Has anyone put winter tires on the 17" S Lites or would i be better off buying some 15" or 16" steelies?

Thanks!

 

he he he, ... I just put 215/45/17 Brigdstone Blizacks on my mine. I have no idea yet if they will fit the car as we have had no snow yet. I do need to try them on soon, so I'll let ya know.

 

In general, for snow, you're better off going with a wheel with a more narrow footprint. I have 15" holies with all season Continental Touring Tires (dealer take-offs) for winter driving. I would suggest 15" x 5.5" steelies with 175/65/15 tire size.

 

started a post about a month ago on this same subject. not much help I have to make some calls soon. I have S lites also and there is no option of getting smaller tires.

 

weaver, is it cost or lack of storage space? For the cost of larger tires for the S-lites, removing performance tires, putting on snows, removing them and reinstalling performance tires, you can get yourself a decent set of dedicated winter wheels/tires.

 

Get snows on winter,read steelies,for the winter.

 

the S lites are sitting in garage. currently have 16" SSR Comps with Falken Azenis. I don't want to use these rims in the winter time so I want to just buy winter tires and put them on the S lites. The runflats are shot. I'll figure it out i guess. Soon though!

 

Just put some real good snow and ice on them. The way I see my situation is that I don't plan on driving an any kind of deep stuff. I just want them for after the storms when there is still some snow, slush and possible ice on the road, and my driveway of course.

Not to mention the car will still look nice...

 

weaverpsu,

I was in the exact same position as you. I have the s-lites sitting in the garage w/ the OEM runflats that are shot. I have Kosei K1s/Parada Spec2s on the car. I thought it would make sense to put snows on the s-lites. I shopped around and Tire Rack has the Blizzaks at $150/each or $600 for the set.

They also have a set of Blizzaks with 15" steel wheels for $500. This is a much better setup for the snow. I actually went with the 15" Pirelli Snowcontrol on steelies for $425 for the set. Finacially it didn't make sense for me to pay $600 + mounting to put the s-lites back on, and I think I got a better winter setup.

--Radman

 

Onasled -

Are you running 215/45's for winter?

 

Minimort,

Onasled's post further up the thread says he is running 215/45/17.

--Radman

 

I just had my winter tires mounted today. I'm running the same set of Vredestein WinTrac V-XL 205/50R17 shoes that I had on last year. They don't rub with stock suspension, and they raise the ride height ever-so-slightly to help clear unplowed snow. I put over 10K miles on them last winter. They ride very nicely (no tramlining- yay!) and I expect to get another full winter out of them this season. They also have very good wet-road traction, and are V-speed rated.

The only downside is that they are heavy, and slightly larger diameter than stock. Coupled with S-heavies, this makes for a significant performance hit. Last winter, the car was noticably more sluggish from a stop with them fitted than when running with the summer runflats. The drive home this evening was better though, thanks to the 19% pulley that I didn't yet have last year.

Unfortunately, this will probably be the last winter for them, since I want to go to coil-overs next spring, and these definitely would rub with lowered suspension.

 

No problem running snow tires on wider wheels (Porsche don't sell 15" or 16" wheels in 996/997 fitment for their recommended winter tires ). Yes, it's less than ideal, as far as theory goes, but in practice it's OK, so long as you purchase decent tires.

 

Radman, thanks for the details, figured as much!