Great winter Porsche story!

This weekend we had 28 inches of snow in downtown Boston. Where I live, we park in a private space in an alley that runs behind the houses. Needless to say, the alley is not usually plowed too well. This morning, my neighbor's contractors showed up to work on his builiding and got their RWD Ford F-150 stuck. The funniest part was when they tried to push it out with another truck and got that one stuck too. Now for the Porsche part. My wife comes out of the house, kisses me goodbye, sets her briefcase in the C4S, starts it up, and drives down the 200 foot basically unplowed alley like it is dry The contractors reactions were priceless. One of them was speechless, and the other one says...for 90 grand that car ought to be able to do anything, but that's unvelievable

THAT IS AWESOME!!!! Great story...

Put the right tires on a C4 and it will climb trees...............

on a similar note: on sunday morning after getting over 2 feet of snow at my house in boston i decided to go to circuit city to buy a new tv. well, they hadn't plowed the ramps out of my basement garage and there were 3 foot snowbanks at the top of the ramps from the snowplows plowing the street in front of my house. the snow in the ramps was only about 10" high, not 28", because people had been driving in and out until saturday morning or so and packing it down. i parked my car inside the entrance for a second and went to the top of the STEEP ramp out of the basement to knock down the worst of the 3 foot snowbank. there were a couple of guys across the street clearing snow from their driveways and they stopped to watch because they could see my car parked at the bottom of the ramp. they had devilish grins on their faces as they watched me and probably thought "look at this stupid porsche owner driving his car in this. i can't wait to see him get stuck!" i watched their mouths dropped open as i went over the 10" of snow and the remnants of the packed snowbank with barely a slip. i had only cleared a big enough opening in the snowbank so that i had 1-2" or clearance on both sides of the car and i made it through no problem! i can't say enough how much i LOVE my C4 in the snow! then last night i stopped at a friends house south of boston and his street wasn't plowed. a pickup stopped to let me back out of his driveway into the unplowed street and i could see the guy laughing at me. then i went right over the huge ruts in the road and all the loose snow and on my way. as i passed him i see his tires spinning as he tries to get going and I laughed at HIM!

hmmm... where do i get those tires? i need to try it! maybe i'll just try snow chains... i forgot to mention that my C4 is lowered too! the only negative is that yesterday while driving on some unplowed back street i cracked one of the little plastic air duct/shaper/spoiler things under the front left wheel. but for the stuff i was going through that's pretty darn good!

Awsome story, I just stored my C4S for the season. This story sure tempts me to drive it through winter. Being my first year with my baby, I can't get myself to do it. It was a sad day sunday when I unhooked the batteries. Keep the stories coming, for me to pass this winter porschless

thats why i love texas, if we see white stuff falling from the sky its usually as big as a softball and called hail

Ok, you asked for it!... here and there . Greetings, --Pierre

My wheel and tire combo has just been shipped from Tirerack for my C4S. After these great stories, I'm really looking forwarded to getting them put on and trying them out. P.S. We lucked out here in Cincinnati this past weekend. No snow at all .. guess you got it all.

Great links Pierre!

great pictures pierre. I'll never get tired of looking at porsche pictures. I still gawk at porsches when I drive, my wife is puzzled as all I have to do is to step into my garage. I am very tempted to order in some snow tires now, how much do these things cost anyway.

jeeva, I'm the same way...when ever I go passed a porsche I always stare and usually mutter 'cool'... Dunlop Winter Sport M2s run $185 for the rears and $153 for the fronts (tirerack) for 18s. It may not snow alot in Ohio, but I'm willing to bet it sure is cold. That said, if you plan on using your baby during the winter, you should get a set, cause summer tires don't work well below freezing, wrong tire compound.

I don't know guys. I still can't bring myself to do it. I wouldn't even drive my car in the city let alone park it in a parking garage! But to each his own and as long as your enjoying them, then the more power to you. But snow bank jumping? Come on! Good luck! - Jay Gratton

Trust me Jay, my former Boxster was a major baby, and it is also a great feeling to keep the car pristine. No shame in that. But I have to admit that I've had a lot of fun by just enjoying the C4S for all it has to offer

What tires are on your C4S???

I have 18" Pirelli 240 Snowsports...225/40 up front and 265/35 in the rear.

Ah ok, so not the stock tires on the C4S then, I was going to say if it could do that on stock summer tires I'd be mightily impressed. As it is, I am going to go out and drive on an ice skating rink now since our ice storm!

Definately not on the summer ice skates. Snow tires make a HUGE difference on any car even over all-seasons, I think there should be a law in New England that you have to have them

Actually my summer tires didn't do too badly today on the snow and ice, albeit less so on ice, but not much does well there... Still I agree snow tires probably would have been 10 times better and I could have maintained triple digits in the snow...

I have to say, I am seriously considering getting some winter tires. BUT, I enjoy my C4S mostly for what it does best; speed, handling and steering precison etc, basically a performance car. I love the cenrifugal g-force on highway ramps, and the thrill of speeding on empty highways. I am afraid in winter my c4s could only be a mere means of transportation, I don't see the joy in this. Am I missing something.

Yes, you're missing the fact that your C4s will perform very well with a high quality set of winter tires. I have m2s on my C2, and it's a blast to drive in the wet and dry. Granted, it isn't as precise as the summer setup, but it's worlds better than most winter transport...

yeah, my C4 with winter tires is still a beast and it'll still out handle pretty anything else on the road! the winter tires don't have as much grip but they're still pretty grippy and you can take curves really fast. i've also found with my M2s that they have a very consistent feel and break loose very consistently when you approach their limits too, just like my summer tires do.

Isn't there any concern out there that the SALT on the road in the winter will ultimately destroy the body on the car? Or all of you leasing your cars!!

Porsche has a 12 year corrosion warranty. And I won't have the car that long. I just have the car washed at an indoor detailing place every 1-2 weeks and have it detailed before and after the winter months. Keeps the salt off as much as possible. You are right though, if I was keeping this car as a collectable, I'd stay out of the salt.

I take great pride in taking my C4 in all kinds of weather. I get the same looks when I pass people while it's snowing like crazy. I do have the Dunlop Winter M2s on the car and that helps but man is it fun to be zooming along and seeing the look on people's faces. Priceless. Rob

Was reading this thread & happened to have this sent to me. So much for snow tires Happy Holidays Bill

In a side by side test , I found them at least 10 times better ... here's my previous post: https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...eferrerid=6422 BTW, not surprised the part of the "stuck truck" was played by a Ford F150!

i'm leasing, but i'm going to buy it when the lease is up because i'm modifying it to be exactly what i want, and i don't feel like having to do that again in another year. plus i don't think my fiancee (wife by then) is going to let me get another p-car at that point! i'm not worried about the salt. today's cars have coatings over all of the important parts of the car, so salt doesn't do to today's cars what it did to cars in the past. yes, it will damage it over time, but it's a car and i don't have it so it can sit in my garage! one interesting fact: did you know that, in general, washing your car in the winter is actually worse than leaving the salt on it? the reason is that car washes use high pressure that ends up driving the salt into all the little cracks and crevices on the car where it normally wouldn't have gone. salt sitting on your paint doesn't really do anything to it. it's when you drive the salt into the little cracks in the car that it causes problems! that's why rust always starts near the edge of panels. like i said, this is just in general, and sometimes it's good to wash your car in the winter, like if you have an especially high buildup of salt on it. but then you should use low pressure water to do it, like from a garden hose, never high pressure like they have at a car wash.