Hello Everyone:

I just bought my first Jaguar. It's an 2001 XJ8. I need to change the front shocks. I'm thinking of going with Bilstein brand. I see there are Comfort and Sport. Which should I get?

Thank you.

 

I bought my XJ8 for comfort and have the Vette for sport. I have Bilsteins on the Vette and they are nice shocks but for the Jag I would say save your money and get Monroe shocks. They are a good solid shock, long lasting and are proven.
Remember that the Jag is mostly a luxury car and not really a sports car.

IMO of course.

 

I'd have to agree. I'd by OEM or OEM comparative shocks to get the ride, handling, etc. that the car was designed for and that came from the factory like.

 

Aren't the OEM shocks made by Bilstein?

 

Get the Bilsteins. They will last 100k mi so their annual cost/year is pretty low.
The Monroes are cheaper but not as good and over 10 yrs the cost difference is small. You may need two sets of Monroes for every one set of Bilsteins?

I have Bilstein Sports. Not very "sporty" really. Just a well controlled ride. Jaguar subtle. I would imagine the Comforts to be too soft.

 

Got the Confort Bilstein Shocks. They are the OEM parts. Thank you all for the advise.

 

I just bought my jag and it needed new shocks. The garage offered Monroe shocks at a total of 1200.00 to replace front and back. Does this sound fear? Seems a bit high.

 

For Griz; go with the Bilstein comforts; sports are too hard

For Ron $1200 is outrageous!

For both; replacing the fronts is an easy one man job in the driveway; rears are an absolute pain, had to go to an Independent, bought the shocks, they installed for ~$200 labor. Rears have some upper hardware that fails along with shocks. Found Bilsteins at Turner Auto Sport the best price and free shipping plus extremely knowlegable clerk.

 

Seems high to me and Monroe is junk, won't last more than 1 year.

 

Has anyone used the KYB shocks on their XJ8L. I am looking to replace my wife's 99 with 105,000 on it. We have had it for the last 10 years with very little repairs needed, and then replace them on my 95 XJS.


PS: $1,200.00 is nuts, stay away from that shop and Monroe is low end product, nowhere near the quality needed to give you good service. I had a rear shock blow it's seal years ago on a new 66 mustang and trying to stop quick the rear bounced me off the road.

 

I replaced my front and rear shocks 2 yrs ago. I put Monroes on the front and am very pleased with there performance. I put kyb's on the rear for a little more firmness and am very pleased with them also. It is a pain for the rear replacement for the 1st one but learned a little so the other side was easier. Patience is a virtue and found I had more than I thought for this job.
Make sure to get the top nuts tight and lock tite them so they will not come loose. I found on the rear replacement that the shocks were not bad but one upper nut was a little loose.
Everyone has their likes and dislikes for parts but I am very happy with my choice.
Dave