Hi all,

I have owned my super V8 for many years now, and have always put up with the road noise from the front. It is at its worst at around 20 mph and improves once i'm over 30 ish.

The jag has the original 19 inch wheels and has had many sets of tyres of various makes. Pirelli, Michelin, Conti's, Hankooks, Accellera and now Dunlop. They all make roughly the same noise and at similar speeds. The wheel bearings seem silent when spinning the wheels and i'd have expected them to have got worse over the years if it was them, plus the tone does change with road surface.

I do assume that the road noise is being transmitted through the suspension somewhere from both sides. I have changed bottom arms and some bushes in the past and had a full alignment done, but nothing seems to make any difference.

i did own another x350 before this one, and also have taken another one for a test drive since, and neither of them made this noise.

I'd really appreciate some help on this one if anyone has any suggestions.

Many thanks,

James

 

I just acquired another X350 , a 2005 Vanden Plas with about 126k miles on it. It made a lot of road noise when I drove home which I attributed to the Michelin X-Ice winter tires. I have been checking the car over I found a bad front wheel bearing---not noticeable when spinning the front wheel---however when I turned the hub by hand I could feel the roughness in the bearings. There was very little play in the bearings. I have installed a new one--night and day difference.

 

I will jack it up and double check that today then (hopefully not get blown away in the wind).

Could you feel it with the wheel and brake disc still on?

I have done many thousands of miles and it hasn't got better or worse and does change a bit with road surface. It's certainly worth checking again though and thanks for your suggestion. I'll post my findings once I have had a look.

 

No , I stripped the brake parts off for cleaning and lubrication---then hand rotated the hub and could feel the roughness in the bearing. The other front bearing felt smooth.

 

Replace em both, and forget about the other one going bad.

 

Ok, I jacked it up and tried to carefully feel for any roughness, but with the wind today I didn't fancy stripping it down.

I'll give that a go if the weather here is better tomorrow.

Thanks for comments so far.....

 

Back from hols and had another go at this. No sign of any roughness in the bearings unfortunately and do note that on certain small areas of road surface ( usually where small repairs are done in the road), it does go silent.

I'm pretty sure it's normal tyre noise, but is somehow being transmitted into the body of the car. All the parts I have changed are jaguar parts, but do wonder if maybe the previous owner could have fitted a cheap alternative although there is no evidence of that.

I have also been reading about tyre cavity resonance, but can't imagine I'd be the only person to suffer from it on these cars.

Maybe it's time for a change of car. My sons 209k mile diesel fiesta is quieter inside.

 

Could the wheel size be the issue?
The 17' wheels with wider sidewalls offer the best, most comfortable, quietest ride.
The 18' wheels look better, and ride almost as good.
As the size of wheel goes up the width of sidewall gets smaller, ride gets harsher.
May handle the curves better, but the comfortable ride suffers, and it seems that road noise is increased as well.

 

UK roads are now really awful ! I have been going to Germany for holidays for many years and their road surfaces are like billiard tables. The road noise just disappears once you cross the border. 19" wheels will not give a good result with road noise, but if your car is a Super V8 then I don't think the 17" wheels will fit due to the larger disc size. An 18" probably will, but it will be marginal. I'm afraid you'll just have to live with it until the Dunlops wear out, then look for a low noise tyre. I once had a set of Wanlis on a Rover 75 that droned terribly at speed. Eventually I got rid of them even though they weren't worn out

 

I have the same noise issue and it is the only thing I dislike about the car. When I purchased the car in 2010 it had new Pirelli's on it that got quieter as they wore out. Then I changed to Bridgestone which were fairly quiet when new but now have gotten pretty noisy and sound like you are describing. I have had both front hubs changed with no results. It's time for new tires and I hope the noise goes away..

 

Have you checked to make sure all of the covers and sound insulation are present? The lower engine cover has a sound absorption pad, and there is sound insulation attached to the outside of the firewall area. Also make sure any under dash covers are present. My car is very quiet all around, one of the things I enjoy about it. A Super V8 is top of the line, so it should be at least as quiet as your other cars.

 

I have a chance to try some 18 inch wheels soon so will see how that goes, although I've been in other xj's with the same 19" wheels and they don't have this problem.

All insulation seems to be in place, but I sure do find this car generally noisy inside, especially at low speeds. It's loud before the speedo even starts to move below 10mph so rolling along in traffic is dismal. I wonder if maybe the subframe bushes are transmitting noise through to the body, but I have read that they are not a common fault. There's no knocking or rattling at all, cornering makes no difference, but the continuous rumble is very annoying.

I've done approx. 60,000 miles with this noise and it's not got any worse which seems odd if it's due to wear. I've had 6 different makes of tyre which alters the speed at which the noise is at its worst but none have been louder or quieter. I have to say I find the steering noticeably improved with the Dunlops, which are supposed to be low noise too. Accellera were next best which was surprising, Continental were also ok, whilst Michelin, Pirelli and Hankook were not so good. I've always changed in pairs and put new on the front hoping to improve the noise.

They don't make them like they used to. I have a 1967 Mk X which is lovely and quiet and even makes our terrible roads seem smooth.

 

Update.

Tried 18 inch wheels from a friend's x350 and it made no difference. Put my wheels on his car, and that is still silent so I can rule the wheels and tyres out.

I took wheels and brakes off and can find no roughness or any noise in the bearings either.

Still pretty convinced it's normal road noise being transmitted by a bad bush or mount. I've also noticed that brake pad noise is quite audible in the car too.

 

Could it be something to do with the steering rack bushes?
Its something that rarely seems to appear or be discusssed on this forum.
Something that I changed immediately when I got my xjs many years ago but I remember resulted in a huge improvement in the handling of the car.

Has anybody replaced their x350 steering rack bushes?

 

It is a possibility. There's no play in them and the car steers fine with no wandering or anything. Certainly worth a look though.

Thanks to all for your suggestions so far.

 

Gave in and fitted new bearings just in case, but it made no difference at all.

Time to consider a change of car I'm thinking.