winter wheels/tyres 17 or 18"

[mwadams]

Really looking for some advice as to what is best as I havent driven a Cayman in the snow and trying to way up the cost versus how much I really need them.

Where I live to tends to get a few days of the winter when I cannot get out of our road due to snow in fact this year it was bad and extremely deep I am not sure if it would made much difference fittting any car with Winter Wheels/Tyres.. (my Audi TT V6 Quattro at the time struggled)

So firstly 17" or 18" combo and is it really worth for those of you with the been there done it and have the experience?

Thanks

 

[John H]

I have a set of winter wheels and tyres for all my cars, and swear by them. Probably better than having a 4 x 4 in some situations. I have a set of N rated Conti winter tyres on my original 17" rims for the Cayman, and they work just fine, although to be fair I have no call to use the Cayman in really bad weather. Even in the winter wet and cold they feel very secure though.

 

[Chrishazle]

There's been a lot of discussion about the merits of winter tyres on both the MB forums I frequent, as front engined RWD automatic cars are about the worst possible combination for the white stuff - and guess what most MB's are!! Concensus seems to be smaller rims are better than bigger, narrower tyres better than wider. The smaller rims are also cheaper, and tyres more readily available. After our first winter with the MB C class estate - where I could not get the car off the driveway on normal tyres - I bought 16" rims with winter tyres for the following winter and had no problems, so I now change wheels every October and March/April. As said above, the winter tyres feel more secure in the cold and wet, not just in the cold and white!

 

[Dylan1]

ORIGINAL: mwadams Really looking for some advice as to what is best as I havent driven a Cayman in the snow and trying to way up the cost versus how much I really need them. Where I live to tends to get a few days of the winter when I cannot get out of our road due to snow in fact this year it was bad and extremely deep I am not sure if it would made much difference fittting any car with Winter Wheels/Tyres.. (my Audi TT V6 Quattro at the time struggled) So firstly 17" or 18" combo and is it really worth for those of you with the been there done it and have the experience? Thanks

I have had winter alloys and tyres on my last 3 Porsches and always used 1 inch less than summer tyres so my current winters which go on end next month are 17" with Pirelli sotto zeros .my opc store the spare set and change over free of charge. They make the car better than the 4WDwe had!! Depends if you want to use it much in winter ,but I would never be without them as even just in the very cold they handle so much better than summers

 

[John Sims]

Any tyre choice is a compromise. Wider tyres are better in the dry because they have a wider contact point with the road. Wider tyres are also better in the wet for the same reason assuming they can clear the water from under them. Thus a wide tyre with a deep tread could be better than a narrow tyre with a shallow thread. Great - deep tread it is then. Not necessarily. It is much easier to overheat a deep tread in the dry and then it becomes very poor at gripping the road. Snow is a completely different kettle of monkeys again. A wide tyre will spread the load over the snow, and sit on top like a snow shoe. A narrow tyre will put more load over a smaller area endeavouring to cut through the snow to something more gippy bellow. If you look at M&S (Mud and Snow) tyres on a rally car you would think that someone had stolen them off a push bike. Great in the snow, not so great in the dry. So what ever you buy you are going to compromise yourself in one situation or another. Rather than buy tyres which might be good on the odd occasion that it snows might it not be better to avoid going out in the snow and getting hit by someone who doesn't have snow tyres because they cant stop or turn as fast as you can? In the wet drive slower. In the dry drive your sports car like a sports car. However, if you are just looking to keep your best wheels from getting salt on them then get narrower smaller wheels because the tyres will be cheaper - that is the only advantage because at one point or another they aren't going to be as good as a good set of all weather tyres. Just stiring it up really []