Wow, the stock tires are horrible in snow!

I can't believe how bad these things are. Horrible! I knew a lot of you had complained about them, but I had no idea. They are dangerously bad!

I took delivery of my LR4 in Des Moines Iowa, 200 miles away from home in the middle of a blizzard. The little rental car I took to get there was being blown off the road as I got into town. Took me twice as long to get home as it should. I had black ice, I had 2"+ ice chunk style corrugated roads, snow drifts... was bad.

Those stock tires were obviously horrid, but on the very first drive I learned just how good the terrain response was.

I now have the goodyear silent armor a/t tires. They are way better in the snow/ice, but not as good as a real winter tire, blizzaks, etc. I think the LR4 can get going pretty easily on ice just because of its diffs and weight, but turning/slowing/stopping is much harder than a normal AWD car/light suv. Weight just kills that, no matter the tires.

Yes. They are epic.

I lived through two winters in Canada and it was not fun. This winter I put on Vredestein wintrac xtreme and what a difference.

I'm not sure if it's because the truck is so heavy but without winter tires stopping was down right scary.

We just got our LR4 with the 20s from the black pack and got Pirelli Scorpions. Just took a trip to and from the mountains and overall not bad in some pretty intensive snow driving. I would say they are comparable to a little less good than the GY SAs we have on our LR3. We've gone through many winters and a couple sets and those are a very good single tire for all seasons, only downside is ice traction. You will never find a tire that is good offroad, on dry summer roads, and ice. Nothing beats a purpose build winter tire if you can manage dealing with two sets.

Hakkas are your friend. . .Been driving around in 3-4 inches of powder, pack and slush this morning, and the car drives like a tank.

I need to look into a good inexpensive set of wheels that will allow me to mount some winter tires. I don't mind switching wheels in the winter. I used to do that with my BMW a few years ago. Any recommendations?

Wheels? A lot of places, but eBay is a good bet. Tires: I like the Nokians. I'm sure they are all pretty good, though. You can also just have a tire company switch them for you on your rims. Mine charges me $75 (all 4) to do it.

jptruck said:

Wheels? A lot of places, but eBay is a good bet. Tires: I like the Nokians. I'm sure they are all pretty good, though. You can also just have a tire company switch them for you on your rims. Mine charges me $75 (all 4) to do it.

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Is there any truth to switching in and out of tires on the same wheel even if it's only twice a year weakens the tire specifically around the bead?

I use the Blizzaks and they are great. Dedicated rims.

ougrad1 said:

Is there any truth to switching in and out of tires on the same wheel even if it's only twice a year weakens the tire specifically around the bead?

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We do the tire swap on our X5 and the tires seem to be fine. The 2nd time install doesn't have leakage issues or anything.

I would say unless you want to limit your trips to the tire shop and want to swap wheels yourself it would be silly to pay for a second set of wheels unless you can get them cheap!