Do You Need Winter Tyres For Your Porsche?

Buying winter tyres for your Porsche is something you would probably never have even considered a few years ago, but it is now an issue that is raised every time the cold weather approaches. So, is changing rubber for the winter a sensible safety precaution or an unnecessary expense?

There is plenty of evidence to demonstrate that winter tyres perform much better than standard rubber in low temperatures, particularly if the road surface is blanketed in snow or very wet. It has persuaded the governments in Germany and Austria to make them mandatory during the winter months, although there are no plans to introduce similar regulations in the UK.

British motorists have been reluctant to invest in cold weather tyres, perhaps because the winters here can be very mild. But, it is worth at least looking at what winter tyres can do as you prepare your Porsche for the coldest period of the year.

The benefits of winter tyres for Porsches

Put simply, the benefit of fitting winter tyres to your Porsche is improved safety in temperatures below +7°C.

The tyres are designed to give increased traction on snow-covered, icy or wet road surfaces, which should allow you to drive safely in all but the very worst of the British weather. The extra grip is as noticeable and performance-enhancing in an all-wheel drive Cayenne as it is in a rear-wheel drive Boxster.

Braking distances in cold weather are also significantly shorter than those achieved on summer tyres. Michelin claims that at 31 mph on snow a typical car takes 48m to stop on summer tyres and just 24m on winter tyres. Other manufacturers are less bullish about the performance of their cold weather tyres, but claim that the stopping distance is reduced by at least 4m on snow and 3m on very wet roads – more than enough to make the difference between a collision and a near miss. At 50 mph, the stopping distance on snow is around 18m shorter on winter tyres.

The science – how do winter tyres work?

Cold weather tyres perform so well in wintry conditions thanks to a combination of a special rubber compound and a tread pattern optimised for icy and wet roads.

The major tyre manufacturers have developed rubber compounds with a high silica content to combat the effects of low temperatures. Standard summer tyres start to harden once the mercury dips below +7°C, but the rubber in the winter compound stays softer and more pliable in cold conditions, giving more grip and better braking on wet, icy or snow-covered roads.

Winter tyres also have a completely different tread pattern, with around seven times as many sipes (small grooves) in the tread blocks as summer tyres. This provides significantly more traction, as the sipes fill with snow which then grips to the snow on the surface of the road. The greater number of grooves also clears water more effectively to reduce the risk of aquaplaning on wet roads.

While the rubber compound and tread patterns perform very well in winter conditions, they are not as effective as standard tyres when the temperature rises, so they cannot be left on all year round. You can avoid having to have two sets for the different times of year by fitting all-season tyres, but tests by Which? found they do not perform as well as the right seasonal rubber.

Porsche winter tyre tests

Motoring journalists seem happy to use any excuse to put a Porsche through its paces – including testing cold weather tyres.

In autumn 2013, the Daily Telegraph’s Chris Knapman tested two Cayennes and a Boxster on the Ice Hill at Silverstone’s Porsche Experience Centre. The test was somewhat artificial, with the traction control switched off, but the results were quite impressive.

In October 2012, Autocar’s Steve Sutcliffe drove a Porsche 911 on a snow-covered track in Latvia as part of a Michelin-sponsored winter tyre test. We’d probably go with the ‘take the kids sledging’ or the ‘sitting in front of the fire’ option if the roads in Yorkshire were ever that snowy, but the cold weather tyres do appear to be highly effective.

Should you buy winter tyres for your Porsche?

There is no ‘one size fits all’ answer to this question, as despite the better performance they give in low temperatures, whether winter tyres represent a good investment depends on your own circumstances. It also depends on the weather, but as even the Met Office struggle to give an accurate estimate of how cold a winter will be, that can never be more than a guess.

If you live in a rural location prone to bad conditions during the winter months or on a steep hill, it is worth giving serious consideration to buying a set of cold weather tyres. The extra grip will mean you can use your Porsche almost every day during the winter, if you need to.

It is a different situation if you live in a town that is rarely hit by prolonged spells of bad weather or if you bought your Porsche just to drive for fun at the weekends. You may well conclude that managing without your car for the few days of snow we have in a normal year is a sacrifice worth making in order to save the cost of a set of winter tyres.

The weather and where you live shouldn’t be the only factors in your decision though. You also need to think about where you can store your other set of tyres when they are not on the car and whether there are any insurance implications of changing rubber. Most insurers are happy for winter tyres to be fitted without them being informed, but you can check what your cover provider’s policy is on the ABI’s website.

Buying winter tyres for your Porsche

If you decide you want winter tyres, buy and fit them before the bad weather arrives. The manufacturers don’t supply huge volumes for the British market and it can be difficult to get hold of them during a prolonged cold spell.

At Revolution Porsche we can supply N rated tyres at very competitive prices, so call us on 01484 717342 or contact us via the website for a quote on a set of winter tyres.