Hi, I am new to the forum. I was wondering if anyone knows how big of a deal it would be to not have the front shock dampening? I am looking to order new shocks and don't care about the dampening feature and would love to get the shocks for 1/3 the cost of the oem part. Any ideas and is this commonly done?

Thanks,
Matt M.

 

I don't think you will find much help from customary interchange manuals like "Mitchell", but do try these sources.
You will probably be a pioneer in your search. I think you will find that there are no aftermarket mfgs with a specific application for an XK. What I did in a similar situation (not with a Jag) was to remove the OEM shock and made careful measurements of its stroke length, etc. Then I went to the nice folks at QA1 who make custom shocks. They recommended adjustable shocks using shocks existing from their inventory. You might also consult with local hot rod shops that set up suspensions for race and off road applications. These shops often do custom suspension work.

 

Matt- welcome to the site.

What do you mean by eliminate the damp(en)ing? The only real function of a shock is to provide damping ie- 'absorb the shock'.

 

Do you mean replace the CATS active shocks with standard shocks?

Perhaps a moderator can move this thread to the XK8/XKR section where you will find much more help.

 

Welcome to the forum Matt,

I've moved your post to XK8 section. You'll certainly get a wider response from members with the same model here.

Perhaps you'd also like to post in the Intro section and tell us something about you and your XK8?

Graham

 

My 03 XKR is going to need shocks soon. I have the Brembo Brakes, Super Sport Suspension, 20 in Montreal wheels and adaptive damping (CATS). One of my front shocks is leaking. My Jag repair facility owner indicated that I replace them with a set of Bilsteins. He indicated that they will give me a smoother ride and cost about half the price of the OEM shocks.

Apparently they have done this at his garage on other XKR's and have good results. I am assuming the Bilstein have electronic adaptive damping. I tried researching the Bilsteins and I did not see any of their shocks that would fit my car due to the Brembo brake option.

I need more information about this repair before I make my decision. I will probably have this work done this fall and let the group know the results. Any comments about not using the original OEM parts?

 

There is a Bilstein application guide linked in the FAQ that has information about the non-dynamic shocks that fit.

All you should need to to do disable the CATS system is to unplug the controller from the rear spare tire well.

The replacement itself requires a spring compressor and removal from the car in the front case. There are members who have done it, though, so is certainly possible but is just something to keep in mind when thinking about doing the job on a Saturday afternoon.

Good luck!

 

I've no experience with the suspension in the XK, but the X350's have CATS in addition to the air suspension. It seems that when the air suspension module is removed from the CAN-Bus (i.e. when the air shocks are replaced with coilovers), everything carries on without issue, no warning messages, nothing.

So if you went to a non-OEM shock, i'd suggest that the module controlling the CATS has to come out as well. This would also mean replacing all four shocks at once.

As I discovered https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...uestion-76476/ if an OEM shock is disconnected from the suspension module, it defaults to Firm mode, and at the same time if one or more of the shocks is "open circuit" then all shocks are defaulted to Firm mode and you get CATS SYSTEM ERROR message.

As I said, this is on the X350, might not be the same for the XK...but i'd be looking into it before changing just the fronts, you might be in for a surprise otherwise...the rears might lock themselves into firm mode...

 

The behavior of the CATS in the XK is pretty much the same. The failure or disconnection of any 1 shock will result in an error message and the rest being put into firm mode.

You could replace only the fronts and then disconnect the control, which would put the rear active shocks permanently in firm mode, but that might result in an unpleasantly harsh ride.

I've played with the system a little in trying to figure out how to toggle it on and off with a switch and you can definitely tell the difference between firm and regular.

All that said, you will probably spend ~$100 per for the "normal" shocks as compared to $500 per for the active ones, so cost wise, you are probably still ahead to do all 4 if your intent is to do away with the CATS.

The purists will now flame me for suggesting such a thing, but I have on my asbestos underwear.

 

I think there is a thread about being able to send the original unit into Bilstein and they can rebuild it, cheaper than a new one from Jag. Here's there web site
http://www.bilsteinus.com/products/s...e/service.html

 

I had no idea that Bilstein could or would rebuild them. Thanks for sharing.

 

How did you get on with that? As you can see from the other thread i'm working on the same thing for the X350....

 

Close but no cigar. I tried creating a fake signal to one of the accelerometers, which worked up to the time where I did some spirited driving on a mountain road.

See this thread for the details:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-switch-73487/

I got distracted by a suspension problem, but now that it's fixed, I was planning to get back to this little project.

 

has anyone contacted Bilstein to see if they will take the Jaguar branded CATS shocks in for repair ?

 

I'm sure they will, the jaguar branded CATS are Bilstein's in the first place.

 

Thanks for all your responses! I didnt even know I got them because I didnt see any emails coming through from the site. Also thanks for moving my thread to the right place I think I am going to pursue having Bilstein rebuild them. But before I give in... Does an error still come up in the ECU even if I unplug the CATS from the module in the trunk? (with the wires on the shocks unplugged)

 

If the control is unplugged there is no error.

There is a signal line that runs from the control to the instrument cluster which gets grounded by the controller when there is a fault. If there is no control, the wire is not grounded and there is no fault.

I assume that this was for convenience so that the instrument cluster could be the same between cars with and without the CATS option.