I rejected our March 2017 Jaguar F-Pace due to this issue only to find that my RR Velar D300 has the same fault. As far as I can tell it only affects V6 diesel variants.
A resonance through the half-shaft is magnified from the wheel such that there is a rotational cyclical noise which can be heard when wind, engine and road noise is low - when speed is below 25mph especially when power is applied and maybe when the wheels are off centre to turn slightly.
22" rims magnify the noise more than 21" rims. As the rim size reduces the noise reduces to a level where it is inaudible. We know this because my dealer tested this earlier in the year. The larger wheels are heavier and this may be part of the reason for the variation in the noise levels between cars.
The Jaguar F-Pace has a revised half-shaft bracket which some dealers have been fitting. I have been in contact with one F-Pace owner who as had this problem and whose dealer has applied the new part. Initially he thought the noise had disappeared but, after a while because he was previously very aware of the noise, he detected it again. However, it was very feignt. That owner took the decision that he loved his F-Pace, which is easy to understand because it is a great car, and so he is going to keep it. The noise is now almost indistinguishable and he told me that he has decided his F-Pace is the best it can be and he will now press on to enjoy his car.
Meanwhile, my Velar emerged last weekend from four weeks in the workshop. My car runs on 21" rims. It has the same noise but, compared to my rejected Jaguar on 22" rims, the sound is very feignt. I took the view that, having spent £70k and with a Land Rover badge on it, the threshold for what represents an acceptable threshold of quality should be very high.
Fortunately for me, my dealer and JLR both agreed. They took some audio recordings of the sound, confirmed that it is the same issue and then tested the Revised bracket on some Velars that they had at the factory. They then wrote to me and confirmed that a similar revised part would be applied to my Velar but that, because of the bureaucracy of the process (common in any complex, big corporation), there would be a delay before the revised bracket could be released to my dealer and applied to my car.
JLR put this in writing to me, have promised me that the issue will be resolved and we have come to an agreement. I think they have been very fair and reasonable. We love our Velar and, like the F-Pace owner mentioned earlier, we have our car back and we are enjoying her immensely. She now is running full winter Michelin Latitude Alpin tyres in readiness for our trip to Austria for skiing.
The odd thing is that, having sold thousands of V6 diesel Velars and F-Pace cars, only a tiny number of owners have reported the issue on the forums. Plenty have been alerted to the issue as the threads have been viewed extensively. But it has happened twice to me! Statistically I must either be very unfortunate or other drivers don't have such acute hearing (I do have acute hearing as it happens and I am a perfectionist as well as an idealist).
Is it dangerous? I don't think so otherwise JLR would have taken a different approach. They know our car is shortly going to be zooming along unrestricted Autobahn at up to 130mph with a full load for many, many miles. We have discussed this.
Will the issue cause premature failure? I certainly hope not but I have the manufacturer's warranty, an audit trail and so there isn't huge wriggle room for JLR if the half-shaft or bearings on that wheel fail before the others.
And finally, if they are consistent in the way we have been treated this year, I would expect JLR and my dealer to be reasonable and constructive if the issue became acute in the future. This is business, we have been very businesslike and we have our own mini-version of a Brexit agreement thrashed out between us!
If you have 22" rims perhaps your noise is louder than mine. But, in the end, we decided to stick with our Velar because (a) we couldn't think of a car we would prefer to own, (b) the dealer and JLR handled it very well and to our satisfaction and (c) we have had enough of constantly changing our cars and want to enter 2018 with a car we own and love.
I hope this helps. JLR Customer Relations Centre is who you should contact if you are affected by this, ask for Amelia, mention this post and she will help you from there.
All the best.
Arianne
