So I don’t care about handling like a sports car. I want the smoothest softest ride. I have put new shocks on the car and changed out a lot of bushings but not all. When I hit a pretty significant pump in the road it hits hard in the front and the back and when I hit smaller bumps I still feel it. Is that just the way it is or are my springs, other bushings or my engine mounts a problem?

 

Something isn't right. My bet is on the shocks, too hard? Also front is very much hard if you use anything else than the original 'carrot cake' top shock absorber bushes. Polybushes would also make the ride hard, only places where they can be used are lower shock bush and upper wishbone. My car had rear ARB and XJ8 monobrace fitted while I replaced all rear suspension. Not only it corners like a sport car but its the softest ride you can think of, basically drives like a big boat on sea.
I have also fitted much larger front top shock bushes so the front is also much smoother. I dont think engine mounts would cause this, you'd notice if they were messed up and they would have to be proper knackered to cause ride harshness. Vee mounts would be first to go too and they can definitely mess up how the car feels and drives so I'd check these too(use only genuine mounts if you need to replace them).

 

So I put new 24-018616 Bilstein Shock Absorbers (Bilstein B4 OE Replacement Shocks Set for 1990-1997 Jaguar XJ6 RWD) on about a year ago and I have also put on the monobrace with new bushings. I used the bushings that came with the shocks ...attached. The only thing that I can think of is the Vmounts but not 100% sure where they are and how to check if they need to be replaced

 

These might be what you mean

 

And are you sure about the shocks, mine look like this (uncompressed).

 

Here us the link. Bilstein B4 Front and Rear Shock Absorbers Kit For Jaguar Vanden Plas XJ12 XJ6 Without Self-Leveling Suspension https://a.co/d/dRnEaY7

 

The shocks for the X300 series / range come in 2 stiffnesses, B4 and B6 for the stiffer riding supercharged and V - 12

The all-around suspension bushing densities is different between the models are different is well and measured as Shore A

Red (65A) / Yellow (70A) / Purple (80A) / Black (95A)

The terminology gets mixed up between the information sources

You can actually pour your own bushings with materials on E bay

The bushing access can be thought of in 3 levels A , B , and C with C being all of them including the engine mount

So you have to pick your target bushing and get the rest of them on that level while you have it apart




Jaguar XJ6, XJ6R - X300 - X306 (1994-1997) Replacement Suspension Bushings (powerflexusa.com)

This is an example of Shore 45 which you don't want

M01614 Poly 74-45 Liquid Rubber Polytek 16lb Kit RTV Polyurethane Pourable 2Part | eBay

This from a old Bilstein publication

 

Looks like the correct part number, but yours doesn’t look seated/fitted correctly. There is a big gap on yours compared to mine.

In fact, I hate to say, but the top mount looks like it has rusted away a bit and the whole shock can move up and down…

 

There is the possibility that the Amazon vendor has the stiffer B6 for the B4

Somewhere the numbers didn't match

From the vendor :

Manufacturer Part Number ‎BBGL-48166-168-3800800

OEM Part Number ‎CCC3845, CCC5245, MMD2140AC, CBC8301, CCC6923, F4B461858H1, MNA3540AD, F4B361861H0, MMD2140AB, 553208, MMD2140BB, B361861, CCC5243, MMD2140CC, MNA3540AA, MNA3540BB, MNA3541AD

and this can be crossed with :

On the ClassicJaguar Parts website :

Genuine Damper And Spring Fittings-rear For Jaguar Xj 1995 - 1997 (from 720125 To 812255) Classic | Jaguar Land Rover Classic Parts

The difference being the orifice inside that can be obtained from the Summit Racing vendor as an overhaul kit

Did you notice a servicing Schrader valve on the shocks ?

Bilstein B4-KT0-Y019A00 Bilstein Shock Rebuild Kits | Summit Racing

 

Your unloaded servicing air pressure is 180 - 200 PSI

The shock is under air pressure to start with so precautions must be observed

 

I would be inclined to ignore the vee mounts in the first instance. They can mess up how the car feels to drive for sure, but they don’t really play any meaningful part in bump absorption. Ditto the engine mounts.

 

it sure looks like the last bushing has not been tightened propertly (in addition to the mount looking rusty/delaminated), so that is going to make a racket over bumps - if you have the tubular spacer inserted as it should, you can just tighten the top nut down as far as it goes - the spacer stops you from overcompressing the bushings.

 

As I was looking everything over I noticed that the springs that are installed had paint on them like you would spray when you would take parts from a junkyard. I really find it hard to believe that they were replaced as I got my car with 80,000 miles on it 20 years ago. I also noticed some severe rust on the bottom of the spring. Maybe it is time to just replace them and fix everything else at the same time. Thanks to everyone for your help

 

The coil springs come in different K values for the X300 series and the front and rear roll bars in different diameters ( the thicker the harder )

You might be able to micrometer out the diameter of the coil springs for comparison assuming the same base metal material

But there may be a coil diameter in 2 ways correlation you can compare yours to

You can measure the front and rear roll spring diameter but the markings on the coil springs are probably nonexistent to start with or age

You can reference the ClassicJaguarParts.com website