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I am looking to change all of my front and rear shocks on my 2011 XFR 111K miles it has seen better days. any suggestions?
I am conceding all options I did fund Bilstein:: Part Number: 97034-05845037 front $450
Part Number: 97034-08073895 Rear $450
I am looking to change all of my front and rear shocks on my 2011 XFR 111K miles it has seen better days. any suggestions?
I am conceding all options I did fund Bilstein:: Part Number: 97034-05845037 front $450
Part Number: 97034-08073895 Rear $450
I looked into this in the US because Ardent won't sell the suspension overseas right now due to customs. I even tried buying the XFRS suspension from The Jaguar dealer. They did sell me the Sway bars, but would not sell the shocks or springs. Since I can just buy the best springs in the world Swift or Hypercoils from summit racing, I found a option that will work for all of us. You can send in your Bilstien B4's and have Bilstien re-valve the stock factory shock to the new spring rate. They will do this for about $100 a shock. This way we can have a genuine coilover with factory damptronic compatibility because it is the factory shock with a higher rate of damping. When I get around to the suspension I will do this and post a video before and after. The great thing is you can re-spring the car as stiff or compliant as you like. If you want stiffer than a RS then you can. If you want slightly more than a R you can just put on the new spring. You can go up to 20% stiffer spring with the factory damping. I think I want 40-50% stiffer so I would need a re-valve. The RS is 40% stiffer than the R. I also know I want slightly stiffer front than the rear. This will increase rear grip and keep the car from being too tail happy and more a grip setup.
The other option is get a group buy going from a forum member here that owns a XFRS to go to the dealer and order us the RS suspension and ship it to all of us. They will sell it to an RS owner. This will be a lot more expensive.
Watching this thread with interest, at >100k I am definitely in need of new shocks as well. Surprised Arden won't/can't ship although I've never paid them much attention as a lot of their pricing seems to be pretty.... inventive (as a side point, the body kit they sell for the X250 would likely bring Ian Callum to tears it's so horrific - dat front grille though), but another option around teh same sort of cost would be this kit from Spires - we'd have to pay shipping to the US but also wouldn't have to pay 20% VAT so it would likely work out cheaper than listed, and I'm guessing with P&P both options would run at close to $3,000 all in.
One point I'm confused about though - CATS vs Damptronic. Are they the same thing? I'm looking for shocks that I can use with the existing factory wiring/connectors etc, but nobody seems to include pictures of the top of the strut so you can verify.
Intrigued by the idea of sending the shocks back to Bilstein - do they also offer this as just a general reconditioning rather than tuning?
Watching this thread with interest, at >100k I am definitely in need of new shocks as well. Surprised Arden won't/can't ship although I've never paid them much attention as a lot of their pricing seems to be pretty.... inventive (as a side point, the body kit they sell for the X250 would likely bring Ian Callum to tears it's so horrific - dat front grille though), but another option around teh same sort of cost would be this kit from Spires - we'd have to pay shipping to the US but also wouldn't have to pay 20% VAT so it would likely work out cheaper than listed, and I'm guessing with P&P both options would run at close to $3,000 all in.
One point I'm confused about though - CATS vs Damptronic. Are they the same thing? I'm looking for shocks that I can use with the existing factory wiring/connectors etc, but nobody seems to include pictures of the top of the strut so you can verify.
Intrigued by the idea of sending the shocks back to Bilstein - do they also offer this as just a general reconditioning rather than tuning?
Bilstien have a lifetime warranty on their shocks. You can get them refurbished back to new too. If you scroll down their motorsports division does the re-valving after you talk to them and fill out a form and tell them what you did for spring rate. It would help to have 4 wheel scale numbers on each corner, these guys are the best in the business at setting up suspension. They can and will re-valve/re-condition a non-adjustable bilstien shock; its the first option under motorsports. Just tell them there is nothing else out there. I bought some aftermarket shocks for a Supra and they re-valved them. They were a TRD HD shock you can get from the dealer. Optional factory shock.
I want to get all new bushings so I can go ahead and re-valve these B4's and put the XFRS sway bar on. I think it will be a revelation in difference. With a proper LSD that I just bought for it it should be legit track ready with some NT01 R comps. Then onto race brakes from AP Racing. 5000R. If only I was made of money like all these kids on the internet....
