Winter in a 993 C4 in New England

Call me insane, but I recently purshased a 1996 C4. Living just outside of Boston and intending to drive the car daily, I was wondering if anyone could help me with two concerns of mine. First the issue of Snow tires. I want to get a second set of wheels/tires. Will 16" wheels fit the C4? I strikes me that this might be a better setup than 17" for winter use. I don't plan to drive in terrible weather, just on the days after a storm. Second, my car is outside a lot. I'm a bit concerned about the atuomatic wing getting frozen shut. Is this a reasonable concern? It occured to me that I might get an aftermarket fixed wing to prevent any difficulties in this area. Are there any kits to convert the motorized wing to a fixed setup? Thanks in advance.

Ron Mann

Believe me, you'll have more worries with doors freezing shut....and damaging the rubber seals. Best thing to do is let the car warm up for a few minutes before you drive off. There is a lot of residual heat in that area which should quickly melt the ice away. Alternatively, you could pour some COLD water around the tip if the ice is particularly heavy. I don't know the details but it should be relatively simple to extend the wing (I presume it's electrically extended and retracted) It should be fairly simple to give it a signal to extend and then isolate the power thus leaving it in that position. Unless you are hitting some seriously low temperatures, it shouldn't really be a problem.

1. Yeh, go to 16" wheels w/ a higher aspect ratio (ie go from 40 or 50 series to 60 series) so that the outside diameter is about the same. A bit narrower helps w/ traction also.

2. Don't drive fast enough to extend the wing until the engine compartment has warmed up. Prob not too long.

Ya know, I'll bet Porche thought about freezing, anyway - shouldn't be a problem. It snows in Germany, too. Also, people drive them all year here in Denver.