Thanks for the tip Dave, I ended up giving them a try. After going back and forth with Falken and a tire engineer, I think the 265/65/18 SL tire would actually be fine to use, but ultimately I opted for the 265/60/18 XL instead. I back into my driveway in access mode all the time (so my dogs can get out easier) and figured the potential rub would be a frequent thing, plus airing down the spare would force me to carry an inflator. Top that with my 87 year-old mother-in-law having to get in and out and that extra height being a real potential issue for her; my wife would start to wonder what the heck I am doing all this for?
I had my local Cadillac/Saab dealer put them on Friday as they are always close in price to anyone else and do a good job of Road Force balancing. I picked up the LR3 at 9pm and on the way home the TPMS light was on the whole time, but I thought maybe it just needed time to reset itself. Saturday morning I went out and noticed one tire was very low, when I checked it was at 14psi! So, I went back Saturday morning and had it looked at and they said it was the valve stem (TPMS). They did not have the part, so without asking me they put some sealant on it to "slow it down" and put it all back together; I would have preferred to just have them put a standard (non-TPMS) valve stem on and be done with it as I plan to eventually just turn off the TPMS when I get around to getting an IIDTool. I decided not to wait another hour to have them re-do it for me and so far I really have not lost any pressure.
I did have issues with the same wheel position last year, but I am uncertain if it is actually the same wheel or not as the tires had been rotated once or twice since, but where hap-hazardly re-installed during inspection last month as the shop knew I was getting tires within the month. At the time I was losing about 5 psi per week for no aparent reason. When I went in for an oil change I had the indy guy check it out - he took the tire off the wheel and checked everything but found nothing. Yet, it did not leak after that, so I figured it was a fluke. Out of curiosty Dave, what made you say that the Grabber AT2's "wear out rims"? I am wondering if it is the TPMS or if it could be something with the wheel itself?
I did get a new full-size spare from Roverland Parts, so I could swap the new wheel for the one in question, but I still would not want a spare that could end up flat over time....
I'll hold back judgement on the tires until I have have had them for a while, but for first impressions:
1) They are quiet on the highway, my wife even made mention of it. Of course, any new tire is going to be more quiet than a worn out one. The Grabbers were not noisy until about 20,000 miles, then they slowly became louder, but never horrible.
2) It's been raining and they feel very secure - I tried to make some quick starts and hard turns and have not been able to get any slippage as of yet.
3) For whatever reason, the brakes felt better to me right as I pulled off the lot. I am not sure if it was just the different feel of the tires or if the braking would actually be different due to the tires, but either way it is a good thing.
4) I think I like the overall aesthetic of the Grabber AT2's on the LR3 better, but the AT3W still look nice! They seem a bit like my wife's Duratracs except with closer spacing between the treadblocks.
5) Tires were made in Thailand, I thought they may be made in Japan. To my eyes the rubber seems to have a faint ash-grey hue as opposed a gloss-black hue that some new tires have. Nothing of consequence, but just an observation.
6) It seems like the tires needed a lot of weight to get the road force balance done. You can see in the one close-up photo and in the backside of the spare photo just how much weight is being used. On the highway there is no steering wheel shake or anything and the LR3 runs straight with no hands on the wheel at 90mph. Still, I feel like there is some extra vibration between 75 and 90 that I did not feel with the old tires. Nothing of issue, my wife did not notice. Plus the one wheel that was temporarily fixed was just slapped back together and not re-balanced as they assumed I would be right back to fix it this week once I get a new sensor. So that could be enough to cause what I think I notice.
7) There are two sidwall variations, I opted for the less bold side which put the little mounting/balancing dots on the inside.
