A couple more neophyte questions for the learned Forum.....
1) When working on the upper A arm pivot/fulcrum, has anyone noted shim location differences from the original factory specs (below) and did you replace as found or did you return to factory spec?
2) Has anyone had shop techs adjust the shim packs during a re-alignment to correct a problem?

 

1. Yes. On my 2000 XKR the shim location showed clearly that someone had been there before without knowing what they where doing. It also missed a thin shim.....
2. Yes. I put my shims back as in spec for R.O.W. and drove the car to a mechanic who did a four wheel adjustment, and he had to rearrange the shims to get the caster right.

 

Changing these castor shims, is a total pita and time consuming/costly. Is your spec very far out for caster.

 

I only recently bought the car so I don't know what the current alignment is like. I've booked an alignment check this week after just finishing a front suspension refresh. When I got the car I knew the upper shock mounts and upper wishbone bushings were shot so I jumped in and replaced them right away. I also replaced the tie rod ends as one had a torn boot. My concern came when I pulled the top wish bone pivots and found the caster shims on both sides were nowhere close to the factory recommended settings per post #1 above. As a new owner with no alignment history I went ahead and put the shims back to the factory settings. My questions were trying to establish if the factory settings were working well for most people or if it was common to make 'non factory' adjustments to fix alignment issues.

 

In the same way as "nobody got fired for buying IBM", you will be fine by returning to factory spec for the time being. Adjust if a subsequent alignment check indicates otherwise but, as RD notes, it's a bit of a faff to do.

My car was missing a shim on one side and I'd no reason to suspect anyone else had been in there since it left the factory, so I just added the missing one according to the default setting.

I've not seen the diagram above before with the extra 'ROW' column. Oddly, it contradicts itself by having 3 thick and 1 thin on the LHS where the footnote states two of each per side - typo

 

I would think that it is not uncommon to see a setting other than the "factory" if someone has been in there before, as its so difficult to get them in the correct place. I found one of my shims stuck to the inside of the subframe with a bit of grease where it had obviously fallen and the not retrieved by the fitter.