Land Rover LR3 tyre replacement

[aah78]

the 2005 Land Rover LR3 (Discovery 3, if you prefer) came equipped with the Goodyear Wrangler HP All-Season 255/60R18 M+S 112V tires as OE.

more info located here -> Goodyear Tires.

now, while these tyres provide a decent ride and good handling on-road, they are utterly useless off-road. they're also prone to premature wear and tear in normal highway driving.

people have had worn tyres begining from 7500 miles and probably the most mileage anyone has got on these is around 30,000 miles.

regular rotation doesn't help. Land Rover has revised the wheel alignment spec but nobody has confirmed whether it's a suspension issue or the tyre is bad, in general.

they're expensive tyres - each costing around $230.
earlier on some one had slashed one of my tyres while i'd parked overnight on the streets of New York and it had to be changed.

after 38,000 miles these tyres have been reduced to racing slicks!

here are a few pictures - just to get an idea regarding the abnormal tread-wear. the rear passenger side tyre has born the brunt of it. the rear driver side tyre is the best of the lot as it's around 10,000 miles younger than the rest (this replaced the slashed tyre).

Front Driver - Side View

Front Driver - Front View

Front Passenger - Front View

Rear Driver - Front View

Rear Passenger - Front View

Rear Passenger - Rear View


replacing them was Very Urgent & Very Necessary, but getting the same tyres wasn't an option!

Tire Rack - is an excellent choice for buying tyres at a much lower rate than you would get at your dealer or a tyre store.

after going through a lot of reviews and price considerations I've decided to give the AVON Tech ST 265/60SR18 M+S 114S tyres a try. they're rated for a slower speed but have good reviews overall.

AVON Tyres Ltd. is a UK based company that specializes in Performance tyres for track use and Motorcycle tyres. they've tied up with Cooper Tires to manufacture their tyres in the US. selling rights belong exclusively to Tire Rack.

i've got an upsize for more than $100/tyre less than the Goodyears'. will get them fit tommorrow. hoping for an improvement! we'll see how things go....

[Mpower]

Seems like you are having a severe wheel alignment issue (positive camber) on your rear pass side. Get it corrected otherwise it will chew up your new Avons.

Independent rear suspensions are new to Landrover and looks like they are struggling.

EDIT: check this out, a class action lawsuit is in progress...suggest you jump on the bandwagon
Loud Land Rovers land company in class-action lawsuit - Autoblog

[aah78]

the wheel alignment was off, no doubts and changing the spec did help but the tyres were long gone.
i had had alignment done twice in 2 months to no avail with the original spec.

just had the new tyres fit. drives much better - which is to be expected on new tyres. will see how they hold up in the long run. i'll put up pictures over the weekend.

i've heard about the lawsuit - have gone through most of the terms and conditions but i haven't made up my mind whether to go for it.

[iraghava]

It is certainly an alignment issue which screwed up your tyres. Maybe you should jump on to the bandwagon and join the people suing.

[aah78]

here's a couple of pictures with the new tyres!
Rear Driver

Front Driver

the huge gap in the wheel well is due to the car being in Off-Road mode.

[V-16]

The Avons look great, Incidently, Avons were OEs on the pre BMW takeover Rolls Royces and Bentleys. Hope your alignment issues were sorted out. Enjoy the new shoes.