Winter driving

Author
Discussion

BGHughes

Original Poster:

123 posts

142 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
quotequote all
A recent Porsche video promotes winter tyres and wheels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tmBfiQItgc

Anyone here tried this service? I never have, but this year I'm swapping from a manual Carrera 4 to a PDK Cayman GTS. More power than the 996, rear wheel drive and no clutch to ease the power to the wheels.
Not sure how well I'll be able to control the Cayman in slippery conditions

Porsche say they will store your wheels until needed - don't know how much they charge for that though
A set of wheels and tyres are about £1800, but should be reusable for several years


SkinnyP

1,419 posts

149 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
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One thing I don't like about this service (at least in the case of one OPC) is that they store the tyres /wheels directly on top of each other and they don't bother to rotate them. Cue tyre sidewalls imprinting on each other.

I have the pirelli winters and they are only rated to 149, not sure about the Michelin.

Edited by SkinnyP on Saturday 11th October 21:46

FarQue

2,336 posts

198 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
quotequote all
A: winter tyres are worth their weight in gold.

B: winter tyres are a scam and not required in the UK

Your choice fella!

ps if I was spending £1800 on wheels and tyres and an opc was doing the swapping over, I'd be pretty annoyed if they charged storage. Thrash out a deal.

btw, the answer is A.

SkinnyP

1,419 posts

149 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
quotequote all
Storage is free, as is smashing your alloy to fk - all four of them.

BGHughes

Original Poster:

123 posts

142 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
quotequote all
SkinnyP said:
Storage is free, as is smashing your alloy to fk - all four of them.
Sounds like you're speaking from experience - what happened?
Did the damaged wheel get replaced?

Mad March Taffy

508 posts

119 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
quotequote all
Not sure about getting them for a Porky but I got my BMW winter set from Germany via eBay - store them in the garden shed and the local tyre shop swaps them over when it gets cold enough. Last winter was not really cold enough to justify them but the year before they more than paid for themselves.

Trev450

6,322 posts

172 months

Sunday 12th October 2014
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I went down this route aboute 4 years ago. I purchased a s/h set of wheels from http://9apart.co.uk/ and a new set of tyres from one of the online tyre houses. I also store them myself so can look after them properly.

engineermk

96 posts

127 months

Monday 13th October 2014
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So when do you swap to the winter set?

I have purchased a set from a OPC, they are sat there waiting for me book the car in for the swap... is mid-October too soon to do it?

Trev450

6,322 posts

172 months

Monday 13th October 2014
quotequote all
The general advice is when temps start to drop below 7 degrees C. I find this is usually around November where I am.

nsm3

2,831 posts

196 months

Monday 13th October 2014
quotequote all
Excellent, the Pistonheads winter tyres panto season is upon us, once again.

Oh yes they do, oh no they don't....repeat ad naseum.

engineermk

96 posts

127 months

Monday 13th October 2014
quotequote all
nsm3 said:
Excellent, the Pistonheads winter tyres panto season is upon us, once again.

Oh yes they do, oh no they don't....repeat ad naseum.
LOL. I've decided to find out for myself if they're useful or not... we'll see.

thegoose

8,075 posts

210 months

Monday 13th October 2014
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Besides the 2 usual groups (1=I've used them, they're great, 2=I'm ok with my normal tyres, they're not needed) someone once pointed out on one of these argument threads that there's a distinct lack of anyone who's actually owned/used a set of winters and then said "nah, not worth it" - which is conclusive enough really. smile

DoubleSix

11,715 posts

176 months

Monday 13th October 2014
quotequote all
thegoose said:
Besides the 2 usual groups (1=I've used them, they're great, 2=I'm ok with my normal tyres, they're not needed) someone once pointed out on one of these argument threads that there's a distinct lack of anyone who's actually owned/used a set of winters and then said "nah, not worth it" - which is conclusive enough really. smile
That's me.

I did contribute to the winter tyres thread when my expensive winter tyres failed to get me out of village but I am apparently in a minority.

Still think they're 'good', just not the go anywhere, through anything solution people seem to make out. On balance, for the UK i dont think I'd bother again unless i did many more miles and hence exposed myself to the dangers of poor conditions more.

DoubleSix

11,715 posts

176 months

Monday 13th October 2014
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mrdemon

21,146 posts

265 months

Monday 13th October 2014
quotequote all
FarQue said:
A: winter tyres are worth their weight in gold.

B: winter tyres are a scam and not required in the UK

Your choice fella!

ps if I was spending £1800 on wheels and tyres and an opc was doing the swapping over, I'd be pretty annoyed if they charged storage. Thrash out a deal.

btw, the answer is A.
can never tell

In the midlands last winter we did not have 1 frost and we had no bad weather or any snow what so ever, temps were also very high, nothing a PSS could not handle with ease.

I agree if you use a N spec older design tyre like the PS2 then you may want winters lol But in the UK this year if it was the same as last year. no need.

so Last year in the Midlands B is the Answer. The ave high temp in the whole year did not drop below 7oC even in Jan, Feb which is the day time temp.

I guess if you drive at the middle of the night winters might help but still not one day below freezing last winter in Leicestershire !!!

ANd don't say "they are better in the rain even if it's not too cold" FEB was the lowest month for rain lol April,May, Sept the highest months for rain fall where people have summers on.

You could say last winter it was prob safer to have PSS on than winters as they would out perform more of the time than winters !!!!

And yes I did have winters the year before that, I was so lazy I ran them all year round on the mini :-) act made the ride better on the mini ;-)

Edited by mrdemon on Monday 13th October 14:11

Trotmant

385 posts

114 months

Monday 13th October 2014
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Aside from tyres has anyone got a good recomendation for a winter car cover (Cayman GTS)??? - likely that I will moth ball the car during the weeks on my drive when not in use (as I don't have a garage).

mrdemon

21,146 posts

265 months

Monday 13th October 2014
quotequote all
better to keep it out in the open imo

BGHughes

Original Poster:

123 posts

142 months

Monday 13th October 2014
quotequote all
Thanks for the replies one and all

General feeling seems to be winter tyres are a worthwhile option, but shop around for a decent deal
I thought £1800 for 4 x 18" alloys and tyres seems reasonable, especially if that includes fitting and storage of the other wheels


AndrewsCayman

47 posts

117 months

Thursday 16th October 2014
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The winter of 2012 / 13 demonstrated the benefits of winter tyres to me, I would have been stuck at home for days on end without them.

I recently bought some used Cayman S 18" wheels with good condition N rated tyres Michelin Alpin on them for just over £1100. I plan to keep them in the garage until the weather turns then put them on our Cayman.

I think £1800 for a new set of wheels and tyres is a good deal, you can always sell them second hand one day and get £1100 back

MogulBoy

2,932 posts

223 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
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I you need to keep an 'inactive' steel braked car/Porsche outside for any extended period, keep an eye on the appearance of the brake discs...

Heavy rain fall will inevitably lead to splashes of water landing on the discs which will promptly turn bright orange.

No big deal as a quick drive will clean them up but you wouldn't really want to leave your car for weeks/months in such conditions as the corrosion will only build up and it'll be that bit harder and, potentially, ultimately impossible to clean up the discs simply by driving and they may need replacing or a skim job.