Two weeks ago I had my indie shop (Pasadena Motor Cars) put in Arnott shocks for $1300 (parts + labor) and could not be happier -- much smoother ride than before and...no more fault code! It runs and feels practically like a new car now ( I am sure the 100K service helped also). Was going to trade/sell the car but now I will keep it for a few years to recoup my investment.

Cheers,
Wolfy

 

Air or coilovers.

 

I went through replacing the compressor and then shortly replacing the two front shocks. I used the Arnotts and the installation went smoothly and the shocks have worked well. At the time, the only alternative was the Dealer who wanted close to $5000to do the same thing I did myself for $1100 in parts. Arnott was very professional to deal with and their product works just like the original. This has been the single largest savings in my shade tree career!

 

Air

 

The Arnott's are amazing I did the installation myself after I watch their video , good quality if not better

 

I am going to proactively replace my air shocks all the way around. '04 XJR 70k miles, only rare air suspension fault dash light, which goes away next time car is started

read tons of posts on the topic-------Has the board come to any consensus on why new versus remanufactured would be chosen.

This sounds impressive

"Computer Active Technology Suspension was designed to coordinate the best possible balance between ride and handling by analyzing road conditions and making as many as 3,000 suspension setting adjustments per second via electronically controlled dampers."

Would i notice the difference with new arnott air and the CATS deactivated ?
If it truly is a nice piece of technology shoudl i get the remanufactured ?

 

I replaced mine a month ago and I drive a lot from state to state for brand new Arnotts and I can tell you they are even better quality and the ride is super comfortable

 

rf69, did you go with the rebuilt stockers or the new arnott's (which don't use the CATS)?

I'm in the same boat as chilledjames it seems.

 

Ross, he mentioned he went with the new ones and is by passing the CATS.

I will call Arnott and grill them about the differences in the rebuild quality and keeping CATS vs new.

Was just hoping to get in the minds of posters and their decisions.

 

Yes, I too did a bunch of reading threads on this...lots of notes and tips, but much of it conflicting - at least in the case of the ride.
I could make a list that is about half and half of comments that are either.
"it now rides harsher than stock"/don't like it or "it now rides better than stock"/love it

of course these things are all subjective 'like' being the operative word...plus the drivers desires in ride and the roads they use it on.


I've been curious if all the coil over conversions are just using S type setups (bilstein @ stock springs) and just making the spring perches. Similar sized car/weight, same basic suspension.

*there's another thread I'm in where someone listed the coil over shocks/spring combos and the options. Arnott had not specified their shocks, but looking at the pictures on their site, I can clearly see a Bilstein logo on them - which is what the other options use.

 

I've replaced all 4 corners with Arnott air and found them to be a much smoother ride than the factory. I live in South Florida so most of my driving consists of flat hot roads. I've taken a couple trips to Atlanta and found its cornering quite fun as well. So with my 2004 XJR with factory 20"wheels I can say...I'm a very happy arnott owner.

 

Motofreak......Arnott air, you give a big YES ( thanks for the input ) but did you go new or the remanufactured ones.

Apparently new is well, new all the way around, but does not engage the CATS system ?

After double checking with Arnott about their remanufactured line, and as stated by someone else on this board, the air components are new but the shock has been tested in their facility to be acceptable but they and us, have no clue if there is already 10,000 miles on it or 90,000. They do nothing to the used shock part perfomance or rehab wise. However it allows full access to the CATS system.

Do people choose the remanufactured because it keeps the CATS system going ? otherwise who would buy these for about the same price as the completely new ones. The is the crux of my decision.

After pulling the tires i have found out the front had replaced with Arnott remanufactured 1 year ago but back are OE Jag. Just replacing the back at this point.

 

Yes mine are new not the reman used inner shock. I was familiar with that practice by Arnott before I bought, but after a quick call was advised they no longer do that and now put brand new shocks in place of the used shock with new air suspension parts. As far as the "CATS" not working I don't think that to be the case. I love the fact they make the electronic sensor servicable. On top of each shock is an aluminum cone held in place by a couple of allens. Once removed you can access the sensor pretty easy if there is a problem as well as to test. I will say at first I had gone thru a few sensors as They had been bad (ohm was less than tolerable) and had thrown the cats system light on the dash. Alittle frustrated and a quick call to Arnott and I had it replaced and a couple of extras just in case. They look prrtty nice to and a lot stronger in appearance. I also replaced the ring in the compressor with a rebuild kit from england (another post found here that I followed). I'm just happy to say all in all I'm satisfied with my new suspension.

 

good feedback motor freak - I'm a little confused, what Arnott practice do you mention?
They sell both the rebuilt stock shocks, basically rebuild the air shock portion, and which do keep the CATS system and they sell their own all new air shocks. (plus they sell the full coil over conversion).
The "New" Arnott air shocks do NOT use the CATS system. There is a post from an Arnott employee in another thread - they just run the hookup on the shocks to fool they system so you get no error codes (as you found, they had some trouble with their resistors).

