Hello everyone,

I own a 2016 xjl 3.0 sc with 19 inch wheels, when i first got the car i replaced the front shock mounts that were completely worn, then the right shock failed and the car became very harsh as it gave the stiffest possible ride and dynamic fault popped up. anyway i replaced the faulty shock and everything went back to normal, but i feel that the car is still not comfortable, shakes, and vibrates constantly on small road imperfections. is it that the xj ride is harsh naturally or there is a reason for the harsh ride? currently the bushes in the front are cracked and the rear link rods as well. also, what do you guys think of your xj ride quality?

 

Mine is very smooth like a magic carpet and have the 20 inch alloys and tyres , currently on snow tyres still smooth

 

DanielCh, what tires are you running? What pressure are you running them at? If you are putting the tires at the max pressure on the tires, then yes, the ride is going to be harsh. If you put the tires at say 35 psi front/32 psi rear, you should feel the car smooth out some. What you are describing sounds like tires that are either made with a very stiff sidewall or you have them over inflated for the conditions that the tires are under. Just for reference, I am running the Continental DSW 06+ tires. A lot of members are using them and we all have a very nice ride. I know I can feel the ride stiffen up some when I run the tires to the high 30 psi range.

 

Hey Thermo, i have the tyre pressures constantly at 32, i have nexen tires which i got recommended to use for their low noise and softness, i am not sure if there are any other components of the suspension that could a harsh ride what are your thoughts on that? and how can i tell if my tires have soft sidewalls or not?

 

I would get better tires. As much as I hate paying the price my 2014 XJR rides on Michelin Pilot Sports. It's an expensive car and I find it rides the best on expensive tires.

What wear rating are those Nexens? I also try to stay at 300 or a bit less on wear ratings. You can get very high ratings now a days like 540-600 but those will ride very hard.
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DanielCh, like clubairth1 said, the hardness of the tire is kinda the big teller. The harder rubber is not going to flex much and with the minimal sidewall we have, we need all the flex that we can get.

reading the reviews of the Nexen tires, they are running a harder compound. I know this by the basic fact that across the whole line people talk about poor winter traction. This is due to the rubber becoming very hard as the temperatures drop. Most people here are going to tell you to go with etiher the Michelins like what clubairth1 has or with the Continental DWS 06+. Everyone that has them, loves the tires.

You don't say the general area that you live in. If you have a summer tire, these will generally have a softer tire, but the tread is absolutely horrible in the snow and will be downright dangerous in wet/snowy conditions. This isn't bad if you live in say Florida or somewhere that the temps stay up above say 50F/15C. For most people going wtih a quality all season tire is going to meet their needs.

 

Daniel,
Instead of starting a new thread to ask the exact same question, you should have simply continued your first thread. That way, members would know everything you have alread addressed, and won't reinvent the wheel. This is a screenshot of your Public Profile:


Hopefully, a Moderator will combine both threads.

Stuart

P.S. Daniel is in the UAE, where the extreme heat will adversely affect rubber bushings, rear air suspension components, tire pressures, battery life, and other components.
Hottest Temperature In the UAE

 

Hey Stuart, you might be right, but in the previous thread i started i had an issue with the faulty shock and now that it's fixed i thought it would be better to start a fresh thread

 

i checked the treadwear rating on the tires and it is written 500

 

i live in the UAE where temperatures can reach 45-50 degrees C

 

Yes it's just the trade off between long wearing tires and soft riding tires. No right answer as it will all depend on what you feel and like. Nothing wrong with Nexen ties either I have used them when I was auto-crossing a different car. BUT they are a cheaper tire.
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Hi DanielCh.

