Hello all from Czech Republic,
nice forum you have got here . I spend many hours here looking for useful informations about Free II. than I bought it at April. I'm very pleased with ride comfort and off-road ability....

Car is 07' 2.2 TD4 S, now with 58.000km. I want some small modes which improve both comfort and off-road ability...

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My first mod was bigger tyres - I choose General Grabber AT (new pattern) in size 245/70 R17, which is about 2" bigger in diameter. There is no rubbing in any situation and it work for me well ...

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Nice car and welcome to the forum

I have heard good things about those tyres too. I have got Goodyear Wrangler M+S tyres with mine but I have just taken those off for the winter and fitted some Avon Ranger Ice winter tyres in preparation for the bad weather. Hopefully there will be even more snow than last year  LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

Nice Car Martas and you've convinced me about the General Grabbers for this winter.........

Thx guys...

Tyres are much quiter than old road Wranglers. Don't have any experience in snow for now, but they are great in both onroad & offroad driving.

I'm just finishing multimedia system - car have now over 60kg sound deadening materials , touchscreen and nice speakers.....what a difference now . I will add some pictures later, now I still have some work around central console... 

Audiosystem is almost complete - only some small subwoofer is mising with another amplifier (still didn't choose any).

All started with sound insulation with STP GOLD, than STP BTP10....whole car ...

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Wow! Impressive! Congratulations for the passion of doing this!

Martas,

the tyres look really impressive and look as if they will do the business !!
would be interested in your comments on them after a few months, as I would be tempted by them.

you've really went to town with the sound deadening material, I thought the FL2 was quite a quiet vehicle !!

and you really must like your music, but again I'm happy with the factory sound system.

just goes to show we all have different requirements/expectations from our vehicles.

great informative post..............keep us posted

thanks

Iain

Thanks Iain,

I'm awaiting snowing soon, so than I'll let you know, how these tyres can handle it. From my last experience - tyres are much better for offroading ...



I tried motocross track (mud with sand) and it wasn't challenge at all (compared to standart Goodyears). All uphill or downhill run was great on muddy surface even with stop'n'run in the middle.

They run more silently than used Goodyears (3mm of thread) and they are more comfortible bacause of bigger diameter.. Even speedometer is showing exact numbers now as a bonus (tested with GPS).

Regarding sound deadening and audio - I never keep any car as a standart . I like to improve attributes, which make each car so good in their territory - for Freelander it's smooth and quiet ride with nice comfort....so I improved it even more.
The same was with my last car - Focus ST. I loved engine sound, handling and performance.....so I improved it too (300bhp, stiffer suspension, decat)

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Real dedication - you must be a serious audiophile

You mention earlier in the thread that your wheels are now 2inches greater in diameter - would this not put additional strain on the Haldex unit as the car is in permanent 4 wheel drive

Perhaps I have this wrong. MY 09 GS manual in Lago Grey, Wood Co arm rest and side bumper strips - now sold.

MY 15 SD4 SE Auto Orkney Grey with colour coded Bumper Door Mouldings

and doesn't it change the rolling distance of the wheel - which puts the speedo and odometer out  2002 Honda VFR800
2002 Toyota Celica 140 Silver (mid life crisis - again!)
2007 FL2 GS Manual Army Reconnaissance Green + freel2.com sticker
2004 Toyota Celica 140 Black - Gone
2000 Toyota Celica 140 Silver - Gone
1998 Toyota Celica ST Pearl Green - Gone
1996 Nissan Primera 1.6 - Gone
1994 Rover Montego 1.6 Auto - Gone

Nice work with the sound dampening material. It looks like this would have taken hundreds of hours to complete. It is a work of art. Well done.

As all wheels have increased tyre diameter I wouldn't think it would put any additional strain on the Haldex, nothings imbalanced.
As for the difference in rolling circumference it works out at 118mm, this will under read by 3.4mph @70mph. If the car speedo was over reading by that amount anyway then it could work out to be spot on @70mph and tie in correctly with the GPS.

Just my educated guess on this

EYorkshire, thats right, speedometer is reading better - when driving 90km/h according to speedo, GPS showing 91km/h . Now is more accurate than before. I will make some video for you...

Odometer was changed only slightly and I'm doing oil changes and other services every 20.000km, so it's no problem for me.

Sound insulation took me around 3 month, 5-6 days a week afternoon after work....but no regret. I will add some small 8"-10" woofer to the trunk on the side (want to keep the access to spare wheel) and 2-channel amplifier under passenger seat and that will be all finnished.....inside .

Outside....Im just developing 20mm lift (spacers), custom suspension armor and roof rack with light bar - I will inform you about progress... 

Excellent work in progress thread Martas, looking forward to the next update.
I'll be intrested to see the FL2 lifted as i dont think many people have tried it yet.