Greetings. This morning, my 2005 VDP's front end was almost sitting on the tires. Upon starting I could hear air rushing out of the drivers side wheel well. I imagine the shock went. Kinda funny - from what I'm reading, 7 years is the average. Taking it to mechanic soon, but he only recommended replacing just that one. I expected to replace both. Will cost about $600 per side. What do you guys say? Will likely trailer it, & mechanic is about 35 miles away. Would you guys replace both fronts or just the one? Thanks.

 

I suggest replacing in pairs, this is always recommended when replacing any shock. This would not be nice to happen on a trip. Just good insurance. I had the amw thing happen, replced the fronts.

 

I was brought up to replace shock in pairs, but apparently modern practice allows for only one, if the vehicle mileage is within certain limits. I believe Jaguar issued instructions to its dealers on this in a TSB

 

I used to be in charge of quality engineering for an OE shock and strut manufacturer. I can tell you that over time the degredation in performance from when a shock is new to when it has been used for hundreds of thousands of miles or many many years is minimal. The only real reason for shocks to need to be replaced is because they start leaking. I will never replace shocks based on mileage. I will always wait until they fail. With that in mind, you do not need to replace in pairs.

In fact, I will tell you a little secret in the business. Aftermarket and Service parts are shipped in different batches from the standard parts going to the factory for installation on new cars. Things that don't quite meet the factory specs are many times held to the side to be shipped to aftermarket and service warehouses rather than becoming scrap. In other words, even OE aftermarket parts are not neccesarily as good as what was sent to the factory.

Now the airbag is a different story. Since these cars have the shock and air spring combined there may be some good thought behind changing out both sides. I am not sure how the air spring performace changes over time and mileage. I could imagine that as the rubber wears out the pressure needed to keep ride height could change and having a mismatched set could cause ride feel issues. Anyone have any insight on this theory.

 

Same thing occurred to my 04 VDP. 1 strut replaced. All seems well. I asked the same question from my dealer and got the answer that newer models don't require replacing the pair. I took their word.

 

Agreeing with my counterparts. I have replaced both front pots... albeit at different times.
Our historical thinking sometimes needs to be re-evaluated given current technologies. In the past I would have changed in pairs as well.

 

A couple of years ago the rt. ft. air shock on my 05 XJR XJR started leaking bad on cold nights. I replaced just that one with an Arnott rebuild with good results.

Last week I replaced the blown adaptive rt. ft. shock on my 07 XK with good results. The dealer did recommend replacement in pairs and refused to do the work with just one. So I found a shock/strut off a car like mine with similar miles and did the work myself. Saved approx $1,000 in the process. Again, good results. Rt. ft. shocks do take a beating. I'm just so proud.

 

Isn't that just disgusting that a dealer would not perform the requested work.
It was not as if you were asking for a safety issue to be ignored nor any dependancy be overlooked. I hope at a minimum you need not visit that dealer very often or direct traffic there.

 

It's sad really. This operation in Tampa was my "dealer of choice" and I would drive 160 miles round trip to use them over my closest dealer in South Orlando at 100 miles RT. I don't think I'll be doing that anymore.

 

This is Jaguar's view from a TSB issued in 2003:


Summary
B204-03: This Technical Bulletin has been issued to inform the dealer network that the policy of replacing shock absorbers in pairs after the remaining shock absorber on the same axle has covered more than 25,000 miles is now rescinded.


Action Replacement of Shock Absorbers
The policy of replacing shock absorbers has been revised as follows:
During the warranty life of the vehicle the failed part only will be changed using the following criteria:

• Only one shock absorber across an axle exhibits a defect.
• The part number of the replacement shock absorber is identical to the one being removed.
• The vehicle has completed less than 60,000 miles (96,000 kilometers).

If, after replacement of the failed part, the remaining shock absorber on the same axle is subsequently found to be defective, this replacement must be carried out as a separate operation with a separate claim submitted for this repair.

 

SO OK if the units are within 60k miles. Most owners will now be outside that, I would think.

 

Great... I'm looking at an aged work order (Oct 2007) from my local dealer in which the failed shock absorber was replaced... at my cost. At the time I had 57,000 km on the car.
I had Select Edition and if memory serves me correctly; when questioned I was told they were regarded likes brakes: a regular service item. Live and Learn. Thanks for the TSB though, at that time I didn't think of researching it any further.

 

I had the same experience as Anxious Jim posted. From my experience, I had changed only the driver air-suspension and the problem was fixed. The car feels normal and has been functioning properly ever since the change was made. This was about almost 2 years ago and its been fine.

 

back then select did not cover air springs and only recently was this changed to cover air springs depending on the failure. If the shock inside the air spring leaks its not covered. Leak air, yes. No extended warranty company out there covers shocks, they are considered expendable like hoses, belts, etc

 

Expendable at $650+??

 

Do i make the rules? no! Go buy a new one from jaguar from $1000-1400. cost does not determine expendabilty
I have a new oem for $625 with free shipping and several good used ones that are leak checked too. for $200
Youre driving a $60,000 car, the parts do not get cheaper as the car does

 

If you don't mind going with used parts give me a call. I just got this 2004 in with only 35k miles.