Different Ride with Snow Tires

Just put on my winter wheel set with Blizzak WS-80 tires(225/45's on all 4 wheels). Feels like I'm driving a totally different car. It seems to roll and sway. Makes me worried about taking corners too fast. Is this normal ?

Totally normal for a few reasons - taller sidewall height allows more sidewall flex - narrower width gives you a smaller contact patch with the road - soft compound and micro-siping allows the tread to flex significantly. The good part is you'll have much better grip and stopping power when it's icy and snowy out there

What Water Hound said. I also think below 45 degrees the winter rubber will "stick" better than the summer rubber on dry pavement and certainly when there is snow on the ground. Mine is in the shop now for the swap and I'm looking forward to winter. Well, sort of.

I have already adjusted to the ride that my Blizzaks give and find myself taking corners without a second thought. But, they don't grip as well as my summer tires.

You put 225s all around. That goes counter to everything I've seen on 911s. Most people put at least 265s in the back.

225's on the rear? You riding hella flush?

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Hoping that's a typo. Should be 265's in the rear on 18's. If not....yup that will upset the car's mojo.

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Yes, snow tires ride completely different, good in the snow, bad through the corners. I'm not sure how all your tires could be 225s.

I found that the Pirelli SottoZero feels more like a summer tire than the Bridgestone Blizzak. I think the Blizzaks are better in snow and the SottoZeros are better on cold, dry pavement.

To clarify, my summer tires are 18's with 265's in the rear. However when I wanted to get a winter wheelset, 18's didn't seem to be available and the local dealer said to going with 17's with the same size all around would work great.

After reading this thread, I'm going to put snow tires on my 73 Alfa Romeo Spider and use it for a DD this winter!

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The local dealer doesn't know his a$$ from a hole in the ground. I'm not sure you would have any recourse because you went along with it. I would get the rear wheels and tires taken care right away before the snow starts flying.

I was just on the TireRack.com site, which is where I purchased the set from(that's where the dealer gets his tires from as well) and the largest width they offer are 245's. Will this really make a difference ?

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As if a '73 Spider would actually start and run in cold weather.... I had a '79 Spider, and it wasn't exactly the most reliable vehicle I've ever owned.

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Take a look at the attached. This should point you in the right direction.

There's a big difference between riding on summer tires vs. all seasons let alone summer vs. winter tires (rubber compounds, sidewall strength, tread, etc). But, going from 265s to 225s in the rear is a HUGE change as well. Do you put on size 28 pants if you've got a 34" waist? If they don't make Bilzzaks that fit then you should find tires that do fit. Tire Rack sells Pirelli Wintersports in 18" 265s and Yokohama Icegards in 17" 255. There are lots of great winter tires out there to choose from. Blizzaks aren't the only game in town. Unfortunately, it sounds like you might be stuck with what you've got since you bought into whatever your dealer sold you. If it were me, I'd call my dealer back and tell them you followed their advice and the car now doesn't feel safe to drive. In winter, it's not uncommon to trade larger diameter tires for smaller ones (18s to 17s) to the extent the smaller size fits (to increase the size of the sidewall) and narrower tires ARE also better in snow than wider ones...which is, generally, one of the downsides to driving any Carrera in the winter. That said, the car was never designed to run 225s in the rear so now you're fighting physics with A LOT less rubber than the car was engineered to have in the rear. I'm sorry your dealer gave you bad advice -- but I would really take a shot at calling them and complaining. In truth, I can't even imagine what the car would look like with a 225 in the rear. Are they Porsche 17" wheels? Isn't the 17" Carrera wheel spec'd for 255s in the rear? -Eric

Interesting topic to say the least from both sides. I talked to Tire Rack this morning and they feel the 225's will be much better in the snow than the 245's. Of course, now that I've driven 50 miles on them, they won't take them back, so it seems I'm stuck somewhat.

