Evidence required !

This is a very long story which I will try and keep quite short!

• Had two new tyres fitted to my 54 plate Freelander, replacing Michelin Synchrones with Michelin Latitiudes to the front, which I now know should have been on the back.
• Tyre place said was a direct replacements with same spec.
• Heavy vibration immidiately following fitting - checked balance which was fine.
• Several trips to the garage later and information found on Landyzone led me to check the size of the tyre wall - found there was 4cm difference on the new tyres to the ones (now) on the front.
• This difference caused diff wind up, which made the viscous coupling seize and in turn damaged the IRD.
• Replaced old tyres, so had four Latitute Tyres, vibration stopped immediately, but bearing noise from IRD remained.
• Now in dispute with tyre place, how are claiming that the drive chain on Freelanders is poor anyway and its just coincidence!
• Getting a report on the vehicle from Land Rover on Tuesday, but wandered if anyone had any evidence of this problem happening to them or any where else. Found one story on here, which led me to problem in the first place.
• Land Rover are saying they don't know anything about it. Michelin say that 4cm is within tollarable differences and that they recommend all four tyres replaced at same time.

ANY HELP APPRECIATED, otherwise minimum bill of £1200 looms......

dont it say in the handbook replace all four but if yer do replace 2 put em at the back?

Freelander Rich said:

This is a very long story which I will try and keep quite short!

• Had two new tyres fitted to my 54 plate Freelander, replacing Michelin Synchrones with Michelin Latitiudes to the front, which I now know should have been on the back.
• Tyre place said was a direct replacements with same spec.
• Heavy vibration immidiately following fitting - checked balance which was fine.
• Several trips to the garage later and information found on Landyzone led me to check the size of the tyre wall - found there was 4cm difference on the new tyres to the ones (now) on the front.
• This difference caused diff wind up, which made the viscous coupling seize and in turn damaged the IRD.
• Replaced old tyres, so had four Latitute Tyres, vibration stopped immediately, but bearing noise from IRD remained.
• Now in dispute with tyre place, how are claiming that the drive chain on Freelanders is poor anyway and its just coincidence!
• Getting a report on the vehicle from Land Rover on Tuesday, but wandered if anyone had any evidence of this problem happening to them or any where else. Found one story on here, which led me to problem in the first place.
• Land Rover are saying they don't know anything about it. Michelin say that 4cm is within tollarable differences and that they recommend all four tyres replaced at same time.

ANY HELP APPRECIATED, otherwise minimum bill of £1200 looms......

Click to expand...

Land Rover are saying they don't know anything about it...:hysterically_laughi
If we know about it you bet your life LR do and that's why hey changed the IRD ratio on later freelanders. The problem is getting them to publicly admit it.



Michelin say that 4cm is within tollarable differences and that they recommend all four tyres replaced at same time.


Slight contradiction here don't you think? They may well consider 4cm difference acceptable normally but what do they know of this particular 4x4 system and I doubt they care about the issue anyway as it's the vehicle manufacturers problem.

The tyre depots cop out is you'll have difficulty proving that your IRD was perfectly OK before they touched the car and that it wasn't ready to pop anyway.

It says in the haynes manual :
" Landrover state that if new tyres are to be fitted, ensure they are fitted to the rear axle only or both front and rear axles. New tyres should not be fitted to the front only."

If the people at landrover told the people at haynes, then they are aware of it.

Why does everyone have to bloody well sue for everything now ? Why should the tyre place be at fault ? They are only selling tyres from listings in tyre catalogues - They are NOT Land Rover experts.

If ya buy a gaylander yu deserve everything ya get. FFS what sort of a car spits it's dummy if the tyres aren't exactly the same sizes :blabla:

i've known this same problem, the tyres were fitted to the back though , still the same outcome though

i had new tyres on the front once, first time i touched the breat it nearly juddered like
a c u nt thought i'd run over a bollard.

threw them on the back, all fine

who changed them? garage or tyre chain.

Its well known that a higher rear axle speed compared to the front will knacker the drive chain on a Freelander 1. However, I doubt that these tyres siezed your VCU. They would have locked it but not siezed it. Therefore it is more likely that your transmission was on the way out and this finished it off. No point blaming everyone else about it. The tyre place can't be liable as they may not know the correct setup. They would have asked you for what you want. You should check the manual. Michilen are not responsible either, again check the manual.

Solution here is painful as its gonna cost you but it can be made a little more bearable. Drop the prop shaft and VCU off the car. Get the IRD replaced. Now leave the prop off until you can afford the replacement VCU. Also check the rear diff as that can equally get knackered in these circumstances.

Just wondering what you paid for each tyre?

Think it was 263 for the pair. Thanks for all your help. I'm not saying that they should cover the total cost of repairs, I agree some info was in the manual, butif you don't know the ins and outs of your boiler system, you pay a plumber to demonstrate relevant skill and care, not just slap a load of misfitting pipes together and hope for the best....

True, but (and I hate to say it) the Freelander has design issues with its transmission which is unforgiving if you treat it wrong. The tyre manufactures and the fitters can not be expected to known that. They do what you ask them to do. Providing their work is good then they can't be held responsible if the car then fails else where. The people who are responsible is the designers of the Freelander....

That’s for that. Not taking the **** when I say this, but most LR main dealers charge £99 per tyre fitted. They sell latitude and synchone too. I know we don’t all like main dealers, but I’ll need 4 replaced next year and plan to go there as they hopefully will know what they’re doing, and won’t cause more problems. They’ll even fit tyres you supply. There’s still a fitting charge if you supply.

Having recently been for a “4x4 laser trak” as they called it, which only adjusts my front wheels with reference to the rear wheels, and doesn’t set-up all 4 wheels as mentioned prior to the work, like you would expect from a 4 wheel geometry/alignment, I won’t be taking a risk with pond life tyre fitters.