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Winter Wheels/Tires for 718

10K views 12 replies 7 participants last post by  OttawaSteve 
#1 ·
First cold morning in the Northeast US today and it has me thinking about what to do with my 20" Carrerra S wheels with P Zero Summer tires on my new 718 Boxster S. I know there is a Tires and Wheels forum, should I be posting there, or is the newness of the 718 worthy of a conversation on tires here. Doesn't matter - I am a newbie - I am sure I will piss someone off by asking here, but wanted to get a thread started.

What's the best option to attack winter driving with the 718 20"s? Keep the rims and put on Pirelli winter tires or pull the rims altogether and put up a set of 19" wheels and winter tires. Seems costly having to get wheels, tires and sensors and in New York we don't have snow all the time. Will it be a decent ride on the 19 Winters or is it just aggravation! Thoughts?
 
#2 ·
You may have a hard time finding tires to fit those RIMS this early in the 718s release. You may have no choice but to get new rims and the appropriate snow tire to fit them. If you are going to be daily driving this car, then the snow is not your only concern here. Those summer tires should not be used below a certain temperature due to the compound they are made out of. They will crack in cold weather not to mention will be very slippery on cold pavement. I am not sure what the lowest temp is on this particular tire but you can probably google it or read the tire manual, most likely 40-45 degrees.
 
#3 ·
This is not specific to the 718, but more of a general rule of thumb (for myself). IMO, it is never a good idea to swap summer and winter tires on and off on the same wheel. Instead, it is far better to use separate summer and winter wheel+tire combos.

Porsche has a recommended tire size document for all of their current models, and I have included the current (as of date of posting) link below:

http://files.porsche.com/filestore/...1e5-b99f-0019999cd470/Tire-identification.pdf

There are recommended combos for 18" - 20", and I would personally go with the narrowest tires on smallest wheels at 235/45/18 front + 265/45/18 rear for a winter setup.
 
#4 ·
If you make the decision to get a winter tire combo, and I highly recommend it if you are going to drive all year, I would consider 18" wheels. I imagine potholes are an issue in NY as they are north of you, and its nice to have additional sidewall height when you hit one.

My understanding is that the recommendation for the Pirelli P-Zero N0 tires (i have them too) is no go below 7 degrees C, or 45. I ahve already had two mornings where i had to take the other car.
 
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#5 ·
I'm taking delivery of my 718 in January in NJ. After reading this thread and a couple others I realized I will need some winter tires to be put into the car even to drive it home as it usually gets pretty chilli. Do you guys think it is worth going with the official winter wheel and tire set that porsche sells? Those go for approx $3K so not sure if I can really get anything cheaper. Also, how do you usually go for the switching between winter and summer sets? Do you take it to porsche or somewhere else? Thanks!


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#6 ·
I'm taking delivery of my 718 in January in NJ. After reading this thread and a couple others I realized I will need some winter tires to be put into the car even to drive it home as it usually gets pretty chilli. Do you guys think it is worth going with the official winter wheel and tire set that porsche sells? Those go for approx $3K so not sure if I can really get anything cheaper. Also, how do you usually go for the switching between winter and summer sets? Do you take it to porsche or somewhere else? Thanks!
Go to Tire Rack and get a set of 18 Sport Design Cup 4 and Pirelli Winter Sottozero Serie II for out of the door price of ~$2K.

If you do autocross or track then get a set of 19 OZ and snow tires instead and it will run you about $3K. You can use the OZ for track/autocross in the summer and they are easy to sell when you don't need them.
 
#9 ·
Even in spite of the occasional hurricane, this reminds me of never looking back with the decision to move South in 1990.............sorry, but as an inveterate car guy it is literally one of the reasons my wife and I chose to move. I spent two years in Ohio for a job 2004-2006 and made the move back as soon as I could with a different job. Guess this makes raises hear headism to an art form.....
 
