Hello, I have a 2003 S Type 3.0. This car has 63k, is all stock and runs great. The tires and rims are the stock 16 inch with 255x55x16 tires. As stock as it is it is a low profile car and when I have 4 people in it in scrapes when I go over a speed bump even if I go really slow. Als the shocks and springs have been replaced and the suspension has been checked so there are no problems. Just the factory car sits too low. How can I raise it up at least 2 inches? I have been looking at these Strut Donuts that sit on top of the Strut/Spring and would raise the car, my concern is would I have enough stretch room to re-attach the strut on the bottem and it would also mean taking out the struts/shocks which was not easy to get it from the get go. How about larger wheel/tires? What size could I go to?

Thanks for the help here

 

Moving up to the 17's gains nothing. It is a 6 inch or so clearance. Take the speed bumps at an angle or dump the passengers. Let us know if you made Aunt Petunia walk.

 

Could be shot suspension.

 

Thanks for the replies. As I said the suspension was check by Jaguar and was told there was no problem. Also the problem is only when I go over speed bumps which I avoid. I was thinking of go larger then 17 inch maybe 20 inch if it would fit to get that height since I have 16 inch wheels now and going to 20 inch would give me 4 inches of height however I would need to run low profile tires. Anyone done this? Any additional feedback would be appreciated....

 

20 inch won't give you 4 inches by the time you get the right tire size for your speedo converstion. Besides, why would you want to ghetto up your beautiful motorcar? I just went and measured the clearance at the middle of the car. Tires: 235-50-17 and are brand new. The height is 6.75 inches. It is a little lower in the front. If you could measure yours from the center, you get a comparison.

 

Check out this video...

...maybe you need to upgrade to gas adjust or high performance manual adjust shocks.

Or perhaps your springs are weak, in which case KYB (and other companies, I'd guess) also sells replacement springs. Use Google.

 

Thanks David for checking your measurement. I checked mine right in the center between the (2) doors and it almost 7 inches and that's with the stock 255x55x16 tires. Also my goal is to not ghetto up my Jag I just don't want it to scrape. For Jumpin Jag Flash, I have already replaced my springs and struts/shock Bilstein Touring all around. So instead of the 20's any other recommendations here aside from driving alone, lol. How about the strut/shock spacers I mentioned? I know I will get and extra (2) inches with these however I am concerned I will not have enough clearance on the lower A arms to stretch to get the bottom of the strut/shock. Any thoughts and/or besides 20's what other size could I go to get any additional height clearance? Again I thank you all for your feedback here.

 

I guess I should have asked, but where on the car is it bottoming? in front of the wheels? behind the wheels? I have heard about shocks that level automatically.

 

David, it scrapes just behind the front tires on the belly pan and yes I checked the belly pan, it is all the way up and fully secured. Do you have any problem with going over speed bumps with 4 people in the car?

 

I don't have an answer for that. I've never had more than two people in the car. I would measure the height with 4 people in it and see if there is much of a difference. My suspension is stiff and doesn't move much.

 

My '03 S-Type also bottoms behind the front wheels on speed bumps and such. I have to take them slow and can't always take them at an angle. It's the price I pay for having a low flying luxury ride.

I once owned an old jalopy with severely worn springs and I installed spring spacers on it. They, along with heavy duty shocks, did help to inexpensively resolve the suspension problems of that car. For sure it's the cheapest option for sagging springs, but I can't say if it will work on your brand new no-sag springs. But try them first.

If they don't work, consider this... your new Bilstein Touring shocks (B4) are the standard "comfort" shocks - Bilstein's standard and softest riding OEM shocks for the '03 S-Type 3.0L. So you replaced your soft riding OEM B4's with more B4's, when what you really need is heavy duty, less compressible shocks. And did you replaced your OEM springs with the same Jaguar OEM springs, when what you really need is much stiffer springs?

Considering all the other options like huge wheels and out of spec tires - and the expense involved - may I suggest you revisit the idea of replacing your springs and shocks - this time with the stiffest, heaviest duty springs and shocks available for the S-Type. Research the aftermarket companies that make suspension products.

This will keep the car in spec, not affect speedometer readings etc, and probably cost less than the huge wheels and new tires that you're thinking about trying. Then sell your nearly new springs and Bilstein Touring shocks on eBay to recover some of your costs.

PM me in private. I might consider buying those new Bilstein's from you.

 

Hey JJF, thanks for the info. Yes I replaced all (4) springs and struts with Bilstein B4's. I was going to go with the HD and/or the Sport struts/shock but was concerned about the stiff ride. The least cost to correct this is to get the strut/shock spacers. If you go to eBay and enter strut spacers you will see these are a solid 2 inch aluminum and/or could be a polyutherene sp? washer that is placed on top of the strut/shock not in between the springs, you will never see these. Of course I have to again remove the struts/shocks to install them. I know this will work but I just worried that were you have to pull down on the lower A arm to reattach the bottom of the strut/shock I will not have enough slack to connect them. It was tough even the standard way but I guess I won't know until I try. Honestly for the pain its going to be to remove the struts/shocks I rather buy new larger rims/tires. Guys, thanks again for all your feed back here.

 

Good luck. Let us know how you finally resolve your problem.