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If snow traction is a priority, using winter tires is far more important than the locking diff. And if you want Nokian winter tires, order them soon. I just ordered a set of Hakkapeliitta R5 SUV tires for our new X5. According to my tire guy, Nokian shut down their plant in Russia so they are producing 40% less winter tires this year.
I was going up a long steep unplowed road in VT last winter and was watching the offroad screen. Both the center and rear differentials turned to the locked symbol as I never lost momentum. I do have the offroad pack and use Hakka R3 SUV winter tires on the Defender.
The Goodyear offroad tires are useless in snow. However, they are excellent in sand as they don't dig like more aggressive offroad tires. So if you plan to do any beach driving, get the offroad pack with the Goodyears.
Agreed. For traction, the right tires will trump any electrical or mechanical whizz-bang in the drive train. I think having both is the best.
I love my Blizzaks and that rear locker gets a lot of action.
Blizzaks are a great tire.
Much better than the OEM A/T
To answer the OP's question.
If I had to choose one or the other, I'd get the right tires rather than the locker.
Resell value. I think 99% of buyers won't know or care about the rear locker or lack thereof.
I'm in the 1% and had the luxury of buying my Defender with everything I wanted (except 18" wheels) and nothing I didn't. Off-road pack was for me a no-brainer.
The right tires obviously make a difference, but you have to have them installed to able be take advantage of them when you find you might need them. The thing about the locker is that it’s always there when you need it, and if you happen to have it then it will make the most of whatever tires you have.
Whatever you do do not be misled into placing any value on the USA off-road tire option, the wrangler adventurer. It is simply not an off-road tire, and anything in the Offroad world that requires the rear locker will also require a decent set of tires. I have the rear locker and use it, but if I had taken the goodyears into the terrain I have just left in the San Juan mountains, I would have five shredded goodyears. Heck, I already ripped a giant gash in a rear sidewall just going over a curb exiting a gas station when the car in front of me couldn’t manage to make a left turn out of the station, but was skewed too far over to the right for me to get past him to make my right turn. Ripped a 2 1/2 inch gash in the sidewall going over a poured concrete curbing that I swear my wife’s GLC 300 could have gotten over on the OEM Michelin‘s.
Last edited by NoGaBiker; Aug 10, 2022 at 07:33 AM.
Are the folks with Goodyear AT hate running 18s? Just curious how bad they really are off-road. I know TFL had flats but they were running 20 inch wheels, I don't think that's a fair test of anything. For me personally I thought they were terrible in snow with the stock 50psi until the pressure was set to light load and since then I honestly have no complaints in snow. I have them on the 18 inch steelies with the 90. The sidewall is large and vehicle is probably a bit lighter than the 110. I've curbed it a few times and no problems to report so far with tire or rim.
I had an eye opener with the Goodyears in the snow shortly after I got the Defender.
(I always intended getting winter boots as I've used them the last few years in WA on my last car and would never go back to not using winter tires. )
Coming to a stop in the packed snow from a gentle 15mph on a relatively flat forest track and it just slid and slid. I couldn't believe it. Not even that hard a pack. Nothing near me thankfully but had it happened in traffic on a mountain pass it would have been a very bad day indeed. The Wrangler Adventures, even with all of JLR's tech were completely at the mercy of my momentum.
The Defender is a big heavy vehicle. The OEM A/T tire is not something I trust to provide adequate stopping in the snow. They'll get you going just fine but stopping is a different beast.
With the Blizzaks, Lo range and ATPC engaged, the control on the descent down snowy tracks has been fantastic. A real Wow! experience.
Probably someone with more skill and experience could mange better with the stock tires than I.
Are the folks with Goodyear AT hate running 18s? Just curious how bad they really are off-road. I know TFL had flats but they were running 20 inch wheels, I don't think that's a fair test of anything. For me personally I thought they were terrible in snow with the stock 50psi until the pressure was set to light load and since then I honestly have no complaints in snow. I have them on the 18 inch steelies with the 90. The sidewall is large and vehicle is probably a bit lighter than the 110. I've curbed it a few times and no problems to report so far with tire or rim.
I have them in the 20" and you really can't air them down. Even at higher pressures, going over rocks and roots, the rim is almost pinching the tire. The few times I've tackled more rocky stuff it's been a jittery experience seeing that sort of thing. They are a light weight tire ill-suited to what the Defender is designed for but very good for 99% of what owners will tackle, have a low rolling resistance and long tread life.
Fortunately the off-road camera system is great so you can tip toe about rocky/rooty terrain but for the most part, so much fun terrain is off-limits with this 20" wheel/tire setup.
In the barn, a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that one of the Goodyear Wrangler ATs I removed (which I replaced with Nitto Ridge Grapplers) has a split lip, which would have occurred in some medium difficulty off-roading in mud and rocks. So, I will have to dispose of that one. That brings to three the quantity of those tires destroyed by me in medium difficulty off-roading.
I fully concur with the comment made by NoGaBiker that the Wrangler AT is the least tire to be named an AT one. In other words, it is optimized to provide road-tire fuel economy, noise and ride comfort while having just a bit more off-road grip than the all-season tire.
The problem with the pinheads on the TFS video is that they treated the 20" Goodyears like any normal 16" - 18" tire: they deflated them. For the 20", too much. They blew out the two tires on their video and panned an early Defender. @The Insider had a GREAT thread on here and went into the details of the 20" tire. Do NOT deflate them very much if you have them in. Counter intuitively, it will not help things and often makes it worst. Get out of that last century mindset and go with what they designed the tech. Either way, take pics of the epic carnage!
When I was offroading on some mild rock waterfalls and the like last week I deflated to 25 psi* all around not for traction but for comfort. Made a very noticeable improvement. Of course, I have 18s and real offroad (RT) tires.
* if you’re a sportscar guy you’ll like this. For some reason autocorrect changed my “25psi” above to 250SWB. No idea why that was more palatable to the AI masters but I thought it was interesting. That’s because the Ferrari 250 SWB (short wheelbase) from the early 60s is just one of the great all-around sports/GT cars of the 20th century. Currently they trade for 10-16 million bucks. It just seems like an obscure autocorrect choice.
