Anything out there that works, stiffen the car up a little more how little that may be??

 

Yes, just do a google search.

 

saw a post on adjustable shoks. might be pricy though.

 

I've been thinking about getting one on eBbay from a manufacturer in Singapore. If anyone has any experiences with these, please chime in.

 

I have the Ultimate Racing shock brace installed. Very slight improvement. It fits well and no problem with closing the hood.

 

Is this what your looking for,had mine on for around 2years now,I find it works well.

 

That is it. Did you feel any improvement when it was put on?

 

Where did you get it? Price?

 

While tightening up the towers can help a bit with geometry I think you would be better suited first tightening up the lower with some stiffer bushes or at the very least replacing old bushes if you haven't already done that. Just my 2 cents.

 

Yes I found the car to be much stiffer,I would say the handling improved by around 30%, pick it up from eBay £107,just type in jaguar xk8 strut brace not sure what that would be in dollers, the same company also does the underside center brace that also seams to be a simple fit

 

I would also agree with trevoRtasmin,I also replace my upper wishbone bushes last week and could defo feel more improvement on top of adding the strut brace

 

To achieve a noticeable handling improvement of any magnitude, never mind 30%, there needs to be significant deflection of one or both shock towers with respect to each other.

Such deflection could only occur, aside from weakness from severe corrosion or failure, through flawed design and manufacturing. A design team not realizing this would not be allowed anywhere near an actual car.

Noticeable deflection would also occur only when the car is pushed to it's limits, not during normal/legal street usage.

The strut bars are a nice piece of easy to bolt on visual bling if that's the intent but do little for performance.

Not trying to be harsh, but I also noted in the photo that the factory cold air intake duct has been deleted. That's a step backwards for performance.

 

Not just that, but oiled air filters make me think K&N is in kahoots with Bosch and Denso to help sell more MAF sensors.

First thing I removed in my previous Corvette, and my current XJR were the K&N drop in filters. Sold them on ebay (got about $25 each too) and switched to good old fashioned paper. Change them once every other year (5-6k miles) or whenever they look dirty (don't we all remove the filter housing top to do tons of different maintenance?).

 

I am aware of the air intake filter swap not doing crude for these cars. Just thought a tower brace would make some type of noticeable diff. The only ones I see on E bay are out of Malaysia, figured that was junk.
I have done all the top shock bushing/shocks/springs/sway bar bushing, upper control arm bushings, enlinks on mine. What other bushings could be doing? Any left? ha ha

 

A wise man once told me the aftermarket mods that are the shiniest and easiest to install are usually the ones with the least benefit.

Strut braces can only limit certain types of movement, even if such a thing did occur in significant amounts. Other than pure compressive or tensile loads (ie. the towers moving directly towards or away from each other) a strut brace can do nothing to restrict movement. Not that there's any of that either.

Most bars I've seen are bowed in some fashion to clear the engine or other obstacle. As such, they simply flex when a load is applied to them instead of transferring the force. I've seen others that are not located and secured to the shock tower in a manner that eliminates radial play. Any load simply causes the bracket to slide back and forth underneath the securing nuts.

They sure do look cool though.

 

sounds like I should skip this one then. ha ha ha

 

The only braces you should consider are the ones that the manufacturer designed and built. I think that the only braces Jaguar fitted are the x brace for the front suspension and the triangular brace for the rear as fitted to the convertable, so jaguar didnt think a strut brace was required and nether should you. how someone would measure or quantify a 30% improvement in handling is beyond me? Perhaps just the thought of it being fitted gives the driver the confidence to push the car more than they would normally even though the real difference is negligible. As with most none OEM modifications, you will find they give little or no benefit other than looking mean, and that includes the K&N induction mod shown in the picture. Save your money and put it towards a better handling/performing car if that is what you really want.

 

Sell XK8, buy an XKR, done.
Vector

 

Exactly. Dont try to make the car something it was never meant to be, it will just cost you loads and end up being a disappointment. Not only that, when you come to sell ,original tends to be best with regards resale values. Strut braces and induction mods just scream 'thrashed' to me, people are quite likely to just walk away and find something else.

 

You haven't really explained why you were looking at the braces - what are you experiencing that requires 'fixing'? It may be that you have symptoms of a suspension or some other problem.