Jack frost wrote:

The noise you are hearing in my opinion is coming from the new tyres, cheap tyres are considerably noisier than premium tyres I doubt you have done any damage. But fitting another two same make tyres won’t cure the noise issue.

just for the record,my Pirelli scorpions are noisier than my old saluin chinese tyres which were fantastic under all condition's, unfortunately i could not replace them as they are all on back order.so i purchased 4 wheels and tyres with 6mm plus at a good price of e bay.

We now have four Goodyear efficient grip 2s on the car.
It’s better, but I still am finding noise 50+, tending to stop at 70-75mm log

Mechanic thinks the damage has been done to the transfer box, and suggested how far do you throw good money after bad.

Welcome your thoughts? The new tyres were at 5mm and the old at 3mm that were removed.

The transfer box on an FL2 just turns the drive 90° to send it to the propshaft. The propshaft drives the Haldex which then decides whether to drive the rear differential. In normal use the Haldex only drives the differential as you move of from standstill and progressively reduces that drive as you increase speed. So unless you have a problem with the Haldex, the rear wheels effectively freewheel as they do on a 2WD for most of the time and would certainly be doing this at the speeds you are quoting.
I’ve never bought 4 tyres at a time, buying pairs and moving pairs as necessary. Never swap sides, as tyre casings are sensitive to rotation once used even if not marked to be used in a certain direction.
What tyre pressure are you using. Mine runs at 32psi.
If you’ve still got the same noise, it wasn’t the tyres. You’ve still got the wheel bearings, differential and drive shafts to look at yet. Welcome to the money pit that is a premium brand 4WD.
You have a mechanic, is he an expert at relatively modern Land Rovers? If he thinks that the FL2 has the same drive system as the FL1 which literally only has the Land Rover Freelander name in common that might indicate not!

New tyres at 5mm doesn't seem new!


Do you have a proper spare wheel in the boot as It will help reduce noise.

Get some open cell foam & fill all the gaps around the tyre & inside the rim of the spare wheel.

You might find an old foam mattress on a clean up, it will do. Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18

Thanks for the quick reply chaps.

I think my mechanic is getting confused with the FL1.

I’ve had a chat with bell engineering on the issue too and they’re as perplexed as I with what the noise could be. Suggested it might be the start of the diff failing.

I’m almost of the opinion now I bury my head in the sand, insulate the boot as best as possible and crank the radio up.

It’s sitting on safe tyres, was recently serviced and drives, do I continue looking for problems?

Only other thought was to replace the gearbox oil and see if that helps at all?

No harm (except to wallet) in changing the differential oil. Not that difficult to do and if you do find metal in the oil you’ll know the diff is the problem.
The Haldex would also benefit from a fluid and filter change and pump clean but is more difficult and might be better off left for Austen.
The diff, along with the Haldex, are components that Land Rover will tell you are sealed for life, but other users of these components recommend regular fluid changes.
If you know anyone with a set of chassis ears (basically clip on microphones that you attach to possible causes of your noise) you could work your way around the car until you pinpoint the source.

If as all possible try driving on a dirt road at an equivalent speed to the sealed road. Bitumen & concrete roads sound different. My all terrain tyres are a lot quieter on dirt roads or on a metal bridge surface.

I drive over this bridge regularly. The actual bridge is a metal grate & quieter than the sealed road either side.

Click image to enlarge

Someone on D4 pointed out swap tyres left right so I thought I would give it a go.


To date I had only done 1 swap putting the 2 spares on the front to share the wear between the 6 tyres. The front tyres were still quite.

I swapped the tyres to the opposite sides of the car & front rear, while putting on the 2 used spares making sure the wear is running the other way.

The car is very quiet due to acoustic insulation but I could hear the 2 more worn tyres on the rear.

I am surprised at the improvement in quietness swapping left right. The 2 used spares I put back on are actually a bit more worn than the 2 most worn tyres I took off.

So from this experience I can say if the tyres are noisy swap so they rotate opposite direction. It's worth the effort, even with a scissor jack as in my situation. Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18

Ryan51290 wrote:

Thanks for the quick reply chaps.

I think my mechanic is getting confused with the FL1.

I’ve had a chat with bell engineering on the issue too and they’re as perplexed as I with what the noise could be. Suggested it might be the start of the diff failing.

I’m almost of the opinion now I bury my head in the sand, insulate the boot as best as possible and crank the radio up.

It’s sitting on safe tyres, was recently serviced and drives, do I continue looking for problems?

Only other thought was to replace the gearbox oil and see if that helps at all?

Update latest is that the Goodyears have made marginal difference, still alarmingly loud.

Booked it in for a checkup at a LR specialist who made 5 advisories.

Rear wheel camber and toe out of alignment - could be the problem
Rear trailing arm bushes excessive play - likely not the noise
Rear drive shaft excessive play - could be the noise
Oil leak from axle seal - could be the start of an issue
Handbrake cable needs replacing - irrelevant for the issue.

Thoughts on just converting to a 2wd and seeing if it resolves it, the other mechanic has mentioned the transfer box too?

Since spoken with freelanderspecialists.com and am pretty certain it’s my front transfer box/PTU that is causing me the issue.

Doesn’t sound like it’s caused an issue to the rear diff / haldex, but quite frankly I’m scared to drive it in case it does. Looks like a stupidly expensive repair.

Take the haldex fuse out. Landrover - turning owners into mechanics since 1948

2014 Orkney grey Freelander SD4 GS.
2004 Zambezi silver Discovery 2 Td5 (Gone)
1963 Surf blue Morris Mini Minor Super de Luxe (my little toy)

I bet I don't pronounce Michelin correctly

So I’ve finally found a garage who’s given it a proper inspection.

The noise disappears when you veer right, suggesting a wheel bearing.

He got it up on the ramps, sure enough it’s a noisy back wheel, but he was unsure whether the noise was coming from the wheel bearing or the rear diff. Checked with stethoscope, I then got in the car, up on the ramp, DSC off and into drive, got it accelerating and surprisingly, it’s only running on FWD!

Prop shaft is spinning, but nothing from the rear wheel suggesting a rear diff failure, or an issue with the haldex unit itself, potentially as well as a noisy bearing.

It’s booked in for 3/10 to get it all sorted. We have a 400 mile round trip planned, now wondering whether if it’s worth taking the risk? It’s been having the issues since May so I’m also of the opinion that it should be okay?

Ryan51290 wrote:

Prop shaft is spinning, but nothing from the rear wheel suggesting a rear diff failure, or an issue with the haldex unit itself, potentially as well as a noisy bearing.