Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

i found out a few new things about my 944 tonight.

The headlights are much more effective at collecting snow than they are at being headlights to the point of not being able to see.
At 20mph it will try and throw me out of the car by deciding to go sideways on a straight road..... the m25 infact!

Never been so scared in the snow. Will be taking the 911 tomorrow, at least it has 4wd even if it does have 450hp will be a darn sight safer.

It's all about having the right tyres on the car Rear wheel drive in snow is fine with the right tyres fitted, and horrible with the wrong ones. Unfortunately, most modern "summer" tyres with tread patterns optimised for low rolling resistance and good fuel economy are exactly what you don't want in snowy conditions.

I was going to take the C4S to work however it is currently running on 4 cylinders so its FWD fun later

I'm not sure I'd class the tyres that are on it as modern summer tyres. Maybe old hard dunlops would be a more accurate description. Then again when your headlights have all the illumination of a glow worm, I'd swap being able to see for new rubber.

Some would call the character

That's why I have winter tyres on my 924, just a shame I didn't get out tonight to try it.

By "modern" I mean tread patterns designed in the last 20 years or so. If your tread consists mostly of 3 or 4 circumferential grooves with only a few, shallow, lateral grooves then the tyres will be pretty useless in snow.

Ageing tyres is the one thing that can let down the drive of the car.

I bought back a friend's BMW E46 328i the other day with 10 year old tyres on the back. Considering my M3 is really planted on the rear this thing just wants to go sideways. If I am honest, my Stag with 10 year old Kumhos wasn't much better.

On a few cars a set of new boots has transformed it.

My wife's MX5 was on 5 year old winters, 4 years last year & was bl00dy lethal, they were as hard as rock. £220 & it is now on shiny new Khumo winters & the difference is night & day.
She runs Yoko in the summer & we change around Oct & then change to summers in April. This is a car with RWD, no LSD & no ABS.
One car I had which was fantastic in snow was an Alfa 75, LSD transaxle box so 50/50 weight distribution & sensible 185/60 x 14 tyres.
Unstopabble.

Sheet ice in my street. My ABS still works fine!

I don't mind mine doesn't have ABS part of the charm of having a classic.

My Caterham had 10 year old boots on it when I bought on it and although fine on the road, was a bit loose on the track and I couldn't get anywhere near its 0-60 at Dunsfolds handling day. Swapped for new Avon ZZS's and it completely transformed it. Got within 0.1 of its 0-60 and had soooo much grip on the track.

My 944 shopping list has just got longer.

Redbullwings,,, wasn't at jnct 8 was it by any chance... If so you were not alone, it was like a winter Bermuda triangle with all sorts of cars (most more modern than a 944 and FWD) misbehaving very strangely in just a flurry and some slush.. wierd!

Yes things started to get really interesting round there.

3 or 4 years ago when we last had compacted snow on the roads I took full advantage of my A4 quattro and overtook lots of 2wd stuff. Good job no one told me the summer tyres I had on were the wrong ones...

I had the same experience as Pauly in my quattro A6 prob the same time couple of years ago... I did have new rubber on though which helped. It was so quiet by the time I got to Kent, it felt like my own personal rally stage No such luck on Thursday, 4 and half hours to get home from work
Redbullwings, at least you got through unscathed and learnt a bit about the car