlop Winter Sport M2 tires all around.

No, I have normal tires on the car all year. Snows would be better I am sure, but I don't drive it if the snow is to bad. However, I got caught in a snow storm going over the Rockies last November and, as scary as it was, I was able to maintain momentum and made it through ok. 17 inch snows would be the way to go. The narrower, the better.

Thanks for your thoughts. I am so accustomed to driving Audis with quattro, that I will have to spend some time in an icy, snow covered parking lot to get the feel of the 996. The BMW 330i we had did great in the snow with the Winter Sport M2s on it, so I am hoping the same for the 996. I just hate to garage any car. I am buying the car to drive it! Sun, Rain, Snow, Ice or anything else. The winters are worse in Germany than here and they drive 911s year round there.

I drive a C4 with 18" wheels and Dunlops Winter Sports M2 in the snow all winter. As long as the snow is not to deep, it goes as good as my 4 wheel drive SUV. I use the PSM and have no problems with it. Keeps me from spinning wheels, etc. I have tried it with the PSM off, a little more spin and I actually prefer the PSM on. You can get on it and only use as much power as traction will allow. This will be the 5th winter I have used the C4. In the summer I run the OEM P-Zero's. Don't even try them if you value your car. Below about 40 degree F they get rock hard and you lose traction. any snow and all is lost. The first year I had my car (2000) I went out in the first tracr of snow on the P-Zero's. I could get going (barely) but could not stop or turn at all. going 5 mph on a slight hill, tried to stop and slid all the way down the hill, could not stop. My advice, don't even try it!!

That is with a C4 though. I have a C2.

I have found that the TC is mainly a device PRE PSM to control the rear coming out when going through a corner and hitting water. Other than in a sudden change in friction mid corner it is inhibitive. I do drive the car in the rain with the tc on. BTW the TC also retards the timing to cut power at the same time as braking the slipping wheel-

I have a 99 C2 with traction control. I drive it year round. I ran 4 winters with Pirellis and last year I ran Blizzaks on 17" stock rims. Blizzaks are hands down the better tire in the snow. I have to agree with the other posters on running summers when the tems drop. Last year I hadn't put on the winter tires and drove to work one day when it was in the teens. Let me just say that the ABS ativated several times on DRY pavement with moderate braking...the 18" Contis do not like the cold. I don't think the ABS ever came on in snow covered conditions with the Blizzaks. Just take it easy and drive sensibly and you will be fine. Watch out for the idiots in the 4wds with bald all season tires though! I usually leave the TC on. Can't say whether it helps or hurts but I haven't been stuck in up to 5" of snow. Go around corners slowly, the front tends to push quite a bit in the white stuff. I also put on the ugly mud flaps from Tweeks. They clip on and can be removed easily. They sand and salt the roads here in Virginia so if you don't want sand blasted paint, the ugly flaps are a must.

you have a link on those mudflaps?? esp. since they clip on? I go into the canyons and there are often rocks on the road and the result is sandblasting my newly painted rear bumper right behind the tires. Thanks. Also when I picked up the car in PA, it started to snow on the way back from the PPI. It was not fun to drive on pirellis. I was driving slowly but the front definitely wanted to push hard around corners at even slow speed. when slowing to a stop I took 2x the distance to stop, and even at that it still activated the abs and trac. Needless to say I would not do that again.

1999 C4 with PSM - Having done a lot of winter driving including some ice racing with the BMW club I can offer a few tips. As mentioned, very narrow tires are best, they dig down to the pavement to get traction. They look awful but work great. As the BMW is a fairly poor car in the snow we watched with amuzement a few years ago when this guy in an older Audi took 4 funny looking very narrow spiked tires (like 3 inches across) and slowly mounted them one at a time with his stock jack. He came out on the ice (Newfound Lake, NH) for one lap. He threw up 4 rooster tails of ice and snow and flew around our little coned course. He then put his street tires back on and left. We stood there with our jaws open -amazining. Audi's are fabulous, especially with 4 winter tires. The C-4 has PSM which is both traction control and stability management. On a particularly slippery evening I ran a small test using my street tires (I don't drive that much in the winter - mostly due to the salt). The roads were not yet salted/sanded. With PSM on level ground the car appeared to accelerate in less distance than the ABS could stop it. It was near ice conditions and I was hard pressed to improve the acceleration with the PSM switched off. On cornering under too hard acceleration the PSM would let the car swing out a little but would then make an effective although a bit awkward correction cutting the throttle. With PSM switched off a powerslide was very easy with my 18ich summer tires, requiring a lot of restraint on the throttle. Chains are fabulous in the snow, but not so hot on dry pavement. I never tried the Porsche chains, but I would expect they would work great on icy mountain roads as long as the snow was not too deep. http://www22.porsche.com/usa/accesso...n37/n149/n159/

The installation sheet has "Suggested Installation Instructions for #409-001, Splash Guards 996" printed on the sheet sent with the flaps. Pretty simple install, measure down 9 1/2 " from the bumper body line to top of flap and push on the 4 clips for the rear. Fronts measure up 4 1/2 from the body line of the rocker panel to top of flap and push on the 4 clips. Unistall is by pushing the clips off with a screwdriver. I have reused mine 3 years in a row and the spring clips still hold well. Haven't lost any yet. You might try doing a search on Tweeks.com for the part number. Believe it or not, I got his idea from a 996 Turbo owner who had them installed. I asked and he said he got them from Tweeks. They look better on the Turbo

Thanks for all of the great advice.

I drove last year with dedicated snow tires, the ones recommended by Porsche, on my 18" wheels. There was a bit of snow, lots of ice last season in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and I had no trouble whatsoever. I don't have traction control, but it really wasn't an issue. I recommend using the Porsche recommended snow tires when the temperature drops below 40F and enjoy your car all year long!

Oops forgot to mention my car is a C2.

I'm impressed with all the C2 owners driving their cars through winter. Living on Canada's East Coast I figure I have to buy a C4(S) if I want to drive the car all year round, but the response so far seems I might get away with getting a C2...Anyway, one other potential problems for myself is that I have very short, but steep driveway (sadly not heated) and my question is how easy would a C2 on snowtires get up on it when it's icy/snow covered (starting from a standstill)? Even with a front wheel drive car (on all seasons mind you) it sometimes gets a bit tricky. Any input greatly appreciated, Cheers KK