[alerion]

Hello friends, I want to say sorry for not being able to contribute to the forum before already asking help from it but I am in a predicament and would like opinions.

Purchased a 2018 L405 supercharged V6 from Land Rover Bellevue in Bellevue, WA, USA. I wanted the Autobiography style wheels so they said they could add those no problem. Worthy to note here sales guy told me to get my own aftermarket wheels and that they would be cheaper, told him specifically no that I wanted factory wheels that would be warrantied unlike aftermarkets ones. He said its no problem. Picked up vehicle July 24th.

Driving home from the dealer and it has a bad vibration between 60-70mph. My first Land Rover so dont know what to think, maybe a suspension setting is off as we were messing with it a couple hours before pick up. Next few days I figure out its obviously a problem and send it back a week later. They said it would be taken care of promptly.

Today is 3 weeks later. It has been to the tire shop twice and has had the tires replaced. Vibration still persists. Is less than before, but is still there. Service rep told me they put on factory wheels and it doesnt vibrate. Service rep and shop foreman told me to my face that this is the best they can do with "aftermarket" wheels. I told them I was told I'm getting factory wheels and even if they are aftermarket dealer installed equipment shouldn't have vibrations!

Yesterday they actually told me it was ready and all perfect which is was not. I guess they took a shot in the dark that I would accept the reduced vibration. I told them Im not taking it until it is fixed. Service rep told me he is going to talk to the higher ups on what they want to do.

From what I figured out is that the wheels are bad and they dont want to replace them and want me to take it as is with the excuse that aftermarket wheels aren't going to be perfect.

Where would you guys go from here? Thanks for reading.

 

[Mavro]

Hi! Have them put back on the factory wheels -- you drive it -- if you confirm no vibrations from factory wheels then keep them or buy a new set of factory take-offs from eBay or a dealer. Do you know which aftermarket wheels they put on? There are different qualities of aftermarket wheels (are these the "turbine wheels"?). My guess, these are the knockoff, cheaper ones? If the vibration is still there with original wheels, it is something else -- I'd start ruling things out...

 

[Jaguar27]

I agree with Mavro, in fact, I would have those Wheels taken off immediately and the OEM re-installed. Having said that, I couldn’t imagine a Dealer installing a safety item such as non OEM Wheels to any Vehicle.

 

[lkmd]

I have been through this exercise. I think you will find that with perfectly balanced factory wheels you will still feel the vibration . I believe its either the drivetrain or the Land Rover suspension program. I have learned to live with it on my 2016 RR supercharged. It feels like a wheel is unbalanced. You might try lowering the tire pressures . I was hoping RR would figure it out by now. Between the road noise and vibration my next RR will be a 2012 supercharged 5l the last perfect rover.

Here are post from 2015! Same issue.

https://www.rangerovers.net/forum/24-range-rover-mark-iv-l405/179841-vibration-shudder-when-over-75mph.html

 

[wlee69]

I would also do what folks are suggesting and just take the factory wheels (with no vibration) and then get on ebay and purchase another set. I swapped over to the SVO wheels on my SC RR and there are no vibrations just like the original wheels the car came with.

Or the other route you could go.....If you are unsure whether you got "knockoff wheels" vs OEM on the new AB style wheels, you could check the back of the wheels and look for the OEM part numbers...should be on there somewhere if they are OEM....but there are also alot of aftermarket china wheels that looks exactly the same.

Then take the wheels/tires to a real tire shop with a Hunter Roadforce balancing machine and see if they can do their magic...I've had a similar experience where I was told to "live with it" and took it to a tire place that knows how to really balance wheels and they took the vibration right out. At a minimum they can tell you how out of spec your tires or wheels are (out of round)....there is an art to getting it perfect where they rotate the tire on the rim (matching up high/low points of the tire and wheel) and then go as far as putting the wheels with the highest runout numbers in the rear of the car. I wouldn't go thru this problem until you verify that you got genuine OEM AB wheels!

 

[stemikel]

I have to second Wlee's advice. Get the wheels road force balanced.

Steve

 

[alerion]

Thanks for the advice guys. They agreed to refund the charge for the turbine wheels and tires and give the factory ones it came with. I am happy and now I can buy my own. Anyone know policy on warranties with third party wheels?

 

[mfullmer]

I agree with Mavro, in fact, I would have those Wheels taken off immediately and the OEM re-installed. Having said that, I couldn’t imagine a Dealer installing a safety item such as non OEM Wheels to any Vehicle.

A "non OEM wheel" is not considered a "safety item".

 

[RRToadHall]

Correct Fullmer. Just because a rim is aftermarket does NOT mean it is a safety concern. If aftermarket rims were a safety issue there are a few of our vendors that would have been out of business ages ago.

Dealer slap aftermarket rims on base models and toss the steel wheels in the recycle and hub caps on the shelf. They have done this for decades. One of the Dodge/Chrysler/ Jeep dealers in the area has a separate company 200 yards away that do nothing but take new base rigs and add oversized rims, brushgaurds, running boards etc... then pimp them out on the lot for $6k or $8k more for $2k or $3k of parts.

Wheels are the number one changed item on a car with audio bits being the second.

If an owner has a limited budget they often cut corners and go with flash over quality. That is their choice. The wheels will be warrantied for workmanship, but not road hazards. If they are flimsy wheels they crack or bend at the first pothole. Then they are told they must buy an entire set.