Wheel arch fix

This simple fix will tidy the appearance of your Freelander 2, and prevent serious corrosion in the future

This simple fix will help tidy the appearance of your Freelander 2 and prevent corrosion in the future

THE FREELANDER 2 is credited as being the most reliable Land Rover ever made, but they do have a few small niggling problems. One which the Freelander 2 has suffered with right from its launch has been more of a cosmetic issue, concerning the finisher shield water splash strips. These are the filler strips that fit on the inner edge of the wheel arches and fill the gap between the metal outer arch and the plastic inner wheel arch; the idea being that the water splash strip will stop water and mud from going up between the two sections.

The problem is these plastic strips have a metal spring clip running inside them, that holds the strips into place onto the arch. But water and dirt gets inside the plastic strip, and the metal clips then rust away, expand and start to drop off the wheel arch, allowing the water and mud to get inside.

It doesn’t look very smart either, as it looks like something is dropping off your Freelander. Many Freelanders had the finisher shield water splash strips replaced under warranty. On other Freelanders, especially later models, the strips seemed to last more than the three years warranty period, so didn’t subsequently get replaced.

I guess the upside of this problem (if there is ever an upside to bits falling off your Freelander) is that the parts are reasonably cheap to replace and very easy to fit, as you can see in the photos.