#11 · (Edited)
Thanks for all the information on this thread. I've been researching wheels/tires now for my new 718S for a couple of weeks and appreciate the education. Interesting that when you call TireRack, they don't offer a single tire/wheel package for winter for the new 718 (20") yet and don't expect anything until the spring. Working with my local tire guy here north of New York City, we managed to put together a package of:

Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 N-SPEC
235/40R19
265/40R19
Victor Equipment Wheels - Matte Black Zehn (10 Spoke) with exact fitment to the new 718
19x8 Front and 19x9.5 Rear
Porsche TPMS sensors and I have to now hunt for matte black center caps with Porsche emblem.

Alloy wheel Rim Wheel Spoke Auto part


Total package is coming in at about $2500, which is over $2K lower than the great deal that Porsche supposedly was offering on their 19" Winter package, which only comes in silver and looks terrible. By the way, I was able to get the Porsche dealer to knock 15% off the list price, but add in TPMS, tax, etc and your are back up over $4,500. As for the new configuration above, everything should be in next week and I will put up pictures once installed. Thanks again for all the great help. I'm open to any feedback on the Victor Equipment wheels if anyone has used them before. Thanks!
 
#12 ·
UPDATE: Winter Wheels/Tires for 718

I wanted to follow up on my experience thus far of moving my 718 Boxster S daily driver over to Winter Wheels/Tires. It's been a great fall so far in New York (with some incredible top down driving days in this beautiful car) and although I had the new wheels about a month now, I avoided putting them on until the weather forecast showed a consistent row of sub 40 degree days. That happened about a week ago. The experience so far has been great.

To catch you up, I have moved from my 20" Carrerra S rims to 19" Victor Equipment Wheels with Michelin Pilot Alpin PA-4's. I tried initially to use TireRack for wheels and tires but TireRack has not certified the fitment on the 718s yet and doesn't expect they will be able to offer a package this winter. Using my tire guy (who I got to know very well after owning a BMW 6 Series with run flats (21 tires in 3 years) we contacted Competition Wheel and they were able to spec us the Victor Equipment Zehn rims in 19x8 front and 19x9.5 rears. Installation was a breeze, however the porsche wheel lock socket didn't fit into the bore hole in the new rims. So that's not good and I will be driving with unsecured wheels. The center caps are in platinum on black rims and that didn't look great but the new ones will be here in a week and will swap it over.

The ride feels different and I want to say it feels better, but hesitate for now. I want to get a good long ride in before I am sold. Certainly I have peace of mind driving around that 40 degree mark or lower than if I had the 20" summers on, but I also feel that the extra inch or so of sidewall is really going to help with those potholes that will start popping up after the first snow. The look is certainly different too with the matte black rims versus the platinum painted Carrerra S rims (which I love). It's starkly different, but again I think in a good way. It's almost like a wardrobe change of season. I still like my summer clothes, but the winter threads are nice too.

Thanks to all those who weighed in on the limited options for new 718 owners for Winter driving. Your feedback was excellent. I hope folks in the 718 forum actually see this as I feel its lost a bit buried in this forum. Happy driving!

Specs:
Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 N-SPEC
235/40R19
265/40R19
Victor Equipment Wheels - Matte Black Zehn (10 Spoke) with exact fitment to the new 718
19x8 Front and 19x9.5 Rear
Porsche TPMS sensors
Porsche Anti-Theft Wheel locks (which I could not install because the Porsche security socket do not fit the Victor Equipment bore)
Porsche Center Caps (58mm inner clips - 76mm exterior concave) matte Black with hand painted Porsche logo (still on order)
Total cost $2,380 (Savings of $2,100 over Porsche wheel and tire package for 718)

Here are a few photos of the finished job (ignore the swirl marks in my paint - getting it detailed on Friday).

Land vehicle Vehicle Car Sports car Automotive design
Land vehicle Alloy wheel Vehicle Rim Wheel
Land vehicle Vehicle Car Wheel Alloy wheel
Land vehicle Alloy wheel Tire Rim Wheel
Alloy wheel Rim Wheel Tire Spoke
 

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#13 ·
Re: UPDATE: Winter Wheels/Tires for 718

Looks great, nice to hear it all worked out. I have 20" black Carerra S wheels for summer and 18" 5 spoke for winter on my 981. I laughed when I read the wardrobe change of season - that's exactly what I feel too. Enjoy the snow!
 
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