How does it feel over small/varied bumps? my 87k VDP gets a little jiggly over small bumps, still rides very nice, but I don't like jiggle. It feel like, what I would consider shocks getting worn...so the rebuilds won't really address that potential issue, as they don't rebuild the shock portion.

 

Well to my surprise and alittle education from what I had been told by my Arnott rep. You are correct in there is no CATs system now. I suppose I would have looked into other options if this had been told to me when I had asked about it with arnott but what can you do. They are installed and working with no CATS light for now obvious reasons. Oh well live and learn. When I mention there "practice" I was also told that eventually arnott would only sell the NEW shocks not the rebuilt air with old shocks. Again told by my rep who should have been alittle more educated before spewing incorrect info. Guess I should have talked with doug. I will still say that the ride on my XJR is great. It soaks up small bumps and speedbumps with out rattling the whole car and with ease. Yet quite stiff when high speed corners come to play. Guess its in the valving. Now knowing that the CATS system is being tricked(as well as myself) I would say they are a good replacement as long as you don't mind not having a designed jaguar product active anymore. Arnottdoug maybe you could suggest placing this information on your company website...I feel alittle misled.

 

Are you a mechanic? B/c you said you did the replacement yourself.
I am dealing w/ a car that has 2 struts gone. Car has little over 100k mi on it. The condensor pump is gone too. I have been reading the forums for 5 days now - anywhere I can find postings related to this issue.

By now I have got a very good idea of what is going on & how this air suspension system works ... But I need to make some financial decisions about the repair.

I have 3 options, it seems.
1) replace the 2 w/ new ones from Arnott.
2) replace them w/ 2 pulled from salvaged cars.
3) replace the entire system w/ coil over spring (Arnott's conversion kit).

#3 seems the most worry-free for long run. I like to know about stiffyness/flattness of the ride though. And this is the most expensive approach.

#1 seems the middle cost. But the other 2 struts might go any time.

#2 seems the least expensive. But now I would have not just 2, but 4 struts that could go out any time.

So #1 & 2, could have me spend money again in a very short term.

My question to some ppl who seem to have dealt w/ this such as yourself, jayjay, reysel, ... is:
Given the mileage on my car (04 model w/ 110 k mi), let's say for the next 1 year which method may be most inexpensive? (The answer requires some guestimate of when another strut might need being replaced).

Thanks You

 

rf, the other question I meant to ask you was specifially about doing it yourself.
I am not a mechanic, and have only small tools. But have tried to fix some other issues before on my cars - with the help of instructions from forums off course.

So am trying to see your background, that way i can make an assessment of my own course of action (like to try it myself - if possible, to save much needed money).

Thanks.

 

Basa, if you are going to plan on using used parts from a salvaged car than plan on this being an expensive endevour as those will fail quickly and you'll be replacing all four. If you replace them with arnotts kit that elimates the air than you will find that this is the least expensive because eventually you will be replacing the set of air you've left for another time. Your list should read 1) used cheapest( as they will be replaced at a much shorter interval) 2) arnotts spring suspension which replaces all 4 corners 3) replacing 2 blown out air as with over a 100k and not sure if they've been replaced before and when ...surely you'll be looking at replacing the other 2 soon enough. Plus you will keep that cushy ride as it will be abit stiffer with the spring kit. I've driven both back to back. Now the best part of this question. I didn't find it to bad to do this job from my home garage with a jack and blocks. I used nothing special for tools except a run to autozone for a Torx T30 which I didn't have. I believe (without insulting) my petite wife could handle this if she didn't mind the grease. So with that said only you can determine if you are capable. Heres what you should do if you haven't already. Go to the Arnott website and watch there installation video. Shows from start to finish. I found this the single best tool I used and you will too. Good luck

 

I went for the new Armott's , very good quality, I install them
Myself after watching the video of how to do it in the Arnott's website. Also there is a video of how to install the air Compressor for the suspension there. Very convenient and I am not a mechanic but I used to have an X type before and every time it needed to have something done I used to take it to the shop and ended up spending a lot of money and going back for another issue. I think "some" mechanics do stuff to your car on propose for you to come back and spend more so for this reason when I got my XJ8 I decided to do as much as I can to it without to visit a shop again to avoid getting ripped up

 

I went for the new Armott's , very good quality, I install them
Myself after watching the video of how to do it in the Arnott's website. Also there is a video of how to install the air Compressor for the suspension there. Very convenient and I am not a mechanic but I used to have an X type before and every time it needed to have something done I used to take it to the shop and ended up spending a lot of money and going back for another issue. I think "some" mechanics do stuff to your car on propose for you to come back and spend more so for this reason when I got my XJ8 I decided to do as much as I can to it without to visit a shop again to avoid getting ripped up