the LR4 19inch tire dilemma

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

cperez

Full Access Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2014
Posts
1,720
Reaction score
794
Location
Bethesda, Maryland, USA
I'm about to pull the trigger on a set of tires. Want to get them on before I start chasing snow storms.

As you probably saw I just got the TerrainContacts mounted on Monday. I doubt I've put 25 miles on them yet but I'll be happy to share my impressions once I have some time to get a feel for them.

Snow forecast here in DC keeps ducking on and off my weather app this week. Maybe I'll drive to western Maryland this weekend to search for snow; you know, take one for the team!
 

Parker Freeland

Full Access Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2018
Posts
80
Reaction score
40
Location
Denver, CO
A copy of my post on a different thread.... Last Sunday I went through a minor blizzard for a 10 mile stretch on Hwy 93 to Boulder with 6-7 inches of snow on the road. All the passenger cars and a few common SUV's were running at around 5mph with their flashers on. They were all bunched together in a collective ”Oh ****" mode and struggling to get traction. My 2013 LR4 HD with the TerrainContact A/T's had no problem getting through. It was amazing! Safely passed about 15 on the way up and about 20 on the wayback to Denver. Not cocky but confident! 19inch wheels.
 

TrinidadLR4

Full Access Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2018
Posts
483
Reaction score
294
Location
NE Washington DC
Is anyone running 255 60 19s? I want a taller sidewall and honestly don't mind the stock wheels. There are a quite few options available in that size(michelin defender LT, etc) but for most of them, the load rating is 109-110, which, as I understand, is borderline for this heavy thing.
 

ktm525

Full Access Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2017
Posts
2,597
Reaction score
1,263
Location
alberta
A copy of my post on a different thread.... Last Sunday I went through a minor blizzard for a 10 mile stretch on Hwy 93 to Boulder with 6-7 inches of snow on the road. All the passenger cars and a few common SUV's were running at around 5mph with their flashers on. They were all bunched together in a collective ”Oh ****" mode and struggling to get traction. My 2013 LR4 HD with the TerrainContact A/T's had no problem getting through. It was amazing! Safely passed about 15 on the way up and about 20 on the wayback to Denver. Not cocky but confident! 19inch wheels.

Living in Denver you should invest in a set of real winter tires.
 

manoftaste

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2006
Posts
618
Reaction score
194
@manoftaste you threatened back in March to give us a review of the WRG3s and also these Contis.:itsme:


Ha, I know I know. Really, been meaning to and feeling ****** for not being able to yet, but one thing or the other... Sincere apologies.

I've put only about 2k miles on those as I had purchased those pretty late winter last year and had to switch to non-winter shoes (TerrainContacts) much sooner, so didnt have the opportunity to test them as much in any real snow/icy conditions.

But I'll be switching back to nokians next week hopefully.

The gist of my real limited personal experience so far is that they have been great all around during last year dry wintery conditions and some rain.

Ive lived and have driven for about fifteen years in that brutal east coast and new england wintery conditions and am quite familiar with what you have to deal with over there as well as not having the proper tires on a heavy truck like LR3/4 (my LR3 with stock all season goodyears and narrow escapes a couple of times). So if TCM75 is happy with the WRG3s in NJ, I am quite sure that you'll be fine.
 

manoftaste

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2006
Posts
618
Reaction score
194
Maybe I'll drive to western Maryland this weekend to search for snow; you know, take one for the team!


Haha. Had done exactly that when I had gotten my LR3 back in 06. I know the feeling :)

NY was kinda relatively dry at the time while the surrounding areas were all fluffy and slushy with both some fresh powder as well some old stuff. Took my brand new love with maybe only hundred miles or so on it yet and headed west to get me some playtime, and I remember it being the late night time, ha.
 
Last edited:

manoftaste

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2006
Posts
618
Reaction score
194
A copy of my post on a different thread.... Last Sunday I went through a minor blizzard for a 10 mile stretch on Hwy 93 to Boulder with 6-7 inches of snow on the road. All the passenger cars and a few common SUV's were running at around 5mph with their flashers on. They were all bunched together in a collective ”Oh ****" mode and struggling to get traction. My 2013 LR4 HD with the TerrainContact A/T's had no problem getting through. It was amazing! Safely passed about 15 on the way up and about 20 on the wayback to Denver. Not cocky but confident! 19inch wheels.

Great, but please be careful as well, one of the owners here living in that area hasn't had many good things to say about TerrainContacts in snow and icy conditions.

Things seem ok but sometimes it maybe hard to tell if you are really riding near the upper limit or threshold point of a tire until its too late.

TerrainContacts may perform exceptionally well in snowy/icy conditions on a subaru or other lighter AWD vehicles, but it could be that its working way harder and/or close to its limits with a heavy beast like an LR3/4, specially during braking and turning.

Not to say that they are not good in those conditions but I personally would have felt a lot better with peace of mind riding these in bad wintery conditions if it had that three peak snow mountain symbol on it.

But if you are getting good feel and feedback from your four corners in snowy/icy conditions than thats also great news. How many people/cargo were you driving your 4 with at the time? Weight maybe of relevance and importance here as far as braking and turning.
 
Last edited:

cperez

Full Access Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2014
Posts
1,720
Reaction score
794
Location
Bethesda, Maryland, USA
Things seem ok but sometimes it maybe hard to tell if you are really riding near the upper limit or threshold point of a tire until its too late.

Very good points. Forewarned is forearmed. I plan to take it easy and get a feel for the snow performance as soon as I can. I mentioned in another post that I have about 10% buyer's remorse about not getting the Nokians. I'm hopeful that these tires will be adequate for the brief snow season here in the DC area and that they will be very good on pavement while having some looks to boot.

There's a video of a guy in a RR Sport driving around in snow on TerrainContacts. He's remarking how good they feel but in truth he's only lollygagging around his neighborhood with no other cars on the road. Can't really go by that.
 

manoftaste

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2006
Posts
618
Reaction score
194
I have seen that video of him driving thru a suburban neighbourhood streets. But keep in mind that the snow in the video looks pretty fresh and powdery, and not really any icy conditions.

To me at least, getting up and running in snow is certainly important but not nearly as important as having and maintaining traction on slushy or icy surfaces or patches, black ice or solid frozen layer, wether on a flat highway or on a snaking mountain road with hundreds of feet of drop on one side.

Idea of uncontrolled sliding laterally at slow or high speed in a 3 ton truck is just not fun. Its happened to me at least three times in the past (once in a full size mitsu and the other two times in my LR3. And all of those three times I had the stock non-winter tires.

Both incidents with LR3 occurred at crawlingly low speed with no bad behaviour on my part.
 
Last edited:

Ben Myton

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 5, 2017
Posts
61
Reaction score
37
Location
Tacoma WA
Yokohama now has the Geolandar AT G015 available in stock size, seems like very similar tire to the Conti.

https://www.yokohamatire.com/tires/geolandar-a-t-g015


1.png
I think I'm going to give these g015s a shot for my next set. Primarily pavement in the PNW with some distance in snow and on forest service dirt/gravel.

Anyone tried them yet?

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 

Latest posts

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
36,223
Posts
217,601
Members
30,474
Latest member
sawcut
Top