I just finished replacing all of the struts on my 2001 XK8 Vert. that has 103K on her. Did the tensioner upgrade also (found a Jag repair person that had been doing Jag's for 35 years and done over 500 sets of tensioners) and of course he said the shock mounts were bad. Well after what all that cost another $400 for shock mounts was out of the question. So I rebuilt mine with success and did the front struts myself. I didn't post pic's because there are good ones of the mounts apart on this forum. So here is what I did.
Once shock tower is off and spring is released the mount is accessable. Each mount has a top and bottom and are held together by rivits. I have read a lot about drilling them out and wallowing the holes. This is NOT necessary. You will need a Dremel or the like, cutting disc, large tube of clear silicone and a tube of super weatherstrip adhesive. So here we go:

1. Place the mount in a vice such as allowing the three rivits to be exposed. Note: It helps to have a set of vice grips C-clamp or the like to have the top side of the mount squeezed toghether also, to avoid binding. The same applies during installation.
2. With a Dremel and cutting wheel carefully cut the bottom of rivet off flush with the bottom side of the casing.
3. Next punch out the old rivits and the mount halves will separate exposing the culperate; a rubber doughnut with the steel shock bushing inside.
4. Next take the rubber doughnut and cut off the deteriorated rubber. It is usually around the top where it peeks through the top of the shock mount, then wash the remainder with laquer thinner or acetone.
5. Apply weather strip adhesive to small area on the bottom half of the mount that the rubber rests in and then on the bottom of the rubber itself. This is to keep it into place for assembly so don't apply too much to the bottom mount surface. This is so it won't interfere with the silicone adhesion that comes later. When tacky carefully center the rubber doughhnut where it was, bond should be immediate.
6. Now you are ready to fill up the bottom shock mount cup with a copious amount of clear silicone filling around both sides of the rubber doughnut and some around the top of the rubber doughnut too. (you'll need a large tube of it)
7. Now you will need a couple of large nails or bolts too keep the mount halves aligned while you squeeze the top and bottom of the mounts together. Note: The doughnut is taller than the inside of the shock mounts so it is compressed somewhat by the halves. Compress the halves togheter with the bolts or nails in the rivet holes to keep them aligned.
8. Now you are ready to rivet them back together. When you do, the silicone will want to squeeze out everywhere. This is good. Now wipe off excess silicone from everywhere using care around the top where the steel bushing resides also there is a small weep drain hole in the bushing keep it clear too. Let stand overnight and the next day they will be good as new (I think better).
9. One final tip for both front and rear strut tower mounts. Where they fasten to the inner body structure I made rubber gaskets about 1/16" thick neoprene rubber sheet to go between the mounts and body structure for anti road vibration.

Now she rides like a dream with much less road vibration and noise than before with little effort and very little cost.

 

Hey Mike,

It has been about a year, how is this repair holding up? Considering it myself.

 

Wtf, is this real?

 

Its heresy, but I love saving money so.....

 

Anyone else tried this (or similar) with success? Advice appreciated!

 

I know of another post where after taking the shock mounts apart, a nylon cutting board (under $10) was cut into the disc shapes and used as the replacement material, and was claimed as a lifetime solution and better than the originals. So, solutions like this are not uncommon.