I'm considering a coil spring strut retrofit on our 2005 XJ8 VP which has 119K miles.
Desire input on:
- pros and cons
- source of coil struts/software upgrade
Thanks.

 

The stock air springs can be rebuilt for less,than replacement,
R M T rebuilt a set of fronts for $550, shipping both ways included.
You keep the cats function this way,.
I put a set of new Arnotts on the other one for around $850, a great price.
Both work well,.but the compressor probably needs a new piston ring either way.
Coil spring conversion has its pluses as well.
The replace & forget aspect is attractive to many.
I read ride is not quite as nice, others say it gives you more of a sport car feel.

 

Bear in mind that if you go away from air suspension and fit coil spring units you'll loose the self-levelling action of the suspension and so the dip beams of headlamps will become very antisocial for oncoming traffic when you have passengers in the rear and/or anything of great weight in the boot/trunk.

And if you have an early model with self-levelling lamp units (VIN G39154 or earlier) you'll still have problems because the levelling signal comes from the air suspension module which needs to be disabled to stop permanent error messages (as someone else in this forum has just discovered).

 

I replaced mine a couple of years ago with some Chinese ones off Ebay, Less than $500. Removed the 10 amp fuse and relay as stated in another post. Just tied wires and lines back. No codes or lights. Ride may be stiffer but very acceptable. Also ride height appears higher although I didn't measure before. Don't know if I have auto adjust headlights but they seem fine. Still have 3 of the air struts if anyone wants them, two rear ,one front, Free, You pay shipping. No suspension expense since. I did replace all wheel bearings just to be sure.

 

Wrkeith1,

If you shop around us can find a set of used coil spring struts off a S-Type. I got luck and purchased a complete S-type with a cracked engine block for cheap. I kept several parts that are will also fit my 2005 XJR, sold some parts and scrapped the rest to end up with coil spring struts for free. Two issues to install, the upper mount holes need to be modified to fit and the front lower mount bolts are a PIA to remove. I had to cut mine out and replace the bushings. The lower front shock mounts would have been an issue no matter what I was replacing the shocks with. The bolts rust inside the bushing, You will also lose the auto leveling headlight feature (as i expected) if your car is so equipped. Mine are a bit low but the driving lights help overcome this, I am not through with trying to sort this out.

The car is solid with great road feel and the ride height is about a 1/2 inch lower than with the CATS. Now i don't have to worry about my car sitting to low after being parked for a couple days in the Kentucky winter.

Good luck
Wooford Jag

 

This is Interesting to me. I was under the impression that the earlier models had a separate headlight leveling system that was independent . This was due to Jaguar's initial plan to offer air suspension as an option. So if I disable my car's ( G17201) air suspension module, I will lose headlight leveling?

 

This sounded good to me. But upon checking their site, RMT apparently has no front units in stock. I suppose they will rebuild your cores sent to them.

 

As I understand it, yes.

 

That is what i did, sent mine in and they were rebuilt.
I had the old ones from my 04, laying around.
So they were ready to install as soon as the old ones were out.
The old 07's are in boxes in my garage ready to ship.
For cores to be rebuilt, if ever needed.