I forget who posted saying an alignment wasn't needed after the drop. Well that has never been the case with any car I've owned... Nonetheless I trusted.

Well here I am 6k miles later and my front Pilots are now on belts on the inside! I mean VERY inside. So the neg camber or toe must be very high. Rears are still decent.

May just do some wheels while I'm at it. Hope this can be corrected via alignment.

 

Everytime I make any changes to the wheels or suspension I have the car alligned. I much rather pay for an allignment than new tires. TC

 

Too late now, but you should have gone with your gut.

In my limited experience with lower profile + wider tyres they seem to be more sensitive to correct alignment.

Question, can the camber even be adjusted on an XK?

Best of luck getting things sorted out.

 

As far as I know, 30mm maximum limit for lowering w/o need for alignment .

 

Whenever I disturb steering or suspension in any way though maintenance or replacement parts, I get the alignment checked.

It's a lot cheaper than gambling a pair of tyres.

Graham

 

The fronts have both camber and toe adjustments. The rears have no camber adjustment. While it is a given that alignment MUST BE done after any altering the suspension, one poster a few months back claimed that even the available adjustments up front were not enough to compensate for the changes due to lowering.

Frankly, I was more concerned about the non-adjustable rears when I gave up on my desire to lower my XK. My stock XK already had over 1 degree negative camber, which is a fair amount for a wide, low profile street tire.

Albert

 

Rears seem to be doing fine by contrast.

 

I always do a wheel alignment when lowering, as others above have said. I also do an alignment check after approx 6mths. This is because of settling of the new suspension that can occur.
Also every now and then, when i clean the car, i turn the steering to full lock. To do a visual check on tyre wear. Only takes secs to do but can give you an early warning of abnormal tyre wear.

 

Lowering a car changes the camber, you MUST have the alinement changed on ANY suspension lowering tweak.

I guess you've learned the hard way.

 

You listened to the one person who said it wasn't needed?
I believe I remember several people saying it was needed.

Not only do you absolutely have to get the alignment it's also best to inflate tires to 36-40 psi after lowering.
I've lowered 5 cars and learned my lessons.

 

When you get it aligned they need to pay attention to the "before" toe setting. Then if youve found someone who knows wtf theyre doing adjust to what the tires say not the alignment specs. You may need to go with more toe in than jaguar specs by going into the red(out or spec). Tires are the tell all not the machine. Then save your printout and look at the new tires in the inside/outside edges. If theyre more than 2/32nds diff. It needs to be realigned and increase toe in if the inside tread is wearing more, opposite if the outside is. Once they wear evenly youll know where "your car" needs to be for future alignments based on tires and suspension

 

I am reminded why I don't mess with my cars' suspension.

 

Any 'standard' car suspension can get knocked out, if you hit a pot hole of clip a curb hard.
The theory is the same, you need all four wheels to be going in a straight line, or to the recommended settings a per manufacturer. It makes no different of vehicles hight. All four wheels sit on a chassis.
Many platforms/chassis are shared these days, all cars will sit at various heights across the range. Golf, Beetle and Audi TT are and example of this.

Find a good shop with laser guided equipment your car will be perfect.

 

uh NO, ride height DOES affect alignment. drop the ride height and the camber goes more negative. AND when camber changes SO DOES TOE. Some cars REQUIRE you take measurements of ride height when doing an alignment and enter it into the machine first.
Case in point are the XK's. when the front upper shock mounts go away dropping the ride height and alignment has to be done because IT CHANGES THE ALIGNMENT. Ive done many before and afters.

 

I think he means that the alignment settings should be adjusted to the same value regardless of the height.

 

Yes I did

 

OKay fair enough, BUT, it does depend on the suspension design, the amount of lift or drop, tire width, diameter, design etc...
In many cases a stock spec is ok AS A STARTING POINT. but you cannot just stop at thidspoint. You need to drive and monitor wear and handling and then with an alignment tech that knows how to read the tires and handling, adjust accordingly. Ive deviated on stock to modifyed stuff for varying reasons. Even to the point of being out of spec. I guess my whole point is this READ THE TIRES more than anything regardless of stock or modifyed IT DOES MATTER

 

You must be that one guy Evoking listened to who said alignment after lowering wasn't necessary.
Don't know where you heard that but you owe him a set of tires. lol!

 

Alright so she's now aligned. The specs are below. I wonder if the -2.5 camber on rear right is a problem and if I should go have them bring down...

Front
Before: Ideal After
Caster
Left 2.3 6.2 - 7.7 7.4
Right 1.3 6.2 7.7 6.5

Camber
Left 0.0 -1.3 - .2 -1.5
Right -0.7 -1.3 - .2 -2.0

Toe
Left -0.20 0.00 - .20 0.05
Right -1.90 0.00 - .20 0.05
Total -2.10 0.05 - 0.45 0.10

Rear
Camber
Left -1.4 -1.8 - -0.3 -1.6
Right -2.8 -1.8 - 0.3 -2.5

Toe
Left 0.40 0.00 - 0.20 0.05
Right -0.65 0.00 - 0.20 0.05
Total -0.25 0.05 - 0.45 0.10