I love my new polyurethane steering rack mounts!

A couple days ago I changed my perfectly serviceable (Metalastic) steering rack mounts to polyurethane ones on my OTS with a manual steering rack. I put in new upper and lower U-joints in the steering a few years ago, which made a big difference in the free play, but wanted to get as little free play while going down the road as possible. I don’t do any competition stuff with my car, but want a solid feeling drive. I had a minimal amount over a half-inch of free play in the steering wheel when parked, which is pretty good. I noticed a small amount of (normal) steering rack side-to-side movement when the wheel was turned with the original style mounts. When driving down the road this translates to a little extra steering wheel movement needed to keep in a straight line. With ruts in the road, it is a lot more work to go in a straight line. With the new poly mounts, a lot less ‘hunting’ to keep the car in a straight line. The Metalastic mounts were doing fine, not worn out. I just want near zero lateral movement of the rack. Getting the old mounts out was a PITA, but worth the trouble. Hardly any road vibration through the new mounts.

When I had my old S1, I was considering solid (aluminum) rack mounts. The feedback on JL was very mixed, but what I noticed was that the people who had them loved them, and the people who warned against them were usually people who had never even tried them!

I took a chance, and bought a set from Classic Jaguar. Despite the fact that they were poorly made, and I had to put them on a mill to rectify some poorly located bolt holes, I was really happy with them.

Similar to your experience, the car felt much sharper, and there was no discernible difference in road noise or vibration. I think it was Bill Terry who used to say that these cars are “over rubbered”.

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my XJS with aluminum rack mounts,

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sorry for crappy pic , lower one shows better.
driving is nice and responsive, i like them, and they dont get soft after years of time.

ron

When I used them, the Car was VERY tight and responsive (after Ray fixed the mismade ones from XX), but I found the steering too ‘nervous’ for the street, and went back to Metalastiks.

There is no right or wrong answer. I think it all boils down to what one is comfortable with and how one intends to use the car… Personally I prefer the Metalastik mounts and bushings.

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Agreed, mine went in a couple years back. It’s a good compromise between rubber and solid metal. One word of caution, when you receive them, check the frame posts with a square before tearing into the car. They’re made by Polybush, and they were a little careless with mine. The posts weren’t perpendicular to the mount and couldn’t be inserted into the frame. SNG was (as usual) very responsive and replaced them for me, and they fit perfect, but it turned a single day project into something else.

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SNG must have taken notice of the apparent and occasional manufacturing ‘quirks’…my set were a nice fit straight out of the wrapping.

I installed the solid mounts and love them. I had installed the “upgraded” mounts but in the years awaiting the finish of my project, with the suspension hanging down, my alignment guys found that both sides had begun to separate - VERY SCARY!