Hi All, I believe I may have a bad strut mount/bearing - symptoms include body roll when making a left turn and a hell of a creak when going over a bump. It feels like my right front wheel is going in & out of alignment constantly when turning. Worse when turning over rough ground. I don't see what else it could be as all the other suspension components have been replaced! The question I have is regarding after market strut mounts & bearings. I read somewhere that after market mounts/bearings will not fit original jaguar struts (bilstein b4) Does anyone know if this is true? I've heard it's because after market mounts don't have a proper bearing race & wont line up properly with original jag struts. Help much appreciated as an original jag mount/bearing set is almost 3x the price of an after market set! (I'm on a tight budget!) Thanks.

 

i have installed 2 aftermarket bearings.
they fit ok but i highly advise payong for oem.
both my aftermarkets died within 2 months.
taking those stuts out an extra time will outweigh the price of oem.
find the oem part number then use that to search ebay (or wherever) for the cheapest price.

 

Anything that is hard to get to or service; buy OEM. Not "OEM-like", "OEM EQUIVALENT" or "OEM STANDARDS". The reason so many of us are perpetually chasing squeaks, creaks, clunks and rattles is because we are getting cheap aftermarket parts. My old totalled X type was silent for a total of 3 months after replacing every single component until he noises started again.

This is time I know I have a squeak starting on the front left and I am not putting anything that is not OEM in there.

 

Thanks, it's a tough one! I've had some aftermarket parts (meyle,lemforder) that have been fantastic & better than the originals - but others (ECP droplinks) that have been garbage & failed very quickly. Regarding strut mounts/bearings, on ebay a complete set of aftermarket "karlmann" brand come in at £66 GBP. A set of Jaguar comes in at almost £200. Does anyone know if mondeo mk3 strut mounts & bearings would fit? I've found some Meyle ones priced even lower, bit dubious though as the mondeo was obviously a front wheel drive vehicle. Mondeo front wishbones fit the jag perfectly, but I need to get this job right first time!

 

well, Lemforder is OEM for most of the suspension parts on this car, so those would be fine.

 

Well, back to the drawing board, my car has been properly inspected today on a lift & the upper strut mount bearings look fine. The mounts themselves also look fine. I'm desperate to fix this & I have no more ideas. Anyone else have any ideas based on the symptoms I've described in my OP?

 

I just re read your first post. Your going in and out of alignment sounds like a loose lower control arm to me. Again, from past experience in my old X type, I replaced the lower control arms with e bay arms, and the front bolt kept undoing itself resulting in clunking squealing and the car almost swerving to one side when turning. The bolt kept on getting loose periodically, and would cause problems if even a little loose....:I blame it on cheap suspension parts I used. I know everyone wants to save money on parts, I do too, but again, I am not putting anything in my new X types suspension that is not 100 percent verifiable OEM.

 

Sort of funny to me. What in the world would the "arm" part have to do with the original (I assume) Jaguar factory bolt backing out of the captive? nut?

A dab of blue thread sealer does wonders, imo.

 

The arm was not designed to the same dimensions as the original arm. That's what the problem was . Once I replaced it with a OEM arm I did not experience the problem again.

 

Doing my front control arms and stabilizer bars next Friday, think I'll check the rear lower front arms (I replaced a couple of months ago) bolts.

I haven't quite figured this statement out in the repair manual, but on all 3 of the above mentioned procedures, the manual says final torque of bolts MUST be done with weight of car on the ground. Anyone ever noticed this and has anyone had a problem NOT torqueing on the ground?

 

Same statement on each bolt/nut of suspension parts =

 

I bought ford control arms to replace the originals, the dimensions were as far as I could tell identical. The only difference I could see was that the bush was of a slightly different design. I do remember though, that the flimsy weld on the captive nut gave way on both sides. Despite that, the bolt still looks tight. There's no clunk as you might expect if the arm was loose, just a dreadful creak & the handling symptoms. There is some slight play in the inner cv joint (don't think that's the issue) and also a barely noticible scraping sound when turning left, possibly early symptoms of a bad wheel bearing? I have no previous experience of a failed wheel bearing on one of these cars, anyone think that could be the issue? I can't see how a wheel bearing could produce the creak when driving straight over a bump but........all my theories have been wrong so far!