If you have mechanical vibration from wheel aligment or tyres, your shocks are constantly on damping, (valves closed from rapid up/down movement) and never in smooth ride (valves open, by minor slow movement) you will not get the silk smooth ride. However: x351 XJ do have more sport suspension than equal size MB or BMW, even Panamera have softer setup by my opinion. This ofcource gives more stabe ride in high speeds or cornering. How much we use the sportiness in our XJ:s. Propably not much, some never, so JLR changed the tune for softer side in later models, but not much.
My opinion they could have equal softness as other marguees, and have stifness in Dynamic mode.
The shocks are controlled by PWM method, what are used exsample speed control of many cooling fans in all kind of electronics so it is tempting to make an "midlle module" for increasing PWM modulation for exsample 10-15% for softer ride. However: I like the responsiveness of the XJ suspension and feeling that i am connected to the road.

 

can you please rephrase the first part? i have my wheels balanced and steering aligned properly

 

DanielCh, what Vasara is saying is for the shocks to operate properly to give a soft ride, there is a valve that has to open to allow fluid to move. The valve fails closed (ie, maximum dampening). This results in a rough ride. Only when the valve opens (may not open all the way) does the car let the tire move around and result in a smoother ride. The computer is taking a lot of things into account like steering wheel angle, change in wheel height, G forces in all 3 directions, etc. IT then calculates how far this valve should open. So, you enter a corner at high speed, the dampening is going to be high. You are cruising down a road with some bumps in it at a slow speed in a straight line, you wlll have minimal dampening (ie, very smooth ride). In your case, you may have a shock that appears good, but this valve is stuck shut, resulting in 1 wheel giving a harsh ride which is then fed through the whole car.

 

Yes Thermo, i am aware that that's how the suspension works. How can we know which shock has its valve not operating properly? How can it be fixed? is that a software issue? What about the rear air shocks, could those also be failing?

 

Hi DanielCH
By your writing you have wear bushes in front and back. That means that even you have done 4-wheel aligment, the aligment are not hold when you drive along, because of too much flex. Specially in front the "fish tail" effect happens very easy with soft bushes. (front lower "banana arm" inner bushes are know to get soft as low as 90t km) -> That leads vibration and vibration leads harsh ride because of hows shocks works.
I have seek failing shocks by cheap infrared temperature meter. Typically failing shock get warmer than others... Or colder... Propably depends what have failed inside...

 

It's pretty common to have wear and cracks in suspension bushings. The alignment shop see's this daily and they should know how to test the bushing for excessive wear and recommend replacement if needed. If you go by looks you will be replacing perfectly good bushings regularly.

Unless you get your car hooked up to an SDD you won't see any codes but the standard OBDII ones.
Where did you get the alignment done? Did you mention to them you think the car is riding hard and may have something failed or worn out in the suspension? That way they at least will take a look when the car is in the air.

In the end your car may not have anything wrong with it and is driving fine but for you it's an uncomfortable ride. The only suggestion I have to rule out other problems is to try a 300 tread wear set of tires over the same road where it rides bad. Ride quality is pretty subjective anyway.
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DanielCh, from my experience, you need a true SDD system to look at the car deep enough to see which shock is not functioning properly. If I had to take a guess, then I would say it is the right front shock as this seems to be the one that fails the most.

 

Hey Thermo and Vasara,
replying late, but i haven't drove the vehicle since i posted here. now that i drove it again i took it to my mechanic and he said as you suggested that the all bushes are worn in the front suspension which cause less damping and hence vibration and instability. i am going to replace them all soon and i will get back to you to share the results, i will also put the car on the SDD scanner which i found at a big workshop here, all small shops have the normal universal scanners and jlr SDD is rare.
cheers

 

DanielCh, after you get your bushings replaced and have your suspension all trued up, experiment with varying the tire pressures as I did to see what gives the best ride for the tire. You can't go too soft for safety reasons but I read somewhere that you can vary tire pressure within 10% of what is specified for the car. Like Clubairth1, I run Michelin Pilot Sports on my 2014 XJ 19 inch wheels and I've found the softest ride, performance, and wear is at 31 psi for me. If I'm going to take a trip and load up the car, I put pressures back up to spec. That pressure may not be good with your brand tire, rubber and wall stiffness.