LR4 extended warranty and mods

[KYRover]

It looks like my wife and I may order a new Range Rover over the next year as her new DD. This presents the opportunity for me to inherit her 2012 LR4. I am excited about this proposition, but also a bit apprehensive as I've always driven a pickup truck. I spend a fair amount of my free time doing outdoors activities (mainly hunting, boating, and doing maintenance on some farm property), which is why I've always had a truck, but I think that realistically the LR4 can do everything I need with a few basic modifications.

I'm definitely planning on adding a roof rack and am leaning towards a voyager rack.

I am also tempted to get a set of 18" compomotives and the OBDII tool to be able to increase my choices of tires. However, this past summer we spent about $4k on a bumper to bumper extended warranty that gets us another 50k miles or 4 years. Currently it has around 57k miles, so we have a lot of miles left on the warranty. I'm fairly certain that adding larger tires and re-programming the suspension ride height could null and void the extended warranty for any suspension or drivetrain issues that I might encounter. I was wondering if anyone has had personal experience with this on an LR3 or LR4.

 

[zelatore]

I have no experience with automotive extended warranties, but in the marine world the ones I've dealt with weren't worth the paper they were printed on. They would ALWAYS find an out. My personal favorite was when a guy killed a motor and they would only pay to bore 1 cylinder. The other 7 were on him.... I think that was FPC - with any luck they're out of business now.

With that off my chest, I would point out that with the GAP iiD tool you can raise/lower the height at will and I'm pretty sure it won't leave any digital fingerprints. So raise it a couple inches and if you need to service it at a dealer just take a few minutes and return it to stock height.

As for the bigger tires, the only thing I'd think you would be likely to see a complaint about warranty-wise would be wheel bearings or LCA bushings. The bearings aren't a high-failure item but bigger/heavier wheels would cause faster wear. The LCA bushings are a common failure item - usually good for about 60K miles or so when stock. Other driveline items that could be affected by a larger wheel are not very failure prone so I'd say the chances of seeing a problem are fairly low.

It doesn't sound like you're planning to wheel it, just do some simple dirt roads or trails around the property or to go hunting. With that in mind I'd say go for it on the wheels/tires and GAP tool. I'd recommend a mild AT tire like a Cooper AT/3, or if you're looking to spend more dirty time, the Cooper ST-Maxx, BFG AT KO2, or maybe the Goodyear Duratrac. I'd go 265/65-18 and expect minimal if any work to make them fit. If you're going to leave the truck largely stock (sounds like) then I'd look at D rated tires. Many of these sizes are E rated, and a lot of us with built rigs run the E's since we're so heavy, but for a stock(ish) rig you don't really need to go to an E. Plus the E tires are generally going to be slightly heavier (lower mpg) and stiffer (harsher ride).

 

[KYRover]

Thanks for the reply. Fortunately, my experiences with automotive extended warranties have been pretty good. I've always made a point to purchase them from the manufacturer, and not a third party, which I've been told can make a difference. I'll make a mental note to not waste any money on an extended warranty on a boat though. That sounds pretty terrible.

I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head with the rest of it regarding what I had in mind for the LR4. Some 265/16-18 BFG AT's would suit my needs pretty well. I actually like running D or E range tires because I feel that they are much more stable while towing. I currently run E range tires on my half ton pickup for that reason.

So far the LR4 has been very reliable for us (knock on wood), but I'm just suspicious that if I start having suspension faults the warranty might not cover it if I've adjusted the ride height and installed larger tires. I probably need to just check with my dealer before I do anything like that. If it's a no-go, I'll probably just stick with the stock ride height and put either some stock sized Duratracs or another set of Cooper Zeon LTZ's on it.

 

[zelatore]

Sounds like a good plan. The trucks are pretty reliable when used like you're talking about and really, that's what they're best at. I've pushed mine further and it's definitely out of it's comfort zone, but I just can't help myself. Hopefully the RRC will give me the 'fix' I need when start that project next year.