Front shock absorbers

Afternoon all,

Mk2 3.4 - Shock absorbers. What is the current wisdom with regards to brand of shock absorbers for the front? We just want a quiet comfortable drive - not interested in race performance or being adjustable etc. UK available suggestions please.

JCC.

I would go for C20989GAZ/1 available from SNGBarratt.

Thank you Peter. Do you find them comfortable?

I would not go with the SNG ones :thinking: , but only on price , shop around you could save over Ā£20 !
If just standard shocks I would go with Boge or the like , think they are around Ā£30 less each , then the adjustable kind !

Iā€™ve had no end of problems with my car on new(ish) Gaz shocks.

The PO replaced the shocks with Gaz adjustables in 2016, and between then and my buying the car late 2021 it travelled under 1000 miles.

When I got the car the ride wasā€¦awful. like a bouncy castle.

I assumed it was the springs, but a set of aftermarket uprated front springs did nothing.

Repeated fiddling with the adjustability still crap.

I got a couple of colleagues to drive the car. All saidā€¦ the shocks are stuffed.

Last month I bought a set of Konis from SNG for a vastly exorbitant price. Iā€™ve never had much success with Konis. High price, low satisfaction has been my experience.

But, with the MK2 thatā€™s all thatā€™s available. Boge have imploded and Monroe donā€™t do a shock for MK2ā€™s.

Currently my car is sitting on my hoist, with no engine, gearbox, brakes or front suspension. So I canā€™t tell you whether Iā€™ve fixed the problem.

What I can tell you though is that while adjusting the Konis in the vice I could comfortably pull the Gaz shocks out even on full adjustment while the Konis might as well have been welded in place.18 stone of me couldnā€™t move them at all.

Now this log diatribe might not be that helpful, and Iā€™m 2 months off driving the MK2 again, but I think the Gaz shocks were not strong enough.

Thanks Ian, Thanks Andrew.
Iā€™m not keen on sophisticated adjustable items - an expensive set of Spax items 20 years ago that failed pretty promptly puts me off, plus I donā€™t want to faff about with adjusting. I fitted the ā€˜Koni Classicā€™ to the rear recently - even on softest setting still pretty firm, so will follow Ianā€™s advice and see if Boge can be found, or just some basic ā€˜bog standardā€™ brand.
Thanks again.

We used to use Monroe ā€œFordā€ shocks on our MK2 in the 80ā€™s, but unfortunately I donā€™t remember the Ford ā€œmodelā€.

Thanks anyway. Iā€™m sure there are many cross applications however it seems suppliers / manufacturers keep this quiet such Jag owners pay triple the price of Ford Capri owners!

Not sure how old this is , but looks like David Manners has them , or did ,

https://picclick.co.uk/MONROE-Pair-Front-Shock-Absorbers-Jaguar-Mk1-Mk2-420-S-type-Daimler-V8-263254367142.html

Thanks Ian - SNAP! - I found the same link but itā€™s a dead end - Iā€™m going to try John Gordon Spares - easier to speak to than navigate the big players websites.

Donā€™t necessarily give up on David Manners. Very often, I have found that while they donā€™t show it on their website, they do often have a needed part or can get it. This has been true for many parts on the Mk10, and Mk2 stuff should be way easier. Iā€™d make an inquiry by email.

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I installed Koni Classics in our MK2 and they provide a very comfortable ride. To date, Iā€™ve had no issues with them.

Current Koni Classics are finished in black and have a modern Koni decal on them. I removed the decals, scuffed the black paint with a supper fine 3M pad and painted them with chevy engine orange paint to give them a proper Koni look. To Finish them off, I applied reproduction early 60ā€™s Koni logo stickers. they look quite nice too.

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Now thatā€™s dedication to the craft, right there. :slight_smile:

Yeah I just put the black ones in and didnā€™t find the stickers until I was breaking the boxes down for recycling :slight_smile:

The orange ones look far cooler.

Have ordered Koni Classics from John Gordon Jaguar.
Damien there explained the ā€˜standardā€™ type (Boge / Monroe / unbranded) etc are not presently available, and they gave me a ā€˜dealā€™ price which was good of them. Iā€™ll make sure they are set to softest setting before installing, and will not be painting them orange.

Iā€™d set them mid range.

Thereā€™s a chance this will be right and youā€™ll avoid having to remove them to readjust, which I think you will almost certainly have to do if you set them very soft.

Would I be right in saying they are twice the price of GAZ shocks at Ā£150 each , and you have to take them off to adjust them :thinking:

Would have to ask why would you buy them :blush:
It takes seconds to adjust the GAZ , and you can do it on the side of the road on your test runs !

ā€œKnowingā€ that I had ā€œnewā€ shocks, I have wasted quite a lot of time, and some money trying to improve the ride of my Mk2.

Eventually I have come to the realisation that the the essentially new Gaz shocks on my Mk2 donā€™t work. Iā€™m not sure why.

My previous experiences with Konis have been lacklustre, but theyā€™re the only alternative.

I paid Ā£114 each for 4 shocks, plus some freight, which I consider way over value.

But currently I canā€™t see a better option.

In a couple of months when I actually have the Mk2 back together Iā€™ll be able to tell you whether it was money well spent or not.

Each to their own of course, and thank you for the comments. My own experience of adjustable gas shocks on cars and bikes has always been disappointing. Now that I am old and fat, I have no desire to scrabble around in the wheel well trying to find a setting. Iā€™m looking for ā€˜fit and forgetā€™ comfort, and would rather be seasick than lose a filling.

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Andrew, come up and drive my Mk2 with Kingā€™s and Koniā€™s. I think it rides better than our XJ6, which is quite mouthful.