Insider’s comments were more aimed at those running 19’s and 20’s, low profiles. You should be ok on 18’s. I’ll never go that low on my 20’s, at least as long as I’m on the Adventures.

 

One undeniable is that a tire at 15# rides sooooo much more comfortably over the kind of small scree and ruts where you can make decent time, like 15-20 mph. Whether you need the extra traction or not I’m in the habit of always airing way down in the Jeep. It had 17 (and a set of 16) inch wheels, so even when it was still on stock tires (255/75-17) you could run at 15 psi without issue. With the big tires (37” bias plies) I would run 7 psi and it was like the feeling of bouncing on an under-inflated big exercise ball.




You can tell by the deformation of the pax-front tire that a rock the size of the one against the drivers-front tire would be completely absorbed within the tire carcass if you went over it and the suspension wouldn’t have to do anything and you wouldn’t even know you’d hit it.

I say all that to say I went to a lot of damn trouble to put 18s on my P400; I’m airing them down some. Probably start at 25 and adjust as needed.

 

Yeah, like insider said, you’re probably fine doing that on 18’s, but definitely not on the 20’s. As far as comfort, after spending a full day getting jostled around in the back of an aired down Jeep in Moab, I find a Defender on aired up 20’s still more comfortable than the Jeep in similar terrain. I have an old TJ beater, so I know what a crappy ride they are, but I was shocked at how crappy a brand new Rubicon still rides. Can go up anything, but man was that unpleasant.

 

^ No doubt true, but the point isn't to compare the ride of an $80,000 independently-axled Defender to that of a $45,000 solid-axle Wrangler, but rather to compare an aired-up Jeep to an aired-down Jeep, and by extension, an aired-up LR on 20s to an aired down one on 18s. I suspect the latter will be noticeably more comfortable. I'll let you know when I get to some bumpy trails next week.

Cheers!

 

Oh, I have no doubt aired down is more comfortable either way. Since I’m not going to change calipers though, I’m stuck with aired up 20’s. My point was intentional. For all the benefits of comfort airing down a Jeep, I’m amazed how an aired up Defender is still more comfortable. That’s the only point that’s relevant to me. Of course your Defender on aired down 18’s will be even more comfortable. That goes without saying.

 

I wish I could even get my hands on some sliders. I ordered from L8 over two weeks ago and they haven't even shipped, and CS has told me (aka lied to me) twice "Oh our UPS freight pickup is today/tomorrow". Under normal circumstances this would be just a minor annoyance, but I leave for Utah/Wyoming in two weeks (gonna spend 6-8 weeks living in Moab/Jackson). So now it's looking very likely that they can't get them to me by the time I leave. I had thought that a month would be enough time to get an in-stock item from NY to RI, but I thought wrong.

 

Not ideal, but maybe you could go up to NY and have them install? Not exactly on your way out west, but a pretty detour in the spring!

 

It's a good idea, I had actually reached out to them about it but they told me they only do installs on weekends and the weekend I'd be traveling by Buffalo their shop will be full of their trucks prepping for an event. Bad timing. I may though just bite the bullet and tell them to hold the rails at their shop and do the ~15-16 hour round trip to pick up this week. Sucks but I'm not confident enough in my skills to feel comfortable tackling even the medium Moab trails without as much protection as I can buy

 

I do have a question for the people who have done the lucky8 slider installation: Are the rivnuts necessary to hold the door sill trim plate on? From the pictures in the instructions, it looks kinda ugly to me. It's just a trim cover, wouldnt liberal application of double sided tape/silicon adhesive be sufficient?

 

Yes, the rivnuts hold on the metal trim piece. As with everything else to do with the sliders, the trim piece is beefy. This is good because I generally kick them a bit to clean my boots when exiting and entering the vehicle in the mud.

If for one, do not give much credence to the use of tape to carry any load in construction. If you look at my Lucky8 installation thread, you will see that I lined the inside of the sliders and the trim piece with window installation tape to keep the pieces quiet. But, I would not trust anything I would use to be secured by tape.

Just my opinion, others may have other opinions?

Enjoy !