Yeah, I've swapped in Powerflex bushings all round. Not sure if I'm happy with the ride but I think new shocks along with setting up the suspension/tracking correctly will likely address that.
Last time I had the alignment done, which admittedly was just at a random local alignment shop rather than anybody particularly specialized, they talked about how much they struggled to get the rears into spec - I think due to lack of factory adjustment. Is this known about on these cars and are there solutions (e.g. spacers on bolts etc)? The suspension is one area I need to learn more about.
Yeah, I've swapped in Powerflex bushings all round. Not sure if I'm happy with the ride but I think new shocks along with setting up the suspension/tracking correctly will likely address that.
Last time I had the alignment done, which admittedly was just at a random local alignment shop rather than anybody particularly specialized, they talked about how much they struggled to get the rears into spec - I think due to lack of factory adjustment. Is this known about on these cars and are there solutions (e.g. spacers on bolts etc)? The suspension is one area I need to learn more about.
I had a shop say the same thing on my car. I was wondering about those bushings and this is not the first or second time I have heard that about poly bushings this month. I looked into it and the best material in the world for reducing NVH is called Sorbothane. It is a polyurethane that has special properties absorbing noise and vibration 3x higher than any other rubber material. I want to buy pucks of this stuff and machine my own bushings and mounts with the stuff because it would be smoother and stiffer than factory. You can get it in the same durometers (hardness) as factory rubber or harder urethane so you can customize it's stiffness. They use it at NASA in the Shuttle and on rockets.
Gonna be brutally honest, while I'm sure you can get great parts on AliExpress, you can also definitely get some absolute sh*t. There's no way anyone can objectively know what the quality of any item on that site is like until it turns up however many days/weeks later - and in the case of shock absorbers, how would you know if they're good quality or not? Props to you if you can tell, but I wouldn't know.
Let's keep a level of perspective here: there's XF-specific parts I'd happily buy on that site (e.g. the blades with DRLs that go in the front bumper that are all over it - how bad can they be?) but critical suspension components? No way man. Especially given the level of effort required to swap out all four shocks that might turn out to be fine, or might turn out to be straight-up dangerous and you end up wrapped around a tree (perhaps a little hyperbolic, but my point still stands. Even if they just turn out to be crap, that's then a lot of work to swap them all out for ones that do work).
The used prices of these cars might be getting cheaper, but that doesn't mean it's safe to gamble with parts like this - and make no mistake, when you're buying off eBay or AliExpress, it is a gamble. Tires are another - they don't come cheap for our cars, but those of us with supercharged XFs/XFRs are bowling about with ~500hp and >4000lbs. I'm sure LingLong Ditchfinders are fine on a beater Honda Civic that you run to the grocery store in, but I'm not fitting them to a car with this much power that I like to enjoy driving, and the same goes for shock absorbers.
I'll buy non-critical parts (e.g. trim pieces) off Ebay/AliExpress all day long, but some things are worth the money to know you're getting what you need and that they're safe - and with tires/suspension/brakes, it absolutely is a safety issue. Just my 2c worth.
Last edited by davetibbs; Oct 24, 2021 at 12:16 PM.
Sure i took the gamble, so far i got supercharger coupler it even came with the new updated reinforced steel part, upper control arms, window regulator.
I guess I'm lucky it has actually exceeded OEM part the upper control arms have been there for 2 years now, instantly cured the vibration. I have been running pretty hard, mine is a 2010 xfr.
window regulator was superb closes and opens the window way faster.
S/c coupler cured the rattle, and has been holding up nicely.
I mean I'd fit the SC coupler and window regulator from AliExpress without thinking about it. If they fail, the results are not catastrophic and they're not hard to swap out. Upper control arms too, it's pretty easy to tell the quality of (e.g.) the balljoint boot or the rubber in the bushings before fitting them, and they're pretty easy to replace if they happen to fail early.
