well...truck can't get through EVERYTHING...fun day in the snow...not

Yea, stock tires are pretty terrible in anything but dry pavement. I could never figure why LR spends a ton of R&D money on the off-road systems on these trucks, but throws complete garbage rubber on them. Probably gives best MPG ratings is my guess.

I've got Michelin Premiere LTX tires with I would guess around 30K miles on them, assuming the original owner swapped out the Continentals at around 20k like everyone else seems to do (I bought my LR4 at around 40k miles).

The Michelins don't have very deep tread when new, so you can imagine what they look like now. I was fully expecting to hate them this weekend as I slid everywhere.

But instead they've been great. I assume, however, that a lot of that has to do with the vehicle. That said, I've driven lots of full time 4wd vehicles (a prior Land Rover and a few Land Cruisers), so I know how they generally do in the snow.

This is a long way of me saying that this thread tells me that the OE Continentals must really suck.

Not to thread jack... I was just having this convo about snow tires this weekend with my wife. Does everyone think they're needed for the lr4? We currently have a landmark with the pirelli scorpions which get around ok, but aren't anything special. She's complaining because my S6 with snow tires just goes and stops on a dime.

So my question, would replacing the pirellis with say a 265 or 285/50/20 terra grappler G2 suffice on landmark wheels(what I want to do) or should I run a dedicated snow setup with 18/19s? We're not in a heavy snow area but do get our fair share of light snow and slick roads.

OK, so as a person who drives un-plowed dirt roads, and trails on the regular in the winter I can lend a few pointers.
Snow Tires are a must for a vehicle this heavy. It doesn't matter if you are on a plowed road vs fresh powder, if you cannot maintain grip, once they start to slide physics takes overs, and you end up in a ditch or worse. Tire chains are nice too, but I rarely use mine... once in 4 years.
Always have a recover strap (the elastic kind) in the vehicle, the extra elasticity (when rocking back and forth) can help propel you out of a rut an get you moving again. Also if you are stuck, nice for a passerby to just hook up to lend a hand.
Compressing the snow works to a point (if you are high centered), but once you have created an ice layer under the tire (from spinning too much in cold weather, melted snow freezes back up once the tire stop spinning) the LR4 isn't going anywhere.
Traction Mats (Maxx Traxs or similar) are awesome!!! I go through a set every few years, and I keep them in all my cars.
I get what you are saying about the driver error; i was stuck in less than 2" of snow in my in-laws drive way, because i created ice pack under all four wheels, a 2wd 86 ford ranger pulled me out .

Preparation is key to winter driving, living in Maine I have learned that. prepare for the unexpected.
I am not judging you, OK maybe a little , but we've all been there. just adding some insight for our invincible Landys

Kj71109 said:

Not to thread jack... I was just having this convo about snow tires this weekend with my wife. Does everyone think they're needed for the lr4? We currently have a landmark with the pirelli scorpions which get around ok, but aren't anything special. She's complaining because my S6 with snow tires just goes and stops on a dime.

So my question, would replacing the pirellis with say a 265 or 285/50/20 terra grappler G2 suffice on landmark wheels(what I want to do) or should I run a dedicated snow setup with 18/19s? We're not in a heavy snow area but do get our fair share of light snow and slick roads.

Click to expand...

I have both the Cooper Zeon LTZ's (love em BTW) and Bridgestone Blizzak's (Not as happy, but get the job done), there is just no replacement for snow tires.
These LR4's are heavy, and as such physics is not our friend. Once you start to lose traction it becomes a bear to bring back in line (also makes it very fun to drive in the snow ).
and honestly if you are going to spend the coin on new tires, buy a set of dedicated winters as well. You can also get the 18" steel wheel kit from Lucky8. Then the change over is easy.

I just put 255/55R19 Blizzaks on my factory 19" wheels and I have 265/65R18 on my compomotives, soon to be KO2's. I love the blizzaks, DM-V2. I think they work really well. My wife has another type of blizzak on her fairly light Lexus SUV and I think my LR4 is doing just as well in the slick stuff.

I wanted factory size on the snows, they tend to work a bit better than the wider/larger ones and I wanted to have the ability to use cables(chains) if I really needed it.

@OP, Did you turn the traction control off when you were trying to get out?


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Snow compression works up to a point. The lesson I learned the hard way is that with snow, as with fording water, it is best to check the depth. So along with a shovel and a strap and chains (which I didn't have with me when I got stuck) is to also have something like they use to find people in avalanches. Something I can stick down through the snow and find out that it is 3' deep BEFORE I attempt to drive over it and compress it into ice. I actually use an old shaft from a driver (golf club) and keep in in the car but anything that you can stick down through the snow would work. Also remember that heavy, wet snow doesn't compress as much before it becomes ice and can support the weight of the truck. After we compressed the snow we were high centered, in extended mode and we will had about a foot of icy snow before we were going to reach thr ground. I didn't have a tow strap or chain or anything like that. Only had one of those little, folding army shovels. Took us 3 hours to get out. I would share pics but the Photos app on my Mac is aborting every time I open it. Argh.

BTW, we had Hankook Dynypro tires on when this happened.

Last year I had Nokian Ha.... 2's on. Worked great. We had taken the snow tires off when we got stuck in the snow on top of a mountain pass (described above) as "winter" was "over". ;-) The Nokians were awesome. This year we're driving an LC and are hoping that our KO2s will be "good enough". We'll see.

We do weekend trips to Vermont to ski and need dedicated winter tires. Sure they have better traction, but more importantly they provide better braking and turning of this heavy vehicle on slick roads. I bought a set of used LR4 19" wheels off ebay, tpms sensors from the dealer and Nokian Hakka SUV R2 winter tires. Narrower (19") is better than 20" in snow. Taller sidewalls may help prevent pothole damage too. I always carry a tow strap, D-rings and a small shovel. If I know I'm going to be driving through a storm, I bring along the Max Trax as well.