Winter tyres and wheels

[aWk6234]

Hi, I’ve recently bought my first Porsche, a 911 Targa 2003, really pleased with it.

I’m considering driving to Austria next winter but I know its mandatory to have winter tyres .

In the tyre section of the handbook it says the winter tyre sizes are different to the summer set, glad I noticed that but why is that

Has anyone gone through this process, I’d be interested to know what I should look out for and if anyone has any recommendations on where to get a set of 4.

There’s lots of winter tyres and sets on eBay , prefer a garage though if I could find a reputable one.

Regards
Alan

[Cheib]

Winter tyres are normally narrower and also a smaller wheel size....have a look at a WRC car running on snow and see how skinny the tyres are. Big wide tyres are not your friend in the snow! That said these days winter tyres are so good you could just go for the same spec size tyres as you already have. Ask an OPC for a price on supplying OEM winter wheels and tyres and then you’ll know what the right size is. Have a look on eBay, I’d imagine sets come up in Europe...can’t imagine many people in the UK would run a 993 on winter tyres.

[chrisABP]

Are you using 18” or 19” wheels and what size tyres???

I have a used (but only for approx 1500 miles!) set of 19” Pirelli SottoZero N rated winter tyres that I had on my 997 GTS for sale. I’ve sold the wheels separately so was going to advertise them in the autumn.

Most PORSCHE winter options are often slightly narrower than the equivalent summer tyre

[MDL111]

I just switch over tyres on my car - one size narrower front and rear. Tyres stored at the dealer throughout the year for a small fee.

The winter tyre rule in Germany and Austria is conditions dependent if I remember correctly - I would not risk driving Nov - April without them though if it is not just a day driving (obviously not for you as you are traveling from far away) or if going into higher altitude areas

[BarcelonaLewis]

I bought a set of 17s with Dunlop winter sports on and just swap them over with the standard 18s during winter. It does mess up the spedo though in my case, even though the tyres are deeper on the 17s they're not exactly the same overall diameter as the 18s and thinner tyres.
I think mine came off a boxster, which broadens the search if you're going for ebay.