Hello eveyone. I posted here when I first got my '03 XJ8 and the car has been great save for a couple of issues. I got the car last July so it's been about 6 months. Noticed that the front tires were near bald on the inside about 3 months later so I bought new ones and didn't even bother to check the inner sides of the rear tires since visually, at least they looked fine from outside. It is my wife's car and she has been complaining that there is a "clunking" noise from the drivers side rear suspension and that the car liked to slide a bit when making a turn or going over a speed bump and so forth. I jacked it up to take a look at it and was shocked to see the inner part of the rear tires were both completely bald with the metal threads showing. When I say inner part I mean half the tires had tread and the other half were COMPLETELY worn. A blowout ready to happen.

Showed it to a mechanic and he said it is the struts and that I need new ones all around. The new tires in front are already show signs of cupping. He tells me the rear needs to be dropped to do the job and that I'm looking at $2k worth of work to replace 4 struts. Is this the case??? This mechanic has an older xj6 (same body style) but I'm still not sure if I should trust him. Thanks for any help. Here's a pic of my Jag:

 

Destroyer:
There are lots of parts in the 4 corners of suspensions, but I don't think any of them are called a "strut". AFAIK that tern generally refers to a McPherson Strut, which the X-308 certainly has none of.
So, normally I would say it is pretty worthless to ask folks who have not seen the car to evaluate what a person who has seen it said, but in this case, I would sure ask the "mechanic" what strut he is referring to.

 

You obviously have a serious alignment issue but SHOCKS do not cause that. I think we have lost confidence in your mechanic.

 

He's not my mechanic, just a mechanic that is in my warehouse complex that works strictly on foreign cars. Ok, lets approach this another way. Are XJ8 prone to any suspension problems that would cause an issue such as this?

 

Well, I don't know about "prone", except its a sports car, not a 4 wheel drive truck! So, alignment, rubber bushings (a bunch of them), ball joints, tie rod ends, and some other things I have surely forgotten (wheel bearings?) can all do what you describe. So, I will go back to my original statement that what happened on someone else's car may or may not be your problem. Does the car pull left or right? tramline? Did it shake or shimmy when the tires were new? When was it aligned.? Both of my XJRs (150k miles + and 250k miles+) had worn supensions. I fixed the 99 but I have not yet done the '98. I replaced all the stuff listed above for about $400.00 of parts and about 25 hours (my slow hours), so the cost you quoted might not be too far off.

 

you need an alignment. does the car bounce on bumps? is there oil leaking from the shocks. If not you dont need them......however the clunk in the rear may be from bad lower shock bushings(you can see and feel movement on a lift) also the upper shock mounts deteriorate and clunk. But you cannot see these. If you think this is it then replace the rear shocks and upper foam and urethane mounts.. If your ride height is down slightly I would install a thinker packing along with the 1 in already between the spring mount and coil spring. This is a cheap a decent way to comphensate the alittle settling over the years. tire wear on the insde is from too much toe out in front and back if theyre both wearing the inside. And they need to check suspension deflection in the front AKA mercedes pressor bar alignment proceedure. They dont need the tool but arms long enough to push out on the inside of the front tires when setting and checking front toe.....

 

Beautiful car, by the way.

 

On the lift I didn't see any oil coming from the shocks. Can I replace the lower shock bushing without replacing the shock? Thanks for the help. I'll take it for an alignment tomorrow.

 

Yep you can replace the lower shock bushes, look here...
part#MND2153AA
http://www.britishparts.co.uk/.sc/ms...BSORBER%20BUSH

 

yes lower bushing are avail seperatly for the rear. But if theres no movement when you grab the tire on the lift its more often than not the upper bushings. and if youre gonna do these youde be foolish to not install new rear shocks at the same time since they have to come out and apart to do the upper foam isolators and bushings. then you have new lowers as well

 

A couple of weeks ago I had an alignment done and it was way off. Been driving the car since on new tires. So far it looks like this was the problem. We shall see. Thanks for the help eveyone.

 

Excellent good to hear. Make sure to still watch those front tires. It could creep its ugly head back if your car has higher mileage. worn ball joints and control arm bushings will cause all what you are saying. Only in extreme cases have I seen a shock/strut cause tires to wear.