Hi everybody,

On Monday my right shock died after hitting a crater @ 140km/h, so later in the evening I was looking at a very cute looking 1606 Euro invoice for 2 Arnott shocks (I hate you US guys, $800 for shocks and maybe even free shipping!). They say lifetime warranty, so at least I know I'll never have that trouble again.

I also saw that the DIY shock replacement thread has had its pictures removed, so I took some pics while changing the shocks. There were some happy findings when doing this, will talk about them.


PROCEDURE

1. First you lift the car so that the wheels are off the ground. In that position, disconnect the battery. That's the position the car will remember when you "wake it up".

2. Take wheel off, then proceed to disconnect the anti roll bar end, and A arm






3. Disconnect the air line and signal cable on the top of the shock, and the bottom bolt that connects it to the suspension arm (not shown, sorry, but it's straight forward, no problems there).

4. Now comes the interesting thing I found out. The shocks are pressurized from the factory, so you have to connect them in their most extended position. You have no other option than to disconnect the height sensors, and then push on the lower suspension arms to make room for the strut.
But fret not! the car will retain its original height at the end (more on that later on).





5. mount the air strut, first the top, and then the bottom, fasten the lower and upper nuts to hold it in place.





6. Reconnect the height sensor, anti roll bar end, and the A arm. Almost done!






7. On the top of the strut, remove the metal connector on the end of the air line, so it is blank. Then, insert the blank air line into the fitting of the air spring. Push as far as it will go, and then pull - it will lock into place. Also connect the signal cable to the top of the metal cone, where the red plastic cover is sitting.





8. With the wheels still in the air (max extended position) reconnect the battery. Then lower the car off the lift, and start the engine. The system will presurize, and get to its initial height.
I had the same distance between the wheel and the fender as before, I suspect that the car memorizes the exact angle of the height sensor arm (amount of electrical resistance), so even if you disconnect the sensor, once it's back online, it will look to get the car to that exact same angle as before. Please chime in if you have other ideas, this is just my hypothesis, but it seems to be true.


DRIVING IMPRESSIONS

Ride is smooth, even with the 20" Sentas. Interesting thing is I still feel a difference when I toggle the sport button. I thought the front wheels matter most, but there is a clear distinction, even though only the rear wheels still have CATS.
Come to think of it, I don't even know if I need CATS, I think one cat in the family is enough:






Well there you go! No calibration required, and it cost me 88 Euros to have it done! Although the 1606 Euro bill burned a hole in my pocket... adios Quaife LSD... will be the fastest One Wheel Wonder when the TS is installed

I hope anybody wishing to change their struts will find this helpful, it's not that hard to do!

 

Thanks for the great write up, and especially the pics! Like you, mine went out and I found the pics in the sticky were gone. I'll get to tackle it when the new Arnotts arrive next week.

 

Just finished mine this morning. Some additions:

Strut upper nuts torque to 25nm
Strut lower bolt torque to 175nm
Upper a-arm ball joint torque to 90nm

You need a #60 torx bit for the lower strut mounting bolt. I thought I had them all, but not #60...so be prepared.

The upper ball joint stud spins once the nut is loose, so the nut won't unscrew. This frustrated me to no end until I realized the stud has an Allen slot in the end!

The Arnott struts are much smoother and quieter than OEM. In retrospect, the OEM suck. I have owned this car since new, and it always made a "knockity" sound on bumpy roads. That noise is totally gone.

Price is now $866/pair , including shipping...if you shop around.

Oh, almost forgot, the air hose attachment comes with no instructions. The OEM uses a compression ring and a b-nut to hold the plastic hose in the top of the strut. The Arnott's come with a similar looking fitting...but it is entirely different. You must remove the compression ring and b-nut from the hose. The hose inserts into the new 1-piece fitting and then you turn the entire fitting clockwise to lock it in. Very simple, but may not be intuitive to some...like me!

 

At least if my car -2006 XJR - the Sport button only changes the shift points on the transmission.
I hit a home run on used factory struts. Found four low mileage ones being sold as a set on eBay. Did not need, but opening bid was about the U.S. Price for an Arnott. Bid and was the only bidder. Had them installed with other suspension parts.
But the new Arnott would be on my list if new ones were needed. These looked brand new. With red stickers too.

 

cjd, you're making me green with envy! It's not enough that the average income here is 10-15 times less than in the US, but prices are double too? grrr
Strange that you didn't get any instructions, I got a page which dealt with exactly that. Boxes are in the car, will try to post a pic of it, may come in handy for people who'll be trying this.

Panelhead, I can't explain what you are reporting, I always would feel a difference in ride quality when pushing the sport button. And the firmness of the shifts increase also. Does it mean that the shifts are faster as well? Anybody know exactly what the sport button does?

 

Yeh ... Panelhead's correct, the 'Sport' doesn't input to the 'CATS' system; it only operates on the transmission characteristics.

 

Mine did come with an instruction sheet, but it was just very vague when it came to the hoses...something like "install hose in the top of the strut". It just took me some fiddling to figure out what it needed...

 

Saw your list of work done to your XJR. Little more and it will run in the 12's. Maybe some nitrous.
What did it run when stock?

 

I'm shopping for the front air springs for my car presently--the new Arnotts look nice, but they say one design fits comfort or sport. Do you notice the ride is better or worse? I'm not sure I want to make my car ride firmer (comfort suspension).

 

Mine rides much smoother with the Arnotts. I don't know which my car had, but it never rode as smoothly as our XJS's did. I have read about blue or red dots to tell the difference, but the only coloring on the original struts was on the hose going into the top. I was concerned with the Arnott, that we might get even stiffer with them...but not the case. The cheapest I found was A1, and they included free shipping...

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourcei...33059214434988

 

Panelhead, the 13.06 was with winter tires (235/50/18). The 175.9 km/h trap speed (that's right about 110mph) totally suggests it could dip into the high 12s with better traction. Now that's summer, I suspect launch would be better, but I don't think the engine would pull as hard as with 0 degree Celsius air, so trap speed could be lower. Will take the car out for a test soon!
Originally it did a best time of 13.87@163km/h. So about 8 tenths, and 8 mph faster.
Even though I have a ZEX wet nitrous, I'm not going that route. I plan switching the eaton for Andre's KB twin screw, he's working on it as we speak, I can't wait to have it delivered!

cjd, I just saw that you wrote about a clunking sound with the OEM shocks, I had that too, but never suspecting them, I thought maybe steering/suspension bushings. I have to concur, now the sound is gone! I wonder what would make that sound??

 

Guys, just seen it now, if you look at the picture with the brake disk (no.6), you can see some metal came loose! Have you seen that before? How worried should I be, relating to its position? They're fairly new, I didn't suspect any problems...

 

Looks like a bad place in the metal. Not sure what kind of load that area is exposed to.
If caught new it should be been rejected. Machining may have made it hard to see. Is there a dark spot behind it on the hub.