Had my car in at an indie last week for B service and to check what I thought was a wheel bearing noise (rear diff replaced late last year by Bell Engineering). They had a good check but could find no wheel bearing issues at all so after some discussion we agreed the tyres were probably making the noise so I agreed to have them all changed. The recommendation at the time was General Grabber Tyres along with a full 4 wheel alignment (the indie doesn't sell tyres so it wasn't as though he was trying to get rid of some hard to shift rubber). Looking forward to driving back down South (300 miles) in what would be the first quiet drive I would have had in ages only to find I now get the most awful droning between 58 - 68 MPH (goes off at 70MPH).

I have to assume that the drone is coming from the new tyres (sounds similar to when your exhaust has a hole) the tracking has obviously made some difference to the car as it feels lighter when turning and more precise. Anyone else have any experience with these tyres at all, the manufacturer claims they are designed for 100% road use and deliver "Reduced noise development during the whole tyre life cycle and even wear shape" At this stage I beg to differ

I had them (17") on one of my FL2s. I found they droned a fair bit but seemed to get better as the miles increased or maybe I just got more used to them. They lasted well (40k miles) but I changed to Pirelli scorpion ATRs - I have found them better overall so will not be going back to the Grabbers.

Have used GG AT and AT2 on my previous Discovery 2 and was impressed by them. My wife has a VW Tiguan which is now on its second full set of GG GTs. Found them to be really good in all weathers. 1st set lasted 40k miles and fully expect to get same from current set. I may well put these on the Fl2 when it needs tyres. I'm. Very happy wth them though do fancy BFGs road tyre. 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)

Hopefully donny is right and they will quieten down as they wear

Have the 18" as my summer tyre and been pretty happy with them. Are they the quietest, perhaps not, but certainly haven't been as noisy as you describe, and I find the Wintracs noisier. I'd buy them again.

I had Pirelli Scorpions fitted before and they were nice and quiet until they got down to around 4mm and then they sounded like a duff wheel bearing. Have sent a message to General to see what they have to say too

Scorpions on this one had Grabbers on the last one and cannot say I notice any difference to be honest/ If it wasn't so bad it'd be funny.

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Freelander 2 HSE auto 2014 ( Florrie ) ..... Try again.
Freelander 2 GS 2012...... Gone.

The regular Scorpions - often fitted OEM by Land Rover - are not the ones I replaced my Grabbers with - mine are the ATR which are more off road orientated (a 50/50 tyre) - more like the Grabbers

I have GG AT2's on 19s on mine at the momment also had rear diff rebuilt last year under warranty, Indy also commented on drone at rear and said even with there rabbit ears on they suspected it was the tires also checked the wheel bearings and they were solid.

I had the front and rears swaped over last month ( more wear on the fronts than rears ) as soon as I went a couple of yards down the road I noticed the noise was now comming from the front so I will live with it till around october and get them changed and more than likely go for Scorpion verde all season HSE TD4 Stornoway Grey ★ Rear Spoiler ★ Black Leather Interior ★ Panoramic Roof ★ Navigation with Bluetooth ★ 19 " Alloys ★ Alpine Stereo 10 Disc Auto changer and Ipod connection and lots of other nice toys ★

I get the feeling I will also have to live with it, thankfully I am doing a lots of miles at the moment (10,000 in 3 months) so it won't be too long before they have worn down

I think allot of the noise comes from the shoulders on the tires if you like, they are very square and blocky, I noticed my fronts that had worn more than the back had basicly scrubed the shoulders off on both sides and are allot quieter on the rear.

As far as I know my traccking is ok and the tow angle as the car runs true and doesnt pull left oe right just follows the camber of the road, although I will get it 4 wheel aligned before new tires go on. HSE TD4 Stornoway Grey ★ Rear Spoiler ★ Black Leather Interior ★ Panoramic Roof ★ Navigation with Bluetooth ★ 19 " Alloys ★ Alpine Stereo 10 Disc Auto changer and Ipod connection and lots of other nice toys ★

Well it would appear that the mystery of why my new tyres are so noisy may well be solved. I am almost certain that it's one of the wheel bearings that has failed, when turning right the noise goes away but as soon as I straighten up it comes back. I'm having the car looked at on Monday to confirm this but testing at different speeds would seem to confirm this is the issue. If I drive at 20MPH there is no noise at all, when I increase to 30MPH the drone comes in and there is a vibration that can be felt through the car, this goes off again at around 50MPH but comes back at 60MPH until 68MPH when it goes off again.

To bring this tale to a close, I collected my car from the garage yesterday afternoon, turns out the the N/S/R wheel bearing had completely dried out and had failed causing the noise. The drive home was nice and smooth.

Not a sound ending then.  FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

dennij wrote:

To bring this tale to a close, I collected my car from the garage yesterday afternoon, turns out the the N/S/R wheel bearing had completely dried out and had failed causing the noise. The drive home was nice and smooth.