Serious question here guys. Could it be the tires? These tires were on it when we bought it, then we swapped wheels and added these same tires. But it made this noise with the stock wheels and still makes it with these aftermarket Fuel wheels. They are balanced correctly and ride smooth, no complaints there. Could tires really make this noise? And why only when it gets to 48mph or higher?

 

Hmmmmmm.
You may have already tried this, but what's your rpm at 48 mph? Does it happen if you're in neutral and rev past that? If yes, you've ruled-out the tires. But how to rule them in? What happens if you drive on gravel or dirt? Or on cement just after a rain? Have you noticed any change with the character of the whirrr your tires make? What if you under-inflate them? You've been at this for weeks! Don't look at me like I'm crazy! What's the harm in taking 10psi out of each tire and then going for a drive? If the sound is exactly the damn same, it's not likely the tires. If it's there but different, you might be onto something.

Nate

 

Well, I tried the tire thing this morning and it's not that. I let 10lbs out of each tire and drove it to work. Here is the kicker. This morning I heard the noise twice on our street once I hit 48 and then never heard it again for the rest of the drive. It was starting to mist rain when I left the house, and then it full on started raining. I parked it while at work then drove it home. It has stopped raining by this time. I didn't hear the noise but 3 times on the way home and this time it started about 52mph. So, now I am thinking the rain (or water period) is lubricating something causing the noise to go away? This would mean it is a wind noise of some sort maybe?

 

My guess is the tires. Test drive one without all terrain tires. Your loaner probably had no all terrain tires.

 

Our loaner didn't have AT tires. You guys might be right, it might be the tires. I can't see how they start doing this once you get some miles on them and it's intermittent but maybe. But why would speed play a role if it was tires? Wouldn't they do this all the time, at any speed? Why would water play a factor? I wish our cameras on our cell phones would capture the noise, I would post it up.

 

Speed always plays a roll in tire noise because the stress in the tires rise with speed --- and the harmonic vibration load (forces) within the tire change with speed.

Tires look simple, but are quite mechanically complicated -- flexing as they do with every rotation and encountering heavy loads in all directions. If you have a unique BAD one due to manufacturing failures in the reinforcing material (kevlar, steel and the like), this can cause load imbalances which lead to vibratory noise, etc. This would likely not vary by degree of wetness -- excepting that the loads and therefore noise in aggressive acceleration and turning would be higher when dry.

Flawed production tire noise will get worse with wear, as they cup and otherwise deform, as they wear unevenly within the faulty tire.

I still am voting for leaves in the airflow somewhere -- likely in the ducting -- or something else which changes its form / density due to holding water and thereby how it reacts to wind when wet.

 

Ok guys, thank you all for your help! They are coming to get it Monday, and we have been advised to ask them to open a case with JLR. I am not giving up, and I am hopeful they can find it.

 

have you taken the service advisor on a ride and get up to the speed when the moaning occurs? if not, that might be an option to convey at least the "symptoms" effectively?

 

My family owns a bicycle shop and when we would have a problem with trying to pinpoint a problem, we would start the elimination exercise. I feel this may be the case for your defender. Start removing those things that might be affected first like the tires. Then the rack and lunch box. If the noise persists, it could be the brakes. The rotors might be rubbing and when you hit a certain speed the sound is a frequency that you hear. I don't know, just offering a suggestion.

I also have a 2020 Model S and I have been very happy with it. The only downside is I haven't had a software update since I picked it up. The upside is I have not experienced any tech issues. I picked it up at the end of Oct.

 

Oh, I am sorry guys. I answered in my original post about the issue and not in this one.

We got some advice from an ex JLR technician that we met thru Facebook in one of the Defender groups. He told us to tap on the cross bars on the roof rack, checking to see if they were loose or hollow sounding. None of them were loose but they were hollow sounding when tapped on. So, I removed all the cross braces and did some test driving over the course of a few days. The noise is completely gone. Keep in mind, there are no cross bars in our rack now but the noise is gone. I refused to believe it was the rack because we have had it since day 1 and the noise didn't start until we put some miles on the car. I am going to put it back together this weekend and take it to the dealership next week. They will either order us a new rack to try or come up with another solution to our benefit.

That may not be the solution to anyone else with the issue we had, but it did cure ours. I am hoping they can get a rack that won't make this noise, as my wife really wants to keep a rack on there.