I just rolled through 1 year of use of my off-road spec D110 S -- odometer is at 12,500 miles. As a small celebration, we just finished a three-day off-road rallye! Great fun:


My wife loved the cows .....


Here are few thoughts and points for you to consider, as you desire:

1. POINT OF CELEBRATION -- My Defender has NOT been back to the dealer since day 1. I specified the least amount of electronics possible (excepting the sun roof -- which was necessary for the dogs). Yes, it has some small problems, which I will note, but if it starts and rolls then all is good. Plus, its LR4 stable mates have been plenty present in the shop over the past six months -- whew !

2. DESIGN FLAWS / ISSUES:
a) The winshield washer fluid empties itself if you exceed 25 degrees (or so) nose down. This I confirmed with another off-road owner and multiple occurences. It is a bit of a pain, but at least the fluid pouring out is not caustic nor necessary to start and roll the vehicle.

b) I was up and down on two wheels again and did not grow at all my windshield crack -- so good news there. Waiting for my glass to arrive into the dealer.

c) My A pillar is starting to make noise just as others have described -- interesting and very intermittent so far. Again, does not impact starting and rolling -- so all's good.

d) Software on sun roof is unhappy -- have to manually seat the glass closed or else it just runs back and forth again and again. Does not impact starting and rolling -- so all good. I will soon try the reset Umbertob posted.

e) Width of vehicle and off-road cameras: I wish JLR would have not offered the fold down front row seat because it has made the vehicle markedly wider than their previous off-roading vehicles. Means in the woods there is more damage to the fenders -- just a fact. I will fix the new, small ding on the forward left this weekend (or sometime).

The off-roading cameras are in the rearview mirrors, and the mirrors also provide backward views of the rear quarter panel clearances, so folding in the mirrors can only be used occasionally.

f) I confirmed the wade sensing does not operate happily (says it has a problem but keeps trying to work) because it gets confused by the Rock Sliders on the vehicle. The rock sliders are worth their weight in gold and I always wade with my legs in unknown depths first, so no problem. One less screen button to push.

So it is -- managing design trade-offs are a part of life.

TIME FOR A PICTURE BREAK:



3. TERRAIN RESPONSE 2:

a) Folks wheeling old fashion JLR products ask about the Defender and my answer is always the same: it makes me not need to be stressed if traction will be available, my job is just to guide the vehicle at 1 to 3 mph to find it -- momentum is not needed -- which is very good because the large mass of the vehicle moving faster could be a handful breaking things underneath with the low ground clearance.

And I have the winch to help others and rescue myself, if needed (has not yet been needed for self-rescue -- a different story than with the LR4). Enables me to think three times before using momentum.

b) I found the logic limit of TR2 in AUTO mode: I previously noted that DSC cannot be turned off in AUTO. As an experiment, I did rock crawling in AUTO and I triggered DSC once in a critical moment. NOT helpful. So, yes, I must go to Rock Crawl mode with DSC off. STOP being lazy....

More interestingly, in LO range w/ Lifted suspension, when transitioning from Rocks to mud to to sticks/leaves to two wheeling rut mode -- all in AUTO -- I found the vehicle made poor choices in when to upshift to a higher gear as the terrain eases -- basically it kept the revs up too long. Sometimes this was a potential problem, as it shifted decisively causing the vehicle to accelerate (towards a tree or rock) to a faster speed, less smoothly than desired.

My next step will be to attempt to create a CONFIGURABLE PROFILE to shift out of high rpms earlier while still maintaining all the advantages of AUTO mode. We shall see ....

c) In the challenging up hill climbs and much of transitions between the different terrains the REAR LOCKER is core to the TR2 logic -- when the rear locker exists. It is often ON to a larger degree than the center locker and turns off last when not turning.

ANOTHER PHOTO BREAK:


5 point turn -- backing the vehicle uphill to fit between tight trees

4. TIRES AND LIFTING RODS:

This week, I rolled off-road COLD at 29 PSI fronts and 32 PSI rears on the new OEM - sized (255 / 70 R18) Nitto Ridge Grapplers. On the same trails as last year (when I ran the stock "off-road" Goodyear A/Ts at lower pressures (before the winch and Rock sliders), I was spinning the tires more.

