I posted this in another thread, but wanted to add to the "main" LR4 18" tire thread.
I put the Defender 18" steelies on my LR4 about 5 weeks ago. After over 5 years of thinking of 18" wheels and dreaming of the tire possibilities over the standard 19" wheels, I was actually sort of let down by the options when it came time to figure out what tires I actually wanted. What I learned is this: in my point of view, there are only a few "best" tire options for an 18" wheel on an LR4, so long as you want to stick with the sizes that won't create issues if your air springs fail and the Rover drops to the bump stops (and you do not have the SYA kit). Those tire sizes are 265/65/18 or 285/60/18.
A search on Discount Tire yields 26 All-Terrain tires in the 265/65/18 size:
But if you narrow those down to only load range E tires, there are only 6 options:
BFG All Terrain
Cooper Discoverer AT3 and Discoverer Maxx
Nitto Exo Grappler, Terra Grappler, Ridge Grappler
I went back and forth on whether E load range tires were actually necessary and/or actually meant a tougher sidewall, but my research told me that, at least in this tire size, it certainly did.
For example, my other two main options would have been the Falken Wildpeak A/T3W or the Toyo Open Country A/T III, both of which have gotten good reviews. But both of these are only SL load rated in this tire size, and if you go to the respective manufacturers' websites you can see that the ply-rating on the sidewalls of both of these are the lowest they offer--even lower than the XL load rating that comes stock on the LR4. Yes, this means the 255/60/19 Toyo All-Terrain (XL rated) is probably a better tire for offroad situations than the 265/65/18 (SL rated) version. If you are a Toyo fanboy and don't want any other tire, sticking with the stock 19-inch wheels may be the way to go there.
Going back to the E-rated tires, I've read some reports that the Coopers have experienced a lot of sidewall punctures off-road.
So, when it was all said and done, I wound up just going with the boring old BFG All-Terrains. Not really in love with the sidewall tread on these (the sidewall tread looks more aggressive than the actual tread does), but in terms of all the parameters, they were probably the best tire for me.
I should note that another tire size works if you are limiting yourself to tires that would still function if you drop to your bumpstops: 285/60/18. A bit wider but with a tiniest lower overall diameter than the 265/65/18. That size gives you the option of General tires that would also work. I'm just a bigger fan of skinny tires versus wide, though.
I put the Defender 18" steelies on my LR4 about 5 weeks ago. After over 5 years of thinking of 18" wheels and dreaming of the tire possibilities over the standard 19" wheels, I was actually sort of let down by the options when it came time to figure out what tires I actually wanted. What I learned is this: in my point of view, there are only a few "best" tire options for an 18" wheel on an LR4, so long as you want to stick with the sizes that won't create issues if your air springs fail and the Rover drops to the bump stops (and you do not have the SYA kit). Those tire sizes are 265/65/18 or 285/60/18.
A search on Discount Tire yields 26 All-Terrain tires in the 265/65/18 size:
But if you narrow those down to only load range E tires, there are only 6 options:
BFG All Terrain
Cooper Discoverer AT3 and Discoverer Maxx
Nitto Exo Grappler, Terra Grappler, Ridge Grappler
I went back and forth on whether E load range tires were actually necessary and/or actually meant a tougher sidewall, but my research told me that, at least in this tire size, it certainly did.
For example, my other two main options would have been the Falken Wildpeak A/T3W or the Toyo Open Country A/T III, both of which have gotten good reviews. But both of these are only SL load rated in this tire size, and if you go to the respective manufacturers' websites you can see that the ply-rating on the sidewalls of both of these are the lowest they offer--even lower than the XL load rating that comes stock on the LR4. Yes, this means the 255/60/19 Toyo All-Terrain (XL rated) is probably a better tire for offroad situations than the 265/65/18 (SL rated) version. If you are a Toyo fanboy and don't want any other tire, sticking with the stock 19-inch wheels may be the way to go there.
Going back to the E-rated tires, I've read some reports that the Coopers have experienced a lot of sidewall punctures off-road.
So, when it was all said and done, I wound up just going with the boring old BFG All-Terrains. Not really in love with the sidewall tread on these (the sidewall tread looks more aggressive than the actual tread does), but in terms of all the parameters, they were probably the best tire for me.
I should note that another tire size works if you are limiting yourself to tires that would still function if you drop to your bumpstops: 285/60/18. A bit wider but with a tiniest lower overall diameter than the 265/65/18. That size gives you the option of General tires that would also work. I'm just a bigger fan of skinny tires versus wide, though.
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