Hey guys, I have a 2002 Freelander that I got from a police auction. Some idiot before me put on custom 18" Rims on it with mismatched low profile tires (245/45/18) in the front and 255/45/18 in the back. Front tires were different brands, pattern and level of wear!!! I bought 4 used tires but could only fit 245/50/18. Anyhow the tires I got are not much better. I notice a muffled droning noise that comes on for about 3-5 seconds when I'm making 90 degree tuns. It seems that the noise is comming from the rear differential. But what scares me even worse is that when I put the car in reverse and turn the wheel, like to back out of a parking spot, I hear a loud clank from under the car close to center although could also be from the rear diff. when I put it in drive seconds later and then move forward, if I turn the wheel in the other direction, the the clank comes back although not as loud. It feels like something under there gets forced into one position when reversing at an angle, then is forced back when moving forward with the wheel turned the other way. Although when reversing straight back, the clanking sound never comes on. Also tranny seems hesitant when the vehicle is just started and temp is low, but as temp becomes normal, tranny shifts very smoothly. Only 41k miles on board. I was afraid that my tranny was letting me know that the car needs to change owners ASAP. I suspected that stupid cops towed my poor AWD SUV with out using a flatbed and screwed up my rear differential and or tranny. If anyone knows what my car's suffering from, please advise, I'm too scared to take it to the dealer they charge like $279 for diagnostics and then repairs are prolly gonna be estimated at more than I paid for the whole car!

 

Oh and another thing, the car pulls to the right (very annoying) Since i have those 18x7.5 stupid custom wheels that are not at all recommended by Rover, mechanic tells me that he can't do alignment says that if he does, I'll be back next week for alignment again. Is that true? Please advise

 

The groan while turning is normal, Freelanders have a viscous unit installed in the middle of the driveshaft and as the car turns the clutches inside try to keep torque applied to the diff, its a reason for the weird left to right tire rotation on the back axel, front and rear axel ratios are different on Freelander to keep the viscous unit loaded.
Check the rear diff rubber mounts for the clunking noise , they fail and cause vibrations and klunk

 

And the alignment issue is a chicken tech, wheel diameter will not affect alignment. the really big wheels might however cause the car to wander on worn roadways (heavy traveled truck roads where you can see waves in the pavement) or high speed shimmy issues.get a stock set of wheels on E-BAY ,you will be glad you did.

 

Thank you dirtyduk for taking the time to answer this, made me feel alot better about my car, now I'm gonna go and get alignment done on it.

 

Where I used to work Freelanders were avoided by everyone,and frequently misdiagnosed,causing alot of frustration for customers. they really arent bad vehicles and they suprise alot of people off road. have fun with it !