With the Ridge Grapplers, I suffered less than a rotation or two of one wheel -- only once or twice. I also heard the tires rubbing on the side walls a bit --- and received no damage. A wonderfully positive change. Noise on the road is still very tolerable.

The 1.5 inch lift I installed and removed in 45 minutes each time, without rushing. I was very happy I tested it out at home, first -- gave confidence not to get impatient. The 1.5 inch lift made a HUGE positive impact. Bottomed out much less in all regimes -- much less stressful.




ENJOY !!

 

Where you at MARS

 

Great pictures and info. Love it.

 

AWESOME write-up. Thanks. Random comments:
- I've heard that if you have sliders, it only impacts the wading sensors until they are submerged. I guess that is an indicator of depth!
- I've never put it to words, but I will now. I'm definitely going to be a disciple of the "Starting & Rolling" philosophy.
- My experience off-roading is generally the same as yours: I was astonished at how low my stress level was. Almost to boring. I agree, direction & braking is where the focus typically is.

 

Yep. My celebratory trip for 1 year with the Defender -- a dent each time, of course !!

 

This is so true! I used to air-down LR4 tires when driving in deep sand, use low gear, maintain momentum and often found it difficult to get going from a full stop, especially if going uphill in sand. The Defender cruises through sand, no airing down or low gear needed. Low traction launch is awesome as well. Brings a whole new level of confidence to beach driving.

 

Thanks so much, Trio, for a detailed report of your Life & Times With a Defender 2.

I think one thing is either misleading or I have something to learn. You’ve compared “aired down Goodyears” to “30psi Ridge Grapplers” and drawn the conclusion that the latter has less slip than the former. I’m not in the least surprised to learn this; my Goodyears get stuck or spin like mad in mud that wouldn’t have given a bit of trouble to any of the 5 tires I had on my previous Jeep (BFG KM, BFG KM2, BFG KO2, Kenda Klever RT, Interco Super Swamper).

But what’s perhaps misleading is that you seem to be implying a 30-psi Ridge Grappler would perform better than a 20 psi Ridge Grappler in the same situation. If that’s your assertion, based on your weekend (or other data) I’d love to hear about it. There may be many reasons (having to do with weight of the truck, reluctance of the sensors to allow you to run low pressures, fear of rolling a bead, etc) to run 30 rather than 20 psi, but I would think both traction and comfort on rough terrain would be noticeably improved by dropping another 10 or even 14 pounds out of those Nitto’s.

Thoughts?

 

Where I drive off-road are wet/damp/muddy/rocky forests/grassy farms, mostly.

Yes, I do strongly suspect the Ridge Grapplers are better at 30 psi (under the heavy weight of the rock sliders and winch) than a 18 to 25 psi (without the rock sliders and winch) Goodyear wrangler A/T.

The bottom line reason is that the places I drive fill up the slots in the tread of the Goodyears with mud, dirt, grass, etc; and once the A/T tread is packed smooth, then one just has a slick tire.

The Ridge Grappler design really does seem to clear (or not hold) mud/dirt/grass in the tread. And the grip on rock is better because the grooves are wider, deeper and cleaner (less mud).

Basically, I confirmed what is stated all over the web and the Nitto website -- a combined A/T MUD tire (hybrid) is better off-road than an A/T one. And I am only suffering a small penalty in noise (at least when the Grappler is new).

Driving on the surfaces I note is pretty comfortable because it is often soft. And the rocks and sticks are small and sharp, so the sidewalls are vulnerable.

Enjoy !!

 

I'm pretty sure the OEM Goodyear Wrangler AT tires are more appearance than true AT function. Also, after 10K miles, mine are about half worn when comparing the tread depth to the spare tire.

 

Thank you, but I think you misunderstood my post. I certainly agree that the RG is better at any pressure (probably including "flat" with a 6" spike driven through the sidewall! ) than the Goodyear Adventures that come on the "offroad package" Defenders.

But my question is this: Why would you think the comfort and traction of the RGs at 30 psi would be better than the comfort and traction of the RGs at 20psi or even 18? You seemed to be implying that in your OP, and I wanted to clear up if that's what you meant?

In other words, my experience on 5 different sets of tires on my 2-door JK (about 4000 pounds) was that 14 psi did all kinds of wonders for traction (and I was mostly on rock) and comfort (on rubble-to-scree-covered roads). So I'm curious about the "why 30psi" part of your post, not the "why Ridge Grapplers" part.