Hello,

I've recently bought an "02" Freelander GS TD4 3 door. While it's very different to anything I've had before, I'm very impressed with it so far.

I intend to spend alot of time reading through this forum to see what I can learn. However, I have two questions already that I hope someone may be able to answer.

Firstly, my Freelander has alot of stone chips just down by the sill where the bottom back corner of the doors close. Considering the cars age and mileage (72,000) some battle scars are inevitable, but I've never seen such a peppering of chips in one place. I've now touched them in, but my question is, would front mud flaps stop this happening, or is it just the design of the sill which makes it inevitable?

My other question relates to the audio. I've had an Alpine CD Player fitted to replace the original casette player, but it's apparent that the front drivers door speaker is dead. Are the standard speakers poor by design? Just wondered if I should try and get it replaced like for like, or upgrade all the speakers at the same time. I'm no boy racer, I'm just a 41 year old guy who would like to enjoy a few CD's in the car.

Welcome and Happy Halloween!

I upgraded to a pair of reasonably cheap JBL's from halfords. It's a 16.5cm speaker diameter but beware that the space in the door is quite shallow so don't get anything where the cone is too deep.

The sills can take a bit of abuse from stones etc. There are other things to account for this though, type of tyre, where it was being driven etc.

Hi and welcome
As to the stone chips keep a eye out to see if it comes back, fitting front mudflaps may help. At a guess it was probaly some careless driving by a previous owner.

Welcome,

I've an 03 TD4 with nearly 180000 miles covered. It has mudflaps all round and no chips where you describe. I'd recommend making these your first purchase.
My previous 99 Freelander had a non working speaker in the drivers door. I removed the door panel, (not too tricky) and found corrosion on the little tags of the speaker where the wires push on. I guess that it's an area that gets condensation. Make sure you test the speaker before you rebuid the door ;-)

Thank you all for the friendly welcome and the replies to my post.

Freebiker - thanks for the tip about the depth of cone on any replacement speaker, that wouldn't have crossed my mind. I notice you've got a sub in the cubby hole, is this the one at the back left hand side of the boot? Do you feel the sub makes a big difference?
Is that a better place for a sub than under the seat? I wouldn't rule out getting a sub fitted.

Flathead - thanks, the chipping probably was some careless driving by a previous owner. Those days for my car are definately in the past.


Andybelfast -thanks for the observation about your car with mudflaps being chip free by the back sill. That's confirmed it in my mind that I'm going to get some front mud flaps fitted. Thanks also for the story about your speaker. Forgive my ignorance here, but if mine has the same corrosion I take it that the whole speaker needs to be replaced?

I also noticed that both tweeter grills appear to be tarnished or rusty. I take it these can be replaced too?

Have a look at this thread i posted in several months back now, there's a few pics in there as well. It should give you a bit more info about fitting a sub but i'd definitely recommend it anyway: http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/freelander-stereo-speaker-upgrade-113520.html

If your speaker connections have corroded like Andybelfast mentioned you wouldn't need to replace the whole speaker unless you wanted to upgrade. The corrosion can be removed from the electric pin and plug with a bit of WD40/GT85 and fine wet and dry sandpaper.

Londontown

freebiker's cure for your speaker is spot on. Support the speaker tag by holding it with long nosed pliers as you pull the connection apart. If it's corroded it can sometimes pull off the speaker. If it doesn't work, clean the connections again, mine took a couple of goes.
My car is a 5 door and the speaker covers appear to be plastic, no rust. I guess yours could be replaced, but why not try repainting?

Thanks Andy, much appreciated.

Cheers

Lee