A cousin of mine switched from Pilots to DWs (not S) and finds they're much better in cold weather. *NM*

So, put some All Seasons on the 16s this morning in anticipation of more snow and found the difference in handling marked, which led me to write this post.

I have used three different tire/wheel combinations in the past year in various configurations.

1) 205/50/R16 Front and 225/50/R16 Rear (on 16x6 front and 16x7 rear rims) Toyo Proxes RA1s - I used these primarily for track and AutoX, although they did get some street and wet use. Great AutoX and Track tires that definitely provide a lot of adhesion on skinny tires. Definitely slippery in the rain, but not as bad as you would expect.

2) 225/40/R18 Front and 255/40/R18 Rear (on 18x8 front and 18x10 rear rims) Michelin PS2. These are my summer street tires, even though I have also used them for AutoX and track, and have driven them in the rain and snow. Interestingly, they provide pretty good Track/AutoX performance - and are almost as sticky as the RA1s, but just miss that extra edge. I suspect that given the larger contact patch on the 18s, the PS2s are picking up traction due to surface area which compensates for the compound. I am thinking about mounting RA1s on my 18s for next season. They are very good in the rain. I have driven them in the snow, but DO NOT recommend it.

3) I bought a set of Continental all seasons (205/50/R16 Front and 225/50/R16 Rear (on 16x6 front and 16x7 rear rims)) today after almost spinning the car on the PS2s last week. These tires came highly recommended by a reputable source as being a good all season compromise between performance and dealing with the white stuff. I didn't go with pure snows since I wanted a tire I could use year round and it doesn't snow that much in DC. When I got the car back on the street, I was stunned at the performance differential with the PS2. Not that the car was bad but when I pushed it through a few corners I could definitely feel it sliding and being a little twitchy, which I almost never got with the PS2 or the RA1. And I am not denigrating the tire - the shop I bought them from race Porsches in their own right and have never steered me wrong, so I am sure these tires (which are nice and quiet, BTW) will be great in the wet and snow and are just fine for street driving. But I was still surprised at the difference in adhesion in just moving from a summer tire to an all season (I haven't used an all-season tire in about two years).

Thought it was an interesting observation on tires and how there is no real "all around" tire and how we have to make compromises based on what/how/where/when we are driving.

1998 986 Turbo-Look Cab
172,000 Miles
Dilithium Crystal Supercharger



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/23/2010 05:09PM by Red_Lightnin!. (view changes)

1998 986 Turbo-Look Cab
172,000 Miles
Dilithium Crystal Supercharger

they do nothing well. Put a new set of winter tires on those 16" rims of yours and you'll be amazed how they transform your car into the perfect winter driving vehicle. No comparison. Switch to good summer tires on your 18s and you'll be set for year 'round driving. Where I live here in northern Virginia, I put the winter tires on around Thanksgiving and the summer tires around Easter.

JB/SE SoDak
1997 986 - Wolfi
Yankton, SD

"Wisdom is the most perfect knowledge of the most important truths in the right order of emphasis, accompanied by a total, permanent disposition to live accordingly.

-- Br. Francis Maluf, M.I.C.M.

"(School is to be a factory) in which raw products, children, are to be shaped and formed into finished products . . .(m)anufactured like nails, and the specifications for manufacturing will come from government and industry."

-- Elwood P. Cubberley, Dean of School of Education, Stanford University, 1905

"The creatures that want to live a life of their own, we call wild. If wild, then no matter how harmless, we treat them as outlaws, and those of us who are 'specially well brought up shoot them for fun."

-- Clarence Day, This Simian World

All things in this life are a compromise, John, and with all season tires that means they still do many things very well.

Try Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Positions, and discover a modern ultra high performance all-season.

I took a good look on the Tire Rack and the reviews, while positive overall, clearly indicated that tire is not a winter tire and is not good in snow of any substantial amount.

When I talk about compromises, for example, I mean all-season tires can't possibly have the soft, stickly rubber compounds that dedicated high performance summer tires have for summer driving as just one example that I consider critical in a Porsche. They aren't great in the summer, they aren't great in the wet, and they're maybe okay in light snow. Where I live there are extremes of heat, wet, cold, and heavy snow. I get by year round with M&S Goodyear SilentArmors

[www.tirerack.com]

on my 4X4 Ford truck but on Holly's and my passenger cars, it's dedicated summer and winter tires. This is especially important for Holly's car as she's a child of the South, unused to driving in winter conditions and I consider her safety one of my major responsibilities. In the case of my Boxster, my experiences with summer and winter tires are so positive, I see no reason to risk my car and our personal safety on anything less than the best.