I just find something like shock absorbers a step too far in gambling, because I can't really tell whether the quality is good enough or not, and it's a lot of work to change them out, or money to pay someone to do it. Have you ever removed a spring from a front shock absorber? They are under a LOT of tension and you can easily injure yourself quite badly if you don't do it right - in my head that translates to a LOT of force exerted on and around the shock absorber - certainly more than (e.g.) an upper control arm, so I get uncomfortable fitting parts of an unknown quality as a result.
this will work if you use your springs and mounts trust me, these are being liquidated and normally 350 a piece. i made 200 bucks just by selling the 09 XF CATS shocks as STR shocks.
I mean I'd fit the SC coupler and window regulator from AliExpress without thinking about it. If they fail, the results are not catastrophic and they're not hard to swap out. Upper control arms too, it's pretty easy to tell the quality of (e.g.) the balljoint boot or the rubber in the bushings before fitting them, and they're pretty easy to replace if they happen to fail early.
I just find something like shock absorbers a step too far in gambling, because I can't really tell whether the quality is good enough or not, and it's a lot of work to change them out, or money to pay someone to do it. Have you ever removed a spring from a front shock absorber? They are under a LOT of tension and you can easily injure yourself quite badly if you don't do it right - in my head that translates to a LOT of force exerted on and around the shock absorber - certainly more than (e.g.) an upper control arm, so I get uncomfortable fitting parts of an unknown quality as a result.
I understand your point, i know what's involved replacing the suspension.
But let's be honest here jaguar OEM parts aren't exactly outstandingly good, the truth is that they are very bad, so bad that this forum grows more than any other forum.
I own a Chinese van, i have never ever had to even open the hood and that thing takes serious beating, it has 100.000 km
On the other hand my xfr with very low mileage, which i baby care for and barely drive, has been in the shop more times than all of the previous cars i have ever owned combined.
I mean the whole cooling system, the OEM brakes tensioners timing chains and many other things, are just horrible in jags i have never seen so bad and poorly designed parts in any other car. Jags don't really have a reputation of being reliable.
Water pumps have been redesign about 7 times they just don't get it right.
I had to change rotors at 28.000 km, i changed them for Chinese drilled and slotted, all problems instantly cured, brakes are critical part you could get killed if they fail, these have been way superior than the OEM rotors.
Things have changed a lot with Chinese stuff over the years, I'm very confident about them.
I have been importing stuff over 20 years, in fact my line of work we provide highly sensitive medical devices and implantable stuff that goes into a person's body, all sourced form China. It's been nothing but success.
If there's something i have learned over all those year is that almost 90% of the stuff is made in China, even OEM car parts are manufactured there then just rebranded and re labeled and sold as OEM part you wouldn't believe how many car brands do that.
Anyway when or if ever i have a problem with Chinese stuff I'll immediately report it here so you guys can stay away, mean while I'll guinea pig for all you guys, but in general I'm not fearful of using Chinese parts.
But i believe no conclusion or comments should be made if you haven't actually tried them.
Last edited by Carlos Saez; Oct 25, 2021 at 09:10 AM.
I mean while I'll guinea pig for all you guys, but in general I'm not fearful of using Chinese parts.
But i believe no conclusion or comments should be made if you haven't actually tried them.
apples to oranges bud. bilstein is the best at what they do and they don’t make their stuff in china.
the $50 aliexpress shocks have a resistor to turn off the light
apples to oranges bud. bilstein is the best at what they do and they don’t make their stuff in china.
the $50 aliexpress shocks have a resistor to turn off the light
Sure blisten are great, but can't deny the fact that OEM jag parts are crap, else this forum would barely have posts.
You are wrong there buddy, the shocks are ADS enabled they have the plug, have you actually bought one and tested them? Hard to make statement without testing them. Do you have actual proof of this would be great if you could share.
Who told you they where $50 i guess we are talking about the wrong item. Link was just an example.
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mKf5R6m
if i ever have the need to fit them I'll do and report back to you guys.
Last edited by Carlos Saez; Oct 25, 2021 at 10:55 AM.
Sure blisten are great, but can't deny the fact that OEM jag parts are crap, else this forum would barely have posts.
You are wrong there buddy, the shocks are ADS enabled they have the plug, have you actually bought one and tested them? Hard to make statement without testing them.
Who told you they where $50 i guess we are talking about the wrong item. Link was just an example.
Looking To change my XFR Shocks
