Advice on shock replacement?
 

Hey All!

Looking for advice on shock replacement on my 1988 XJS Coupe. I searched forum and found different names out there (Bilstein, etc). I also looked via local parts place and seem to get conflicting info. Parts place says Monroe OESpectrum Monotube Shock Absorber Buy Monroe OESpectrum Monotube Shock Absorber 39003 at Advance Auto Parts four required at $80 each for rear. They also state that the KYB Rear Gas Strut Buy KYB Rear Gas Strut KG9122 at Advance Auto Parts $78 each works?

Looking for advice on decent shocks for front and back that won't cost me an arm and a leg. Any help here?
Thanks!

Actually it seems to me that the shocks in the front and the rear of this car are the same? If so could I just not use 6 of these? Gabriel Ultra/Shock/Strut - Front (69677) | 1988 Jaguar XJS 12 Cylinders 8 5.3L FI | AutoZone.com

Thanks!

only Koni oil filed

quick rundown....

Koni = expensive.
KYB = good value & slightly stiffer ride
MONROE OESpectrum = stock ride, low cost, lower quality
Bilstein = pricy and stiff like KYB, nice color though.
Boge = pricey but stock ride quality.

No, the two in the front are very different from the four in the rear.

Cheers,

Allan

What kind of ride quality are you looking for? OE soft, or something stiffer?

I have a set of four KYB shocks on the rear. They're a little stiffer than the original Boge shocks. They still ride very well, but are a more calculated and seem to offer more control. With that said, the Boge shocks I took off were pretty old.

Are the original shocks able to be rebuilt?
I had my X300 front Bilsteins rebuilt after replacing them for a month with KYBs. I was unhappy with the harsh jarring ride from the KYBs, and was able to have the Bilsteins rebuilt and refitted - the difference was night and day

I went for the Bilsteins but most XJS's came standard with Boge. If you have the funds I would recommend the Bilsteins otherwise go with stock Boge. I have heard Monroe are not good on the XJS even though these are very good on other cars, mainly Aussie models.

Thanks to all for some very good advice. I'm going to run with the Monroes for now and see how they ride. If I keep the cat a while I may upgrade at some other point. The current ones don't seem bad at this point but the rear does seem to ride a tad lower than the back. Can't tell if it is an optical illusion due to the rear wheel well being cut lower than the fronts. But thanks again for all the great advice!

Unless you have air shocks on the rear then I don't believe shocks have any effect on ride height. Ride height is a function of the springs.

Rob

Agreed. If your rear end is sagging, you probably need new rear springs... or shorter front springs! :D

agreed, shocks do nothing for ride/height. I had mine on the rack this weekend to change the kick down solenoid and noticed my rears look plenty old. I'm going to try K-Y-B's as thats what we put on my son's Firebird this past week and what I'm running on the rear of my TR-6 to replace the levers, I like the ride handling on both cars with the KYB's in place.

Rear shocks can have a bearing on ride height as they are coil overs. If the spring perches of the new shock are even 1mm closer together than the old the rear will ride higher. My car with only a change of shocks from Boge to Bilstein now sits a good 10mm higher.

Shocks/Coils/Ride Height
 

Last fall, I replaced all shocks with red KONIs, and also replaced the rear coils at the same time, since we had the rear cage down to do the complete rear brake job on my '89 XJS. I had lamented the ride height prior to this, as she seemed to have a slight tilt to the back, and would squat when accelerating.
The new Shocks/Coils bought through Paul's Jaguar did give me a very much improved handling, PLUS, it also gave me approx. 3/4" more ride height in the rear.

Right!

Plus gas-pressurized shocks exert a fair bit of force on expansion and can actually lift the car a bit. It doesn't take much to raise ride height a small amount.

Put your hand under the bumper and lift. You can lift the body of the car a small amount with very little effort.

Cheers
DD