Hello, new member here. I have a 2017 Jaguar F-Type premium that is getting a VERY occasional clunk/pop noise on the passenger (right) side when doing very slow, tight turns, typically that you would do in a parking lot. I jacked it up and everything looks pretty good, except apparently the camber has been set wrong and the inside of the tires are spent. I did notice that there was some play, left-to-right on the upper control arm. Is this normal? I could not get any flexing from the bushings in/out, only left-to-right. Following what information I could find on a search, I did check the Torx bolts on the braces in the engine bay, but none of them were loose. I appreciate your time and information, I would simply like to avoid another dealership/shop trip as I just got it back a few days ago from getting the serpentine belt and brake vacuum pump replaced. Thanks!

 

You shouldn't have ANY play on the control arm. Find a good alignment shop. That could both the changeover and then alignment.

 

An occasional front-end clunk on slow tight corners is considered normal, I believe. It’s been discussed many times here, and I believe there’s a name for it. It’s something like one of the front wheels has to hop a bit, because they’re tracing different radii circles. Something like that.

Your uneven wear is of course not normal.

Edit: Ackermann geometry is the name…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ackerm...ering_geometry

 

We got an occasional CLUNK after the rear spring isolator fell off on our early F-Type.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/f.../found-282032/

I bought some spring isolators for a Honda but didn't need to install them...I have been spraying Lubriplate into the upper rear spring seats on our annual oil change/service, and that has eliminated any noise!

 

A couple of years back when I had a local shop put in my aluminum coolant pipes and smaller SC pulley (why not - we were there!), I got a call and some pictures.

First off, I have an outstanding alignment guy and I'm very persnickety - my alignment had been set early on. Then, at 28K miles, the inside edge on my front tires were worn, and (drum roll here) the POS front factory spring/strut isolator yellow polymers had turned to dust/peanut butter. It had essentially crumbled and disappeared. As a result, the camber increased significantly and wore out my inner edges. For whatever reason I had not noticed the slop in the struts. The funnies part of this story is that we had just finished a British Isles cruise, and we were in route to Castle Bromwich to do the factory tour when I got the email and pictures. I actually asked our tour guide to take me by the rack of strut isolator parts to perhaps see if a couple could leave with me! It turns out the entire suspension pieces are assembled off site and sent as modular pieces to slap on by the robots - so no dice there.

All the bushings/isolators were replaced with non OEM (Jag has a habit of NOT re-designing bad parts IMHO - I didn't want the same crap back in).

In any case, have your struts/isolators carefully inspected. If they are shot as were mine - that's where you're at. I can dig through receipts if you wish to find out who's isolators we put in.

good luck.

 

That is what I expected to be the case, I just wanted to be sure. I am not entirely familiar with these, but I am pretty familiar to just general rules, one of which being that you shouldn't have really any easy motion from suspension bushings.

Thanks for that information, yes, the insides of both tires are pretty well gone. I felt during my last drive that the steering felt very twitchy, like it wanted to go every way but straight, and it also was squirming under considerable breaking. That being said, however, with the double wishbone setup, I wouldn't expect the strut to have a great effect on the suspension geometry? We just got an alignment done last year, but in the time since, the engine had to be replaced due to it being completely seized. As such, I am not sure if the alignment was set after having to drop the subframe. I presume to check the strut isolators that the removal of the strut assembly is required?

 

I believe not. I seem to recall they were visible from inside the wheel well, but I was not there.

Can anyone else chime in here?