JB/SE SoDak
1997 986 - Wolfi
Yankton, SD

"Wisdom is the most perfect knowledge of the most important truths in the right order of emphasis, accompanied by a total, permanent disposition to live accordingly.

-- Br. Francis Maluf, M.I.C.M.

"(School is to be a factory) in which raw products, children, are to be shaped and formed into finished products . . .(m)anufactured like nails, and the specifications for manufacturing will come from government and industry."

-- Elwood P. Cubberley, Dean of School of Education, Stanford University, 1905

"The creatures that want to live a life of their own, we call wild. If wild, then no matter how harmless, we treat them as outlaws, and those of us who are 'specially well brought up shoot them for fun."

-- Clarence Day, This Simian World



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/2010 02:04PM by John Brown of Northern Virginia. (view changes)

I wanted the all seasons so that I could use them for long trips in the spring/summer if I wanted to without burning up the expensive PS2 rubber on my 18s - I mean, no point worrying about threshold adhesion on I-95. And given the ride and noise of pure snows relative to the limited snow in the DC area (yes, even last year there wasn't that much compared to where I grew up in the Northeast) I wanted a little better ride.

So, of course the question is, how does the Continental Contitrac DWS perform on snow? The answer: AWESOME!

I was at my parents in NJ last week for Christmas and we got about 14" of snow. After we shoveled the driveway, there was still about 1-2" in the road after plowing and I'll be shucked if the end of the cul-de-sac didn't look an awful lot like a skidpad . . . so I took the Boxster out and was really, really impressed with the DWS. Got the car up to about 20-25 with very little slip, there was no throttle-off oversteer and to induce throttle-on oversteer I really had to stomp the throttle - and once I corrected steering and backed off, the car came right back on line. I was very impressed.

1998 986 Turbo-Look Cab
172,000 Miles
Dilithium Crystal Supercharger



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/2011 04:00PM by Red_Lightnin!. (view changes)

and it's a very impressive high performance all season tire, well suited IMO to our cars. Still not as good as dedicated performance winter tires, but very good for those who want one year 'round tire and need to contend with snow in the winter. They seem to sacrifice performance in the dry due to softer side walls, but a little more air pressure might fix that.

I'll stick with my ContiSportContac2s in the spring, summer & fall and my Dunlop SP Winter Sport M3s in the winter, but I admit the performance all seasons, particularly the Conti, have come a long way indeed.

Thanks.

JB/SE SoDak
1997 986 - Wolfi
Yankton, SD

"Wisdom is the most perfect knowledge of the most important truths in the right order of emphasis, accompanied by a total, permanent disposition to live accordingly.

-- Br. Francis Maluf, M.I.C.M.

"(School is to be a factory) in which raw products, children, are to be shaped and formed into finished products . . .(m)anufactured like nails, and the specifications for manufacturing will come from government and industry."

-- Elwood P. Cubberley, Dean of School of Education, Stanford University, 1905

"The creatures that want to live a life of their own, we call wild. If wild, then no matter how harmless, we treat them as outlaws, and those of us who are 'specially well brought up shoot them for fun."

-- Clarence Day, This Simian World

Might want to consider the Michelin Pilot Alpin PS2 as well. Just had them put on about 3 weeks ago and experienced some snow here in MD...very impressive handling but they of course have great new tread. Ride, I find, is quite acceptable with much better than expected cornering. I was reluctant to purchase the DWS Conti from Tirerack as the reviews indicated softer than usual sidewall prone to blowouts especially with potholes (we have many)....worried me given that the 987S does not have a spare. They were very well rated otherwise....better than the PA2 in some respects but I did not relish the idea of a flat in the city (or anywhere!!). My 2 cents.... Bob

I looked at Michelin's tire site and I don't an Alpin PS2.Bibendum

Minus 40 degrees... Is that Fahrenheit or Celsius?

Have a look on the Tirerack.com site.....PA2's are sized for our cars and Porsche approved tires. PA3's are probably on Michelin wesite but not available in my 18" size....don't know your tire size so you may find otherwise...Bob

Switched from PS2's on my daughters MB C-230, to Conti DWS. Agree the summer performance suffered a little, but the gain in winter performance has been fantastic. Drove the car once in light snow, and was very pleasantly surprised at the amount of traction.

I have been driving a friends cayenne turbo ,it has a set of blizzacs on it. I would say that has to be the ultimate winter vehicle with 3 inches of snow you can punch it and it still pulls really hard!