Hey Guys!

I am waiting for a Targa 4S to be delivered some time in December. I live in Montreal, Canada and Porsche's pricing for Canada is really awful, so I ordered one from the States saving ~ 30,000USD which is enough of a difference to later deal with:
duty problems, registrations, taxes, dials being in mph, not km/h, possible headlight differences, bilingual airbag warning stickers, possible problems with insurance, and possible problems at a local dealer where I will have to service it

Here are the specs:
2007 targa 4s, basalt black metallic out & black/tarricota in.

6 speed manual (of course otherwise I would get a new sl600)
Navigation
Bose sound
Self-dimming mirrors
Heated front seats
Sports Seats
Sports Exhaust
Rear wiper
Park Assist
19" Turbo wheels.

I am absolutely excited about this car.

Here comes the background - I will have to drive it up to Toronto area then to Montreal (a 600km hike) some time in December. Those who are unfamiliar with Canadian weather can look where our country is on a globe to get a pretty good idea how cold and snowy it gets.

I will explain my hesitations and why I am even writing this post:

December is kind-of wet and snowy here, but the roads are mostly clean. Should I take a risk of driving it all the way here with summer tires?

If I were to order the winter tires at the american dealer, would the summer wheels fit in the back (if you put the back seats down)

Of course I can have them ship summer tires over and drive it with winter tires... Any advice so far?

Here comes the main and the hardest question:
19" winter tires? 19" winter rims?
I was reading a few posts on this board regarding the official 997 winter tire sizes, and they are the same size!!

235/35 front, 305/30 back

When you're driving in the snow my rule of thumb tells me this:
1. You should go for a wheel of a smaller size, to at least 17"-18" to have a medium profile for tires
2. Your front wheels and your back wheels have to be the same width


Those 2 things I learned while I was shopping for an sl500 winter tire & wheel set.


Now for the 1st - I learned that Porsche's breaks are very large, so this could be a problem right there

Opinions? Is 997 physics different from an SL?

Anyone that lives in the north, not extreme north like Norway or Yukon, but New York & up,.. what are your experiences with driving 997 and picking the right snow tires, or driving in the snow with summer tires.

All answers will be very appriciated!