Happy New Year one and all… so with 2010 now doawned I have
decided to fix all the minor bugs in my 1997 XK8 Convertible.
My car has 19 inch wheels, 275/30 tyres on the rear, 245/35 on the
front. I have been driving like this since 2006.
Its always been a harsh’is ride, but now it seesm to me to be
getting veryu harsh and I see signs of this impacting things like
window and interior firmness… so time to do something about it.
Where to start…
Wuld new shocks with a lot of rebound adjustment be the most cost
effective place to start? I do know that later cars had 20 inch
wheels with aggressive tyre profiles… what about a set of new
springs and shocks out of these? Would that soften up the ride?
Jag has done 43k miles. ( I must be getting old!!! But I dont
want my jag to ride like the hot rods I played with when I was 18,
so get in early before the damage is done)…
Any suggestions? thanks–
Morro
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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In reply to a message from Morro sent Sat 2 Jan 2010:
AFIK shocks get tired and front suspension bushings give up at 50-
60 thousand miles. My guess is your LOW profile 20’s are probably
contributing to your harsh ride and this may be accelerating wear
of the stock bushings. I’ve no idea what if anything Jaguar did
different on later cars. Anybody??? Is there an upgraded bushing
available from Jaguar?
Poly bushes might be the answer as far as extended wear goes. They
may ride a bit harsher than stock, but new polys will probably be
an improvement over junked stockers and in your situation might be
the way to go.
Let us know what you find.
While we’re on the subject. My 98 now has 57k and the last time I
looked the front bushings were very tired. I’ve located a source
for UPPER polyurethane bushings. I can’t seem to find lowers in
poly. Any help?? As soon as I can determine whether or not Lower
poly front bushes are available I will decide whether to use poly
or original. I’m uncertain if it would be advisable to mix poly
uppers and stock lowers. Opinions?? I also have a set of 4
Bilstein shocks, on the shelf. Will change them at the same time.
Good luck to all in 2010
Rich–
The original message included these comments:
Happy New Year one and all… so with 2010 now doawned I have
decided to fix all the minor bugs in my 1997 XK8 Convertible.
My car has 19 inch wheels, 275/30 tyres on the rear, 245/35 on the
front. I have been driving like this since 2006.
Its always been a harsh’is ride, but now it seesm to me to be
getting veryu harsh and I see signs of this impacting things like
window and interior firmness… so time to do something about it.
Where to start…
Wuld new shocks with a lot of rebound adjustment be the most cost
effective place to start? I do know that later cars had 20 inch
wheels with aggressive tyre profiles… what about a set of new
Visit the Jag Lovers homepage at http://www.jag-lovers.org for exciting services and resources including Photo Albums, Event Diary / Calendar, On Line Books and more !
In reply to a message from rich neary sent Sat 2 Jan 2010:
Hi All,
19’’ will make the car harsher, 20’’ even more.
One first step is to reduce the pressure in the tyres to
the ‘‘comfort’’ PSI value (but one should not drive faster than 100
ph in this case).
Than, changing the bushings will help, but not fitting the poly
bushings, are these are much harsher (they are good for precision
and racing, not for comfort).
Than, changing the springs and struts is also always a good thing.
At the end, when all of this did not help, which means that either
the car or the owner has a problem, one can have softer springs
manufactured, and the struts filling modified by a speacialized
shop, but this is an experts job, it’s very difficult to find a
correct new value, esp. on cars as powerful as ours… and in case
of an accident, the insurance will be void if the mod is detected…
Visit the Jag Lovers homepage at http://www.jag-lovers.org for exciting services and resources including Photo Albums, Event Diary / Calendar, On Line Books and more !
In reply to a message from Charles_3000 sent Sun 3 Jan 2010:
Thanks Gents… will go talk to a few suspension guys…
cheers–
The original message included these comments:
At the end, when all of this did not help, which means that either
the car or the owner has a problem, one can have softer springs
manufactured, and the struts filling modified by a speacialized
shop, but this is an experts job, it’s very difficult to find a
correct new value, esp. on cars as powerful as ours… and in case
Visit the Jag Lovers homepage at http://www.jag-lovers.org for exciting services and resources including Photo Albums, Event Diary / Calendar, On Line Books and more !
In reply to a message from Morro sent Sat 2 Jan 2010:
I’ve got 18’’ wheels on mine and the ride isn’t harsh. I
replaced all of the shock absorbers which improved the ride
at about 90,000 miles. All the bushes are standard and I
replaced these too.
If you can persuade someone local with 18’’ wheels to let you
swap them over and try it I’m guessing you’ll be a lot
happier. The bill for replacing shocks and bushes won’t be
cheap and you might be disappointed.–
The original message included these comments:
Happy New Year one and all… so with 2010 now doawned I have
decided to fix all the minor bugs in my 1997 XK8 Convertible.
My car has 19 inch wheels, 275/30 tyres on the rear, 245/35 on the
front. I have been driving like this since 2006.
Its always been a harsh’is ride, but now it seesm to me to be
getting veryu harsh and I see signs of this impacting things like
window and interior firmness… so time to do something about it.
Where to start…
Wuld new shocks with a lot of rebound adjustment be the most cost
effective place to start? I do know that later cars had 20 inch
wheels with aggressive tyre profiles… what about a set of new
Visit the Jag Lovers homepage at http://www.jag-lovers.org for exciting services and resources including Photo Albums, Event Diary / Calendar, On Line Books and more !