Hello all,

I live in chicago and have a question re: winter tires on a GTS.

option 1- buy a complete set of winter pirellis and center lock wheels for GTS

option 2- buy tires only and get tires switched out twice per year.

option 3- since the car is not a DD leave the summer tires on and only drive the car in the winter in dry cold conditions (not wet, not freezing, not anything where optimal traction is needed.) For option 3 to be feasible the question is will cold conditions have any negative effect on summer tires OUTSIDE of loss of traction? Is cracking of rubber etc a real concern?

thoughts?


thanks

 

Cold temperatures can induce cracking in high-performance summer tires. GM, for example, sent a warning to Chevrolet dealers advising that cars equipped with original equipment high-performance summer tires, Camaros, Chevy SSs, etc, should not even be moved from one location at a dealership to another when temperatures were under 45 degrees F in order to avoid possible cracking.

In PA, I replace the P-ZEROs on my base 991 with SOTTOZEROs in October and do not reverse switch until late April or early May to avoid potential problems. This may be overly conservative, but I feel safer.

 

I was under the same impression until I was told today that the tires don't crack at all in cold temperatures, found that odd.

So is the advantage of having a full winter set of wheel and tires simply for convenience or preventing damage to the wheels themselves when changing rubber?


thx

 

Summer tires at cold tepms turn in to plastic. Well not real plastic but they are hard and not very pliable and in turn deliver bad traction.
I drive my 997 in chicago all year round and i have a separate set of 18 inch rims and Winter tires. That is the only safe and proper way of enjoying a Carrera all year round, IMHO.

 

Live in downtown Chicago and DD 991s for the past couple years. Have not opted to switch out tires/wheels for winter and haven't had any issues.

 

Here is what the Tire Rack has to say: I tend to rely on their advice for all tire related questions. Actually in the discussion of tire storage, they also say that even storage at less than 20 degrees F can lead to cracking. Mine spend the winter in my basement.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...jsp?techid=273

 

Mmmmmm. Interesting. I have bought a winter set in the past and I guess I'll do it again. Just to be safe. Thanks.

 

Get yourself a set of proper winter performance tires (I've used the PA4s on my C2S and TT, have been very pleased). You can get a set of OZ CL wheels on Tirerack for a reasonable price, if I recall correctly, although if you have your tires changed by a pro, the wheels shouldn't be damaged with the tire swap.