Added 17mm spacers - scroll down to 1/14 post.
Last weekend I put my snow tire package from Tire Rack on my machine without any casualties.

The wheels are Silver Mille Miglia 3 with Conti Winter Contact TS 810S
Front 18x8.5 235/40VR-18
Rear 18x10 265/40VR-18

The whole package cost about $2100 including mounting, balancing and shipping. I think this is a reasonably economical alternative for those of us who need our cars to be daily drivers. It also means that my stock 19” Classics with that fat 305 rear rubber are safe in my mother’s suburban garage hibernating until Spring.

On the road, I can appreciate slightly more road noise (tested up to 95 mph on the way back to Boston) and they may be a tad ‘rougher’ going but I’m not sure. No white stuff yet so the acid test will have to wait for another report.

Overall the look is pretty good. Since the rears are 305 mm stock and the snow rears are 265, I was concerned about a 40 mm gap. The offset on the snow rims is I’m guessing about 15-20 mm more than stock hence looking at the rear snow tires on the car it looks like a –20 mm swap (see pics below). While it’s a bummer not to have that beautiful phat *** filled with rubber (my God that sounds wrong), I think the functionality of having snow tires that perform is more important…for now!!!!!!!!! In some of the pics below I have changed the passenger rear to the 265/40/18 so that a direct comparison to the stock 305/35/19 on the driver rear can be made.

Analogously, the front snow tires are slightly WIDER appearing than stock because of the increased offset of the rims.

Here is my detailed photojournalistic chronicle of changing to the snow shoes.

The tools for the job fit nicely in the boot of the 4S. The jack is from Sears – note that the torque wrench, socket, and Porsche security socket all fit nicely as well:



Pic of snow tires waiting to be used:



To make the comparison, I first changed the passenger side rear wheel to the snow tire:



Here is the rear snow tire…



…compared to the stock 305 rubber here:



This is what a 305 looks like next to a 265,…40 mm is a lot!



Here are the stock 19” tires:



Here are the 18” MM3 Snow Tires:



In this profile shot you can see how the rears are about 20 mm shallower than stock and that the front fills out the wheel well.



Overall I think this package from Tire Rack is a good one. I might put a little spacer action on the rears but we'll see!

Thanks to Damon for this nice package. Of course there's no snow in the Boston forecast but I'm sure this will change.

PS There's a technical issue with my new user status so don't be offended if I don't reply to responses quickly (I can't reply yet!!!!).

 

Nice to see a year round Carrera. Congratulations!

 

Nice, but IMO it is shaemful to drive a car like that in the snow. Better off buying a nice SUV for the winter.

 

Why not have fun all the time?

 

Q: do you not need a realignment when going from 19's to 18's?

 

Absolutely no reason on earth why you can't drive this car all year round, or the C2/S for that matter.

They were all designed and tested in arctic conditions so why be a wuss and lock them up for the winter?

My C2S was out in the snowstorm we had in Chicago a few weeks ago and it did just fine with winter tires on.

 

I'm working with H&R to get spacers for anyone that wants to push the rear wheels out some. Should have in a few days. Really won't be relevant until next year, as he got about the last set we had this season! Great looking car - drive that puppy year round!

 

I just spent way too much on the factory 18" winter tire/wheel package. It was IMPOSSIBLE to find snow tires that fit the stock 18" Carrera III wheel, and when I asked the dealer about other wheels that might fit the 997 C4, they said that they thought the bolt pattern had changed from the 996 to the 997. Another thing that made it more difficult was the TPMS (tire pressure monitoring) on my car. So I ended up buying the factory set with TPMS, which is probably the most I could have spent short of getting the factory 19" set with TPMS. S***, I should have known better.

Do you have TPMS? If so, does this cause any problems with the car when using aftermarket wheels?

Anyone know anything about Nokian, which is the brand of snow tire that Porsche sells, and which apparently is the only brand that comes in 295/35 18"?

 

We get calls from people looking for Nokian all the time - some people swear by them. I'd love to try a set.

 

Hooray - I can reply to posts now!!!
Ferrarislave,...this is a 911 not Ferris Bueller's friend's father's Ferrari! It begs to be driven year round - and I beg to drive it year round.
Now, if I lived outside of the city and had more than 1 garage spot,...things might be different! I'd love to add a Cayenne Turbo S to the stable one day,...but for now my wife's Forrester does just fine for the really deep stuff.

 

As soon as it finally snows here (and it will) I'll take some pics of my giant Speed Yellow highlighter in some of the white stuff.

 

Thanks again for all your help Damon - you da man. Talk to ya soon about some spacer action.

 

No TPMS although it is an 'option I sort of wish I had but don't lose any sleep over.' My understanding is that you can swap the TPMS sensors between wheels.

 

Its AWD and its not going to melt goto Europe where people dont let there cars sit around like us foolish Americans you will see GT2's GT3's and all amkes and models parked with wheels up on the curb and in some tight *** spots...drive that baby all year long and if need throw a ski rack on and take it up to the mountains...

 

I know it's completely different but I can give you a heads up on quality. I've used nothing but Nokian tires for my mountain bikes for the last four years and they're unbelievable. I'd say it's definitely worth a try.