My Cayenne Diesel will be here in the next few weeks, and although its only August, I am thinking about winter tires and wheels (I live in Canada), as I ordered the Cayenne with the summer tires. So I have two questions:

1. For those of you with winter tires, do you also have seperate wheels or can I just put winter tires on the same wheels as my summers?
2. If the answer to question 1 is that seperate wheels are better, wondering if I can use my 18" Borbets (XL) that I have been using on my Jag XF. Will they fit the Cayenne? I ththink they are 8x18, and have a 35-50 offset. The Borbet website says they have 5 holes.

Many thx for your help.

 

I have different wheels/tire for winter/summer use. I ride 20's in the winter and 21's in the summer. I find that this gives me a better ride in the winter (with the crappy roads) and allows me the larger 21's to have fun with summer tires in the summer. As for your Jag wheels, Im unsure of the Jag bolt pattern (Porsche is 5X130) but the offset is very aggressive for our trucks. The norm is in the 50's for offset.

 

i have two sets in michigan, and reco the pirelli scorpians for winter.

 

Thx for the responses. Do you have two sets only because of the different sizes, or is there any concern over stretching tires when exchanging them on the same wheels? I have 19's on my Diesel, so thought this size could also work for winters. Not sure whether or not to be concerned about tire stretching though.

 

I just hate having tires taken on and off wheels repeatedly. Seems no matter how good the tire/wheels shop is, eventually, they will mark-up or otherwise damage the wheel.

 

definitely go with a second set of winter tires and rims....makes things allot easier then having to swap tires every fall/spring. If your interested I have a set of of 18-inch turbo twist rims with winter tires that I will be selling (my summer rims are 19's)....and I'm just north of Toronto!!

 

Thor7000 - sent you a PM.

 

Smaller wheels work better on snow, 21 inch wheels even with winter tires would not be as good as 18 or 19 inch wheels. Your 19 inch wheels could be shared with summer and winter tires, but it would be better to go with an all-season tire and save the wear & tear (and expense - mounting & balancing).

 

Not real keen on all season tires for Canadian winters. As an old German car expert once told me about tires, "when they say all season, they mean all seasons...In California. "

 

You're undoubtedly right for Canada, down here on the coast of Connecticut they work OK.

 

I run Pirelli's Scorpion Ice & Snow on my 05 CS with 19" Design Wheels and have never had a problem in the Sierra's, Rockies, and/or upper Michigan winters. I highly recommend these tires. I bought these after wearing out the summer sport tires that came from the factory after about 10K (Michelin Latitude Diamaris I think). Great tire and a lot of fun , but turns the cayenne into a coffin in the snow . I have run them year round ever since... and never looked back. I know I know... I lose some performance, but the hassle of swapping and storing wasn't worth it to me for whatever performance gains I gave up and they run quiet in the summer with the security of being able to handle whatever rain comes our way.

I couldn't agree more about the all season comment, if you are driving in the harsh winters it is worth it buy a winter tire. When my 13 CS arrives with 20" Sport Design Wheels , I will be swapping out whatever all season rubber comes with it for the Pirelli Scorpion Snow and Ice.

 

they will make you laugh in winters face^

 

Hmmm, never thought of running winter's year round. Does anyone else do this? Are there any other negatives besides a bit of summer performance? I'm guessing premature wear? Other pros and cons?

 

there is no way you could run winter tires year round.....they would burn up in 1-2 months!!

 

Awakening an old thread as I sit around waiting for my first Cayenne (GTS) to be built ...

I currently have an FX50 with 21" rims and Bridgestone Blizzaks and I drive them year-round. They have about 15k miles on them over the last three years. Some important points:

- while these tires are marvelous in the snow and on ice, they break loose quite easily on wet pavement. They hydroplane in the rain, and driving on the marked pavement (white/yellow lines) in rain is a recipe to lose traction.

- my Blizzaks still have plenty of tread. However, some snow tires have an extra "sticky" compound that wears away in the first 20-30% of tire wear. So - while you will still have plenty of tire tread, you will lose some of that extra compound and the tires will not perform as well in the wintry conditions.

Just some food for thought.