Yeah, but nobody is debating whether narrower tires are better in the snow than wider ones. They're all missing the point. 205s would be better in the snow than 225s, too. That doesn't mean your car was meant to ever ride on 225s in the rear...which is why I'd still take a shot at talking to the dealer. They could refund your purchase, take the loss on the chin in good faith, and resell the 'used' set to recoup part of their loss in order to keep you a happy customer. You bought them in good faith accepting their guidance as experts...maybe mention to them you're considering calling customer service at Porsche NA to let them know your dissatisfaction with them since they recommended putting tires on your car AGAINST Porsche's own published specs. Just a thought. Going from summer to winter tires DOES impact performance and does, typically, require some subtle adjustment to driving behavior. It takes longer to stop, corners are a bit slower, etc. but I would take it even slower in a Porsche with 225s. You've got a lot less tire back there (especially in dry freezing weather) to keep your back end moving in the direction you intend. I say especially in dry freezing weather because that's when we are more likely to drive "normally" forgetting that we've got winter shoes on our cars. In the snow, we're naturally adjusting our driving due to the inclement weather. -Eric

blizzaks on our tsx or any other car we had them on were definitely wobbly. You really had to pay attention to speeds above 85 and going into the turns. I have found that firestone winterforce handled better in the dry compared to the blizzaks and did very well in the snow.

Understood. Just talked to the dealer and he said they do a lot of installs this way. The only real complaint aside from them driving a bit differently which we know is due to the softer materials, higher profile, etc... Is that aesthetically the narrower tires on the rears don't look as good. Probably the best thing to do is to drive them for awhile and if I'm still not happy, buy the wider ones.

lol change dealers. Porsche didn't put 265s on the rear in lieu of 225s just for aesthetics. -Eric

So Astro....when you say dealer what does that mean? Porsche dealer? Tire dealer? Used car lot?

Porsche of St. Paul in Minnesota. I've generally found them to be very good, so I'm not thinking that I'm getting bad advice, but this forum sure has me wondering about this particular issue.

You already have plenty of replies, but...driving on new snow tires is always unnerving - the gumpy, squishy ride takes some getting used to. As the tires age it gets less pronounced - but of course the tires are at their best when almost new (i.e. all the release compound is worn off but all of the tread is still intact). Unfortunately, right about the time they start to feel good and solid is pretty much when you need to replace them.

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You're fine, Porsche sets up tire sizes for best handling and performance. You can safely use other sizes, nothing "bad" will happen with using non staggered tires. All that matters if circumfernece. In this case 205/50 vs 225/45 = -0.4% difference 255/40 vs 225/45 = -0.3% difference Verdict... your tires are essentially the exact same circumference as stock recommendation.

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At the risk of sounding argumentative - which is not the case - Porsche sets up the tire sizes to maximize the car's manageability. In the case of the 911, it's to add extra grip in the rear to overcome the car's propensity to oversteer and instead to try to get the car prefer understeer (like everything else made in the past 20 years). Some people - especially those who drive older 911's and like to use oversteer to get the car pointed in the right direction to accelerate even before exiting the corner - would argue that what Porsche is doing is in the interests of keeping "average" drivers out of trouble rather than maximizing handling and performance, while many others - me included - think that any changes done to keep the pointy end forward are mostly good.

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No argument from me. There's plenty of reasons for the stock sizing. I was just saying that the sizes they gave him aren't inherently "wrong". I definitely wouldn't be doing any off-ramps at speed, or fast maneuvering, but that running those tire sizes won't hurt the car in any way. If he's just going to the grocery store and back, he should be fine.

Well two weeks into this and I've adjusted to the different ride with all 4 same size snow tires. Just need to drive more like a normal car as opposed to driving a race car. This morning, woke up to 3+ inches of snow and supposed to get 4-6 more tonite. The car drove thru everything better than virtually any other car I've ever driven in snow, 4x4's included.

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Stupidest thing I've heard this year!