Jeffery, for better cornering without a stiffer ride, then you are looking at upgrading your sway bars. While no one here will tell you specific part numbers, I'm sure with a little bit of work you can find something that works. Upgrading the rear bar to say something in the 1 to 1.25" range would work. But, keep in mind that you may need to upgrade the rear mounts too as they are barely capable of handling the rear swaybar. As for the front, I don't recall the size of that, but going up by say 0.25" (6mm) to 0.5" (12mm) should make a drastic improvement. Neither of these will affect your flat road comfort.

You can also step up a size in width to get a little bit more rubber on to the ground. There isn't a lot of extra room to go wild in this department. But, going from the stock 225's to say 235's should help. Might even be able to fit up to 245's, but that will be pushing it.

I'm sure other members will have some other ideas for you.

 

Try the eibach pro-comp a combination of shocks and springs, it does right stiffer on corners but its also comfy not to annoy you with the hard bumps, Got mine from autoparts.com for $800.00.
I love the ride. You can also just purchase the arden springs which will lower your car and give you an agressive ride and not replacing your shocks. you can get it from jaguarxp.com. Here's how my jag stands on a lowered Eibach springs.


[IMG]local://upfiles/4346/069E5F8AB0334AE589249DB00E5678B3.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/4346/A409828FF5E04DE9988123CAE25BED22.jpg[/IMG]

 

The eibach shocks are no longer available. (At least I could not find any, and Eibach confirmed that they did not have anything but the springs any longer)

 

All you will find available is the front/rear springs. They will give you a nice firm ride, excellent cornering and will eliminate the chicken squat off the line where the rear dips as you accelerate...

 

And I would pair these with the Billstein "Heavy-Duty" shock / strut.

 

Perhaps you could just get the Sport suspension bits that are installed on X type Sports.

A good performance tire can make a big difference too....

 

I can tell you that the Sport Suspension leaves a LOT to be desired.
I did exactly this, as I did not want the drop that the aftermarket springs have, because the roads here have deep gutters, pot-holes, etc.
Unfortunately, I can barely tell the difference between the brand new 'sport' stuff and the 'comfort' stuff with 100,000 miles on it. yes, it's really that bad.
If you're looking for a performance upgrade, don't think the Sport stuff will get it for you. It just won't.

 

Wow. I knew it wasn't a super-performance option but I didn't think it was that bad. What do you think about perhaps the Sport springs with some nice Bilstein shocks? Did you swap out the shocks too? What about the sway bar?

I've been thinking about an upgrade as well, but like you I don't want to drop the car due to the hilly terrain and horrible road conditions around here.

 

well, as near as I can tell, the Jaguar 'Sport' shocks and struts (which I replaced with the springs) ARE in fact the Billstein HeavyDuty shock/strut.
I did NOT replace the sway bar. That would make a BIG difference, and I really would love to upgrade there... however: nobody lists anyhting for ourapplication, nor do they list specs on the other applications, and so, short of crawling around under athousand cars looking for something close, I don't know how you'd upgrade the sway bar.
Thermo seems to think it's easily done... but I notice he hasn't done it!
(let's see if that gets him to do it for us? )

 

I will always vote for someone else to crawl around under a thousand cars.....pretty much for any reason! Maybe some stiffer poly bushings might help a little, but probably not much.

Perhaps I'll stick with tires. Maybe I'll get bored this winter and get out my fab gear and make a swaybar.

yeah right.

 

Chris, the trick with making a sway bar is using the spring steel and then heating it properly to maintain maximum flexibility while also having resistance to twisting. So, it is a matter of proper heating and cooling techniques to get it all done. Now, if you can find one that is about the right width, then making the posts to mount on to the lower a-arms will be easy. May have to add in a little bit to this project. Sounds like quite the challenge.

 

Okay, what if we divide-up those thousand cars amongst those of us who want to upgrade, and we all go look at different applications 'til we find one that fits?
Thermo: you take the Asian Compacts.
ChrisX: you take the Domestic sedans.

I'll take Pickup trucks.
Okay, I'm done. Nothing fits from my list!

 

McJag, what about the Ford Ranger. I get you will find that the swaybar for that is going to be close. You also have the Chevy S10, the Mitsu Raider, etc. So, GET HOT B....... LMAO.

 

I actually already have half a dozen or more swaybars laying around. All from Jeeps of various shapes and sizes, and a few JKS aftermarket bars that are really thick. 2 have quick disconnects - useful on the trail but not so much on the X.

I would probably look to modify the mounts and possibly the length, rather than the bar itself. I don't have the talent for that.

McJ - I'll take Euro sedans, thank you very much. I"m allergic to domestics....

 

okay, so, that brings up an intersting point. What about the length of the lever arm?
I'm not enough of a smart guy here... so think this through for me:
If the 'lever arm' portion of the sway bar (so, between the end-mount and the 90d bend) is longer than stock, but the rest of the specs remain the same, what effect does that have?
It should still provide the same torsional quality, but require less force to do the same work, so the spring on the other end will have to follow more closely.... except wait a minute.... the other side has the same amount of lever.... so the change cancels itself out... right?

wow. that was fun! I just talked myself in a circle, and managed to write about it in real time! [:@]

 

McJag, if the swaybar has a longer arm, yes, it will act as a longer lever and apply more torsional stress for a given angular change in the center of the swaybar. But, with that being said, you actually loose side to side weight transfer as the swaybar is going to have a certain angular difference from side to side during use. So, the one side which is being loaded in the corner will have to travel farther in order to transfer the same amount of weight to the other side.

As for the vertical bar (between the lower A-arm and the end of the sway bar), that can be as long as you want and it won't change any of the weight shifting properties. ITs length is somewhat of a factor in that you need to make sure that the bar is making a 90 degree angle to the sway bar. Not doing so will place some amount of force perpendicular to the desired direction of motion, which will put additional stress on the center mounts (aka, think of it as the lower A-arm being directly bolted to the supports for the swaybar). You can see how this might stiffen up the ride and cause negative reactions.

Not that I am an engineer of any sort. I just get to play with a nuclear reactor for a living (lots of mechanical engineering applied there). This is simple lever reaction theory here. LMAO.

 

I'm not sure it will matter which spring you go with; use the Billsteins.
As for the Ardens: I haven;t spoken with anyone who has used them, so they're a big unknown to me, without being able to compare spring rates, etc. They seem pricey.
I've heard good things about the H&R's, and excellent things about the Eibachs. Both will lower the car at least an inch. Good for handling... bad for mountain / winter roads.