I had a leaking original front right air strut on my 06 XJR 80k miles, in the cold weather the front would drop and I could hear air leaking out of the top seal. The left strut had already been replaced with an Arnott AS2396 by the previous owner, I don't know when.
I replaced the front right with a new Arnott 2890 this weekend and managed to replace the strut bush while I was at it (would have done the strut bolt too, but Jaguar gave me the wrong bolt, no surprise there). I've been plagued by a clunking noise coming from the front when going over bumpy roads and when braking sharply. The bumpy road clunking has been somewhat tamed after the right strut and strut bush replacement. However, the clunk is still there when braking sharply.

When I was replacing the strut I checked the play in the lower curved control arm (large bush only) and it had a lot of side ways play approx 4-5 inches each way, more than I would have expected. Is this normal or abnormal play for the bush? The other end with the pivoting bush was disconnect when I performed the test.

After removing the original strut bush I noticed it had a lot more play than the new bush, the new bushing was so much firmer. I'm starting to wonder whether it would be better replacing the left Arnott strut with a new matching 2890 strut and replacing all the original front bushes.

Any recommendations on what I should do?

Any help would be much appreciated.

The trunnion bush in the 'banana' arm is well known for failing. Early symptom is tyre wear on the inner shoulder because the wear allows the wheels to tow-out in motion. I had mine done last year and the boss said they had seen them so bad that they were banging onto the subframe ! Mine were caught in time before the tyre wear forced new tyres.

These bushes are available and a fairly easy swap out job if the shop has a press and the right mandrels.

Ok, I did just put new tires on my cat, as they were worn (had plugs & a side wall bulge), I did notice the inner shoulders had excessive wearing, the rubber had almost been worn through. I though it could have been due to the previous owner under inflating them, I kept them at 38psi, but the inner shoulders kept wearing more than the rest of the tire. I've ordered new bushes and my mechanic said they can press them in for me.

How long did it take you mechanic to replace the bushes? My is quoting 5hrs labor to remove the banana arms press in the new bushes and reinstall the arms, this seem high.