I would have to agree that the Wranglers HP from factory are fairly useless tires all around on the Land Rovers. However, it is my belief that a lot of people may be missing out on a great tire simply because the HP's have left such a bad taste in our mouths. The Goodyear Silent Armors get their highest rating in Snow/Ice driving, receiving and displaying the Ice/Snow award on their tires. I swaped my HP's for Silent Armors several months ago and while I have not tested them on snow yet (don't get much snow in the SF bay area in Cali) I have tested them on fairly much every other surface from daily freeway commute to some nasty off road trails and I would find it extremely dificult to think there can actually bea better tire for the LR3 out there in the 18" range. I'm comming up on 16,000 miles with no visible wear on my Silent Armors yet and as of now I plan to keep nothing else on my LR3 in the future. I read all the consummer posts, but I am postingas someone who uses and abuses them and is very impressed with the performance so far!

Don't count them out simply because they are Good Years. Do the research. I believe you will thank me in the end.

 

Jantiz - Thanks for the feedback. I did end up ordering the Pirelli Ice and Snow version and will report out how they do once the weather arrives.

I looked briefly (admittedly only on the tirerack site) and didn't see the GY SA's in the right size...What size did you go with and have you had any rubbing problems?

Thanks!
D.

 

I have an HSE which came with 19's factory, but I swaped them out for 18's fast. I ended up buying 265/60/18's though they are available in 285/60/18 as well for those looking for even more off-road performance. I didn't much care for the low profile look of the 19's since I use my LR3 off road constantly so a little extra side wall from the 18's worked out perfect for me.For the short time I tried the Nitto Terrasin the 285/60/18's there was no rubbing, EVEN in access mode during full turns. I did not like the noise or the vibration from the Nittos which ishow I ended up trying the Silent Armors. There is zero road noise, zero vibration, the ride is very comfortable, cornering stability is incredible considering the higher side wall, it never feels like it's floating or disconected from the road like most off road tires feelduring high speed cornering, the Kevlar layer prevents flats from trail debris and the 50 or 55k mile wear warranty (can't remember which) provides piece of mind on an area most of us are concerned with after having HP's that wear out in 15k miles (ouch).

I also believe the 265/60/18's are the perfect size for the LR3 as far as looks. It just looks agressive enough without over doing it. I trully like my tires. I simply do too much off roading to consider just any "all season" tire and Low profiles are out of the question for me. I needed a good all around "all terrain" and Silent Armor just delivers for me. That's my 2 cents worth!

 

I bought a lifetime balance and rotate from Discount Tire and have this done every 6K miles. The tires have 19K on them and they are holding up good. I am interested in the final outcome of the decisions listed for which tire to go with when I am ready to replace. Anybody looked at the Michellin M&S by any chance?

 

Beloware links to compare all the tires in question here. Check the ratings and the comments from actual buyers and you decide. The Scorpions Ice/Snow seem to get some very commendable ratings, though the tread patterndoesn't seemagressive enough to make them very usefull in off road other than ice/snow where they seem to shine (and yes I know not everyone off-roads their Rovers). As adedicated Winter tire if you likekeeping twosets of tires( winter/summer), they should work nicely. If you are looking for the year round tire that shines in every category, I would still recommend the Silent Armor. But the numbers don't lie. See for yourself

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....n+Ice+%26+Snow

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....l=Grabber+AT+2

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....er+SilentArmor

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....odel=LTX+M%2FS

 

Well I spoke to soon. My wife went out of town this weekend and came back with a nail close to the sidewall. They would not repair since the location of the nail. I made a decision to go with 4 newMichelin Cross Terrain SUV tires instead of trying to find 2 tires for the front.Based on the research I did I am very pleased so far. We will see if it holds up better than the Goddyears that came on the vehicle.

 

Just got the car back with Pirelli Scorpions. They're a bit taller and the tread looks a little more accomodating for snow/ice. it's really nice not having road noise and I can't wait to see how the perform in comparison.

Maybe, just maybe, we'll get more than ~20k out of these tires.

 

Thanks to Jantiz for taking the time to put the links in...I too had read through and compared about every which way there was. It's interesting that the local dealer is reco'ng/selling the General AT2's although the tirerack lists them as "not severe snow rated". I tend to agree that the Pirelli tread just doesn't look agressive enough for serious offroad use. I've never had my LR3 offroad but did do the all-day session at Quail Lodge during which we had some rain and the instructor was comfortable enough with us that we went on some of the more difficult trails. I think the LR3 gets through much of what it encounters due to the mechanical and technical tools it has. Clearly though the stock tires are a real limiting factor...

I'm a bit concerned about tire wear on the Pirelli's and was lucky enough to find someone with 4 18" wheels for sale. Plan to mount them to these spare wheels and just swap out when the weather turns nice.

It seems that there are more options in the 18" snow tire than in previous years? Or maybe we've got a broader base that's weighing in on the options they've gone for.

Now I wonder if I can convince the dealership to swap out my stock GY'rs for the SA's (I have feathering on all 4 tires at 14k)! [8D]