I need some input on this. My 2006 XJ with low mileage is wearing the inside of the left front tire. I've rotated the wheels and it is continuing to occur. I have had the car to an independent wheel alignment shop as well as to a large and well known Jaguar dealer twice. Paid out a bunch of money for wheel alignments. The dealer and the independent show both say the wheel alignment is correct and to specifications. Incidentally, the car pulls to the right slightly on most roads. What should I do next?

 

Check for "loaded" suspension deflection in front(if theyve already ruled out a bad front lower control arm bushing, they tend to break on good potholes)
by this is meen when its on the alignment machine and checking front toe. All they have to do is push out "evenly" on the inside front edge of the front itres and see how much defelction is in the suspension (aka mercedes benz alignment style, with pressor bar) i do this by hand and works well. I assume you dont drive to work on the alignment machine but on a road that as you drive it wants to "toe out" the tires. And this causes inside tire wear. There are many jags that when i check this i find i need to toe the front into the red out of spec so that when i simulate what your tires will do on the road driving, the front toe goes into the green(in spec)
i ve said it before and its worth repeating. The alignment machine is a tool, and not the end all. You have to look at the tires and go by what theyre telling you with wear patterns. If theres no issue with broken wornout part. Then check suspension deflection cause "tolerances add up"
kapeesh?

 

I suspect the dealer, while very large and very well known in the L.A. area, doesn't know what the heck they're doing insofar as wheel alignment issues on Jag XJ's is concerned. Twice and I still have the same issues! In your experience, is this an issue with Jaguar dealers, or do I just have a crummy one? I could take it to another dealer in the area and pay another couple of hundred bucks to have the wheels aligned again... This is already getting far too expensive! Or...do you recommend finding an independent in the area? I like the car but I'm getting to the point that I'm about ready to dump it for something that can be fixed without so many headaches.

 

Well since I work at a dealer its not a dealer issue. its the person(maybe) doing the alignment and their knowledge. I know people here too that only do what the machine says and cant think outside the box. Since youve already a paid. i would go back to that dealer, talk to you advisor or the service manager and explain your case and maybe talk to them(print it) about my post. If they were around when the 2003 Stype came out they should remember all the tires put on under 12/12 Because the factory specs were(still are incorrect unless at the dealer cause we have to manually enter the correct specs. even new alignment software still has old incorrect toe specs for 2003 and up Stypes) And I have found many of the same issue with the XJ 2004 and up since they have the SAME STYLE suspension as far as control arms are concerned. As I said I have had to set up many cars in the rad to get them to do what I want or to not wear tires. When we had the Stype issue in 2003 I talked to Jaguar about it and explained I had been putting the toe in , into the red with more than factory spec cause thats what the tires told me they wanted. And my aligned cars that way no longer came back with the front tires gone inside. Then spec got changed, not that Im all that or i solely got this done world wide. But we too are one of the largest dealers in the US and see alot of issues, so we report and find alot of problems other dealers may never see. we all share info and work to resolve problems. And I sure the $$$ amount and us techs telling tech hotline about the STYPE issue drove the change. This is how almost all things are done in ALL manufacturers. The problems come up, techs report the issues and how they fixed them, and bulletins, recalls etc come out based on that info. Things always work differently in the real world with man made parts than on the drawing board on cad screen of an engineer. So in a nut shell go back to the dealer ask them to recheck the alignment and deflection. i would do it since I get good money for and alignment, am quick, and know how to set them up properly to get what I and the customer wants if the customer has talked to me. I dont read minds

 

Thank you. I'll print out your thoughts on this and take it to the dealer/service writer and have them make the necessary changes. I do think the young man who operates the wheel alignment equipment is very inexperienced and likely doesn't "think outside the box." It's sad to have to go back over and over to get something like this done.

I do thank you for taking the time to respond to my problem. It is much appreciated!

 

Brutal - can you clarify something for me. I recently had 2 XJ8 2004 and up done. However, at one major dealer here told me that only Jaguar can do the alignment, mentioning something about the need to plug something into the computer to level the suspension and it takes 3 hrs to do an alignment. Apprently, another Jaguar dealer here outsource their alignment to another company while the 1st mentioned dealer does theirs in-house.

Is this a load of BS?

Any comments would be appreciated, TIA.

 

gee last time I checked you dont drive your car in "pregeometry" mode, but in "customer" mode I know people that say this. But we dont do this, and have no issue with tire wear/or stabilty if done properly. I think dealers just say this and dont actually do it.