Front end clatter, shocks?
 

2001 VDP SC car has about 80,000 miles. The front end makes a clattering sound. It is noisier on the left side. When the car travels down a smooth road there is not really any noise but when you hit any road imperfections the front end sounds like it is a clattering mess. The front brakes are new. The noise preceded their installation. local shop re-balanced the wheels and said they checked all the front end and didn't see anything wrong. I asked them to drive the car. They think it is the shocks. The car has the adaptive CATS system so the shocks are expensive. There are not any warning lights on the dash indicating a fault. I've also read that the CATS system is not prone to failure. Any suggestions or thoughts would be appreciated. If it needs shocks I am obviously going to buy them. Being a supercharged VDP I am guessing that it must have the touring shocks or CAT adaptive system. Does anybody know who manufactures these? Where I can get them for the best value? At a minimum I would like to give my local guy some guidance.

For clarification, I know it has the CATS adaptive system due to the wiring harness to the shocks.

The shock bushings and mounts are more likely suspects than the shocks. But I would start with a check of the sway bar mounts. If you raise the front end off the ground on both sides you can disconnect the sway bar links and observe the play in the bushing. These are inexpensive and I believe easy to replace, at least they were on my XJ6.

ditto RJ237: replace the sway bar bushings simple job and available from any of the suppliers ; check the sway bar links, buy Moog, cheap and equally easy to replace. Maybe two hours, for both jobs, end to end with the hardest part being raising the car and pulling the wheels.

Check the upper shock mount bushings: also inexpensive and easy to replace (do not buy the complete unit from the dealer unless you are really wealthy!). Lots of instructions on the forum on how to do this.

Doubt the shocks are bad; but maybe he lower bushings have given out.

I had a very similar clatter in the front end of my XJR recently, and the culprit ended up being the sway bar end links. They looked fine on initial inspection, so i replaced the sway bar mount bushings, which helped but did not solve the issue (you should do these in any case though, they're very cheap and replacement is incredibly simple and fast). I then kind of scratched my head for a while, but while replacing my brakes I noticed that one of my end links basically didn't have a bushing anymore. So they can look fine but still be bad. I'd try replacing your front sway bar end links first. Other potential culprits are as stated the lower front shock bushings (a very common failure point), upper shock bushings, and motor mounts.

Here's a link to my thread describing my diagnosis path.
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...latter-120476/

Good luck!

My front end clatter was the upper shock bushings as others have stated above. I bought replacements on EBay for about $50 and did the install in about an hour for all four.

Thanks
 

Thanks for the info. I've sent it to my mechanic. I would give you a thanks but I dont see the icon.

at the bottom of the message box: an icon with a thumbs up and says thanks!

This was my clatter. :)

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...gs-wow-119004/

Chris

Great thread. I was about to start one with this very subject! Clatter noise front right on my 2001. My shocks and top bushings were replaced 5k miles ago, so kind of was discounting that as the culprit. Sway bar is my next focus !

Cheers

Ok - lower shock bushings worth looking at too apparently. I did not replace the shocks and top bushings myself (but did provide the parts though) so don't know if they re-used old lower bushings. Hmmmmm

Normally, new shocks come with new bushings . . .