New tyres on the back instead of the front?

This site contains affiliate links for which LandyZone may be compensated if you make a purchase.
F

Freelander Lady

New Member
Posts
20
My front 2 tyres need changing on my TD4 Freelander 1. However, when I look in the manual it says that if you're putting on 2 new tyres they should go on the back and the back ones on the front. Anyone know why???
I'd have thought that if my car is front wheel drive then new tyres on the front would be better:confused:
 
irrespective of the industry advice, which is based on a vehicle being easier to control if a front tyre loses grip or blows out, the freelander needs new tyres on the rear due to the 4 wheel drive arrangement using a vcu.

if you can't replace all 4, then change the rears.
 
Tyres should , be all the same size/make/model , garage/tyre fitting places have not got a clue , on the freelander :eek: have a look on bell engineerings site , you have been warned , mismatched tyres will kill your drive train .
 
Assuming you've replaced all four at the same time, is it worth periodically switching the fronts and rears to keep the wear at similar levels? Thus ensuring you have to replace all four at the same time again, helping to reduce the possibility of drive-train issues?
 
freelander front wheels are driven slightly faster than rear to give front wheel drive feel in a 4wd car ,putting slightly larger diameter tyre on rear mitigates this some what. fitting larger on front makes it much worse
 
Freelander Lady said:
I'd have thought that if my car is front wheel drive then new tyres on the front would be better:confused:
Click to expand...

Because the back is more likely to come round if the front grips more and front wheel drive is safer for the average driver.

It is amazing how grip is reduced dramatically with every mm worn down.

I will change my tyres when they are around 4mm. 1.6mm may be legal, but they are lethal.

It's a bit like fitting 2 winter tyres to the front wheels and having summer tyres on the rears. It would be very easy to spin the car. Most people wouldn't know what to do to catch it, even if they could.

Lots of videos on YouTube demonstrating that.
 
kernowsvenski said:
Assuming you've replaced all four at the same time, is it worth periodically switching the fronts and rears to keep the wear at similar levels? Thus ensuring you have to replace all four at the same time again, helping to reduce the possibility of drive-train issues?
Click to expand...
I have not on mine , Evans Halshaw put two new budget tyres on the front :eek: the originals on the rear , after a year were down to 2 to 3mm so I changed them , that's when the fun and games started ! they were not the same as the front , the new rears were 25mm higher than the fronts causing a drone and my VCU was very hot to touch after a run , at the end of the day 4 new tyres is cheaper than a recon IRD/VCU/FINAL DRIVE , back to the even wear issue its up to you :)
 
85% of the drive goes to the front wheels and approx 15% to the rear via the VCU. Because the front wheels are doing most of the work those tyres wear down quickest. In a straight line all wheels turn at the same rate when new.

The VCU functions by sending more force to the rear wheels if the front wheels lose traction (ie the front wheels turn faster than the rear) and a similar effect is therefore felt when front wheels are worn down more than the rear. Placing new tyres on the front only, has the effect of rear wheels turning faster and putting the VCU under strain as its trying to drive the front wheels (and engine via IRD) to move as fast as the rear wheels.

Either change all 4 tyres at once, and you WILL notice the difference in the drive when you do as it feels much smoother, or place new tyres on the rear to send differential drive in the correct direction.
 
Have you checked underneath the car to see if all the 4x4 running gear is there?

Running from front to back there should be a front prop shaft and a rear prop shaft with the vcu (black and circular) inbetween them.
 
it'll be interesting to hear your results, as I put new on rear only, and it drove like a pig, went back and had new ones added to the front also, and it felt like I was driving a new car
 
My mate is a mechanic and Freelander breaker.I've lost count of his customers who's Freelanders have 2,3 or even 4 mis-matched tyre patterns, or 2 new tyres on just the nearside/offside. And the amount who have just had a single tyre fitted by a well known Land Rover place just up the road from his garage. Although in fairness the well known Landy place sends him a lot of business. Usually drivetrain related, usually down to mismatching tyres.
 
Only two of all the countless Freelanders I have spent the last few weeks looking at have actually had 4 matching tyres. And I bought one of them...

No wonder there are so many failed IRDs etc. The problem was, Land Rover were trying to make a car for normal people who wanted the LR badge. They succeded, but normal people treated them as normal cars which was a big mistake. My wife's friends now want a Freelander after seeing mine, but I have told them in no uncertain terms NOT to buy one- get an X-Trail instead. They don't know one end of a spanner from the other so any LR is wrong for them as they don't have bottomless pockets either. Somehow, I just know they will ignore my advice and deeply regret it.....
 
Skynet said:
85% of the drive goes to the front wheels and approx 15% to the rear via the VCU. Because the front wheels are doing most of the work those tyres wear down quickest. In a straight line all wheels turn at the same rate when new.

The VCU functions by sending more force to the rear wheels if the front wheels lose traction (ie the front wheels turn faster than the rear) and a similar effect is therefore felt when front wheels are worn down more than the rear. Placing new tyres on the front only, has the effect of rear wheels turning faster and putting the VCU under strain as its trying to drive the front wheels (and engine via IRD) to move as fast as the rear wheels.

Either change all 4 tyres at once, and you WILL notice the difference in the drive when you do as it feels much smoother, or place new tyres on the rear to send differential drive in the correct direction.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the interesting description - I now know how the 4WD works and also why to put new tyres on the back.
 
Brack said:
Have you checked underneath the car to see if all the 4x4 running gear is there?

Running from front to back there should be a front prop shaft and a rear prop shaft with the vcu (black and circular) inbetween them.
Click to expand...

Yes, the VCU is there. I think I just misunderstood how my freelander's 4WD was set up!
 
Freelander Lady said:
Thanks for the interesting description - I now know how the 4WD works and also why to put new tyres on the back.
Click to expand...

except for its not entirely correct ,rear wheels are mechanically driven slightly slower than fronts ,to give front wheel drive feel, vcu allows this until it starts to seize which then obviously buts a strain on the drive train (ird and rear diff),putting new tyres on rear helps to even up the drive to front and rear ,putting new on the front would make it worse
 
Spacemonkey... said:
Only two of all the countless Freelanders I have spent the last few weeks looking at have actually had 4 matching tyres. And I bought one of them...

No wonder there are so many failed IRDs etc. The problem was, Land Rover were trying to make a car for normal people who wanted the LR badge. They succeded, but normal people treated them as normal cars which was a big mistake. My wife's friends now want a Freelander after seeing mine, but I have told them in no uncertain terms NOT to buy one- get an X-Trail instead. They don't know one end of a spanner from the other so any LR is wrong for them as they don't have bottomless pockets either. Somehow, I just know they will ignore my advice and deeply regret it.....
Click to expand...

Yes, when I bought my car it had 2 matching tyres on the back plus 2 different makes on the front resulting in 3 different makes altogether. I can see how this happens as a number of tyre outlets said that I only needed to replace one tyre on the front.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
Back tyres matching but not with the fronts?
Replies
8
Views
972
Judd8008
J
O
Freelander 1 Tyres, coolant, filter, sunroof: Qs about the FL1, please assist!
Replies
3
Views
738
GrumpyGel
GrumpyGel
M
Freelander 1 Winter Tyres - 215/65/16 No Propshaft at the moment, Only Two?
Replies
1
Views
554
Nodge68
Nodge68
B
vibration under load.
Replies
1
Views
245
andyfreelandy
andyfreelandy
andyfreelandy
Freelander 1 Poly wishbone snubber bush squeaking
Replies
5
Views
670
kernowsvenski
kernowsvenski
Back
Top