I just got done taking a 1500 mile road trip in my 2003 xjr and it was an awesome and flawless trip… with one small exception. My x308 XJR is starting to get bouncy in the front end. Hitting a bump enters me into a low rider front end bouncing competition. This isn’t a new issue, The CATS shocks haven’t been keeping the car as planted as I like for awhile now, and I recently replaced one of the upper shock mounts because it was disintegrating, but I live in a dead-flat city and didn’t realize how bad things had become. Halfway through my trip I was in San Francisco and it felt like I was driving a trampoline. It’s feeling as floaty as an old Cadillac. Push down on a front fender and you can damn near smack the car into the asphalt. Lol!

I suppose that means it’s time to swap out some parts to put the R back in the XJR… but I’m not really sure about the best way to go about this. She’s aging gracefully but I don’t want to spend a fortune getting things tightened up. The value of a daily driven xjr with 125,000 miles on the odometer has pretty well bottomed out and I don’t want to throw good money after bad.

Am I stuck swapping new CATS shocks on this thing, or is there an acceptable non-electronic suspension that can be bolted up? Will deleting cats throw up codes and angry lights? Is there a fairly inexpensive option to tighten her up? I wrench on my own cars (I suppose most of us do), so I don’t mind doing the repair myself. I’ve tried to do a little research but I can’t find the info I’m looking for and decided I’m better off asking the experts here. The wife is starting to push toward replacement rather than repair, so getting things tightened up at a reasonable price is my best bet at keeping this beautiful machine.

Tips and suggestions from personal experience are welcome!

 

you put non cats front mounts ($20 on rock auto) and unplug the module.

if you need something firm use the KYBs, the cheap sensens might work as well. swap the rears too, it’s not hard at all

 

Replace the shocks, it is that simple. I would stay with Bilstein. The CAT shocks cost more, but should solve your problem. If you replace the upper mounts, be sure to get the ones for the CAT suspension. Search for the best prices.

 

I'm not clear, I think post #2 says use non-CATs upper mounts, and post #3 says use the ones for the CATs suspension.

 

i’m telling him how to delete cats