New to LR 3 with a few question.

[yrbender]

Thanks for the tire link. The Nokian WR-G2 would be a great tire to add not sure if it comes in that size. I would like to powder coat the rims and put some MT/R's on but my wife would **** me. I would like an agressive off-road tire to run year round that wont **** me in the rain - any suggestions. I fell I am on road too much for the MT/R's but the look is awesome

 

[nwoods]

I love my Cooper Zeon LTZ's, but you can't fit snow chains over the 285/60/18 tire size without snagging your upper A-arms

 

[Houm_WA]

That's good to know about the chains; hopefully the tires do well enough that chains wouldn't be absolutely necessary.

...about previous posts, I honestly just don't see a whole lot of extra value with HDC except when it's a really rocky downhill. In that case it's cool because HDC acts on each wheel and the truck really does "crawl" down the rocky slope.

On non-rocky hills (rutted, muddy hills say) I have gone down with HDC on and then off (experimentally) and it really doesn't slow you down that much. In 4-lo and in 1st gear you are going so dang slow anyway.

...and yes maybe on a hill with snow and leaves HDC is fine and it's like a comfort thing knowing that it's on. ...but I have had a particular bad experience on an icy hill on which I experienced an HDC-induced slide. ...did a 180 before I stopped, almost hit a fire hydrant!
As another experiment, I found a fairly safe hill by my house during a snow event and played around with settings. First of all my wife and I went down the steepest part in 4-lo, 1st gear and NO HDC and I sipped my coffee and waived to the neighbors as they looked on with a "that fool's crazy" expression on their face. ...or maybe it was "the LR3 rocks" expression; not sure. Anyhow, near the base of the hill, when it was safe but still sort of steep I tried using HDC. AS SOON AS the brakes engaged, I started gettin' sideways.

Perhaps it was a combination of gearing and HDC...I know that the vehicle target speed is affected by this; but I don't want to be doing that much guess-work. I turn it off in snow and ice. No need. 4-lo is 2.93:1 and that is really low. Lower than most 4x4s. I think the H3 and Jeep Rubicon are the only ones lower. ...maybe an FJ, not sure.

This is a good discussion though...I've been upset about that hill ever since. Once it snows again I'm going back; I must exorcise that deamon!

 

[gtc]

Houm - I still don't have an LR3 yet (hopefully in a couple of weeks), however I did find that HDC worked quite well in our old Freelander. Granted there was no low range, and HDC certainly didn't absolve you from steering, but I never got much of a "sideways" feeling. I used it mainly on steeper hills with loose terrain (ie small loose rocks/sand or grass). I have a test hill beside my house for it (steep and grassy), so I'm anxious to give it a whirl...

 

[Houm_WA]

gtc, HDC is cool and works fine in most situations....and would be very effective in a Freelander or any rig w/o 4-lo. What I'm saying is that it's just not needed when you're in 4-lo and doesn't provide a benefit EXCEPT on a rocky slope. Aside from that, my only indictment of it is on an icy hill.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[yrbender]

I think I found the problem with my turn signal. When I pull the lever back to flash hi-beams it stays in the third position closer to the driver and I have to manually move it to the center position. I assume the sping mechanism is broken to shift it back in the center position.

I would like to ad my LR3 is new title and new to me but was used by a college football coach for 7k miles. I found a dent in the rear driver side door, the black molding and the lower part of the driver door is loose and whistles at high speed and the cup holder on the passanger sider near the dash is broken. I forget and the round rubber stoppers on the passanger door and the rear driver side are missing just a hole. Is there anything else I should check? I did find some beer bottle tops in the back too!!

 

[codemonkey]

I've come to hate HDC with a passion, at least in low range offroading. If you let up on the gas it assumes you want to slow down, and actually brakes. Very non-intuitive for me, there may be times that I want to let up and simply do some engine braking. I've found that no HDC, lo range, rock crawl mode, and left-foot braking give me all the control I need.

In the event that I try to brake too much on a traction-marginal surfface, the ABS and traction systems are pretty amazing on this vehicle and rarely seem to induce problems on their own. But, throwing HDC in the mix and having the vehicle try to maintain a speed while also control wheelspin/locking/sliding seems to be a bit much for it.

This all being said, I haven't had to do any snow/ice yet, just mud, sand, and gravel. But, I'm really impressed with the ABS and DSC systems, I think those combined with decent tires, careful driving, and judicious use of command shift and low range when needed will be fine. In short, HDC really just seems to be a gimmick to me.

 

[Houm_WA]

I don't think that HDC is a gimmick per se...I just think that it was the brainchild of BMW in vehicles that don't have low-range; and for that it's great.

...actually I don't know who stole it from whom (LR or BMW) but the X5 is a great example of a vehicle (with no low range) that would benefit from something like HDC.

...but 4-lo renders it trivial. Except, like I said, on rocky slopes.