Now that I've driven my XJ8 a few hundred miles, and I am working out all of the bugs. Car has 102k miles. There is one issue that I would like some advice on, I guess it may be summed up as steering wander. At highway speeds, the steering on the car wanders a little bit. This is more than just pulling to either side. I have not gotten the car aligned during my 2 month ownership, but I wanted to try to fix any issues that an alignment may not fix before I wasted money on an alignment. I have full power steering fluid, no visible leaks, or odd noises.

Here is an example of how the car drives:
-With steering wheel centered: On highway straightaway, there is some steering wheel play, i.e. I can turn the steering wheel a little bit to left and right, when centered, and it seems like it is not as tight as it should be, and there is no action from the steering rack in this situation.
-I feel like I have to make more effort (a lot of slight left and right turns of the steering wheel) to keep the car running in a straight line at highway speed.
-When I turn the car to the left a little bit, I have to turn it to the right to compensate for what appears to be more travel of the car than I was expecting, same is true when making a slight right. turn of the wheel

Maybe a good 4 wheel alignment will help this problem, but I just wanted to consider fixing anything else before I got an alignment.

 

does it behave the same way parked with the engine running, play in the wheel? can you turn the wheel slightly from side to side before the wheels react?

It would be good if you could inspect the lower column universal joints, first is inside the footwell before it goes thru the bulkhead and by either lift or putting the car on stands for the outside one.

Next is to inspect the steering rack ends for play - and also check front wheel bearing play by rocking the wheel at 12 and 6 o'clock then 3 and 9 o'clock again whilst on stands.

Something is worn or not tight.

 

Another possible check is to kill the engine, unlock the steering column, and see how much freeplay there is when rocking the steering wheel from side to side.

BTW, toe-out in the front suspension can cause the steering to feel twitchy and unstable.

 

When I first got my XJR, I had similar driving characteristics. I verified all bushings were good. Verified fluids, etc... Went in and did a 4 wheel alignment, and while it was better, it still was not right. Still grabbed grooves really easily and seemed to wander.

I had read that the XJR has steering assist. So, as a last ditch effort, I reset the Electronics using the Battery Terminal to Ground Reboot, and Voila! It then drove as it should. My guess is that the old tires, and bad alignment had allowed the computer to recalibrate to the wrong settings, and by resetting, it re-learned where it was supposed to be. Now, it's super smooth and straight.

It still grabs very high ridges a little, but that's to be expected with these wide tires. It's no worse than any other car I've had with wide tires, and not as bad as many.

 

Mine wandered as well. Car needs to get in the air and you need to check the outer tie rods, ball joints and shock mounts. I had to replace all of that and it tightened up but still wondered around because with all new components it needed to be aligned. Lots of toe in and the caster was off. After that was corrected the car tracks like a dream. Much more precise compared to the recirculating ball setup in my 740i.

 

Nice, you guys gave all the right answers/components for the OP to look at.

 

My car was "loose" at higher apeeds. It would get light at anything over 85mph. In fact for the longest time I was a liittle disappointed at it as it did not handle as crisply nor felt as lightly as my old XJR-6. It had to go in the shop for a tranny rebuilt. At that time my jag guy also did the front suspension bushings. What a job! It is like a new car. It steers, hugs the road, and is totally unflappable at speeds well over 120mph. Like a jag should be. I spent more on the repairs than on the purchase, and whilst I regret having to part with hard earned cash as much as the next chap, when I drive this thing now it is forgotten. A joy and a thrill each and every single time, from a short trip to the supermarket, to my daily 40m each way commute, to going on a longer drive for chores or for fun. YMMV and all that, but make sure it gets done as the car should be totally unflappable and feel perfectly safe even at what for the average driver would be insane speeds.

 

With 102k many things could be causing this - the only way to proceed is to have everything checked out ................ Do remember that tires are very important on the x308 ..... Not only are they hard on tires any unevenness is very noticeable .......... lots of tramlining with wider sizes