I've recently rebuilt the front suspension shock towers with new upper mounts and bushes. Having put it all back together the metallic crashing from the upper mounts has gone, but the car now feels like I need to steer slightly left to keep the car going straight.

For context the car is a RHD car driving on European LHD roads (i.e. driving on the right).

Now my question is, did I mess up the shims when I reassembled the suspension or is the newly refurbished suspension now showing up the fact that the car is set-up to drive in Europe rather than the UK, or is this likely nothing to do with the caster?

Before I take it all apart again to have a look, any comments on what the set-up should be for Europe would be welcome. I have noticed that the number of thick/thin shims are different for UK v. Europe, or should I just try swapping the shims left to right.

 

If nothing else was changed it appears you did reassemble incorrectly.
Caster does contribute to 'pull'.
WJ

 

I thought I put it back together again the way it came apart, but possibly not. Hopefully I didn't lose any of the shims.

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I had to remove the engine/gearbox from my 1998 XK8 because a previous owner or shop stripped cataverter nuts.
I bought it with a faulty gearbox and the cataverters need to be removed.

While the front cross member and powertrain was on the floor, I replaced the upper control arm bushes.

I just discarded the factory ROUND shims and replaced with the U shaped slotted alignment shims found at every alignment shop I have ever used or worked at.

The 1/32 and 1/16 shims are good replacements for the original Jaguar shims.
You can move them around without total disassembly for caster adjustment.

 

Be aware there is a typo in the shim count for ROW
TOTAL shim count is 2 thick and 2 thin per wheel.
Road crown is reason for difference according to market. Find a nice quiet patch of road and switch to other side of it, you may well find car tracks perfectly.

 

It's probably a silly question, but have you had the car tracking checked since rebuilding the front suspension? Mine needed some additional adjustment when I replaced the shock mounts, springs and all bushes and ball joints. Just a thought.

 

That is a great suggestion - it would be so much easier to change things without having to take the whole thing apart again every time.

Yes, I noticed that and did wonder why ROW was different. Do you know what the correct setup is for ROW? The car is up on axle stands at the moment with the wheels off, otherwise I would take it for a drive and see how it goes on the wrong side of the road.

No, I haven't had it checked. I immediately thought something was up with the shims, as it was the last thing I did.

 

So, I've always wondered how the shim thing worked. From what Dibbit posted is it as simple as every UK car, for instance, is shimmed the same, so if you drop the shims when removing the bolt you just put them in as per the diagram?

 

LHD cars usually have more caster on the right side to overcome 'Road-Crown' and the tendency to 'pull right'.(road slopes right)

I never tried to align a RHD car with increased caster on the left here in the US because even though the car's steering wheel is on the right, we STILL drive on the right.(the road slopes RIGHT)

The side of the road driven on is the determining factor of the caster settings.

 

l would simply use the north America setting but change left for right and right for left in the chart.
the ROW setting seems to be a "make everybody happy" setting with equal shims distribution.

 

When I did mine I used polybush ....it was so tight I could no get any shims in and it drove fine...I guess you used Rubber originals.
Check the tracking and maybe swop the front tyres.

 

Well I took the left side apart yesterday and sure enough it was missing the two thin shims as specified in position 2 on the chart above for a UK car, which works out at 1.8mm missing - I've no idea where they went as there were no shims left over when I replaced the bushes.

I didn't have time to check the right side, so maybe they ended up there, but that seems unlikely. In the meantime I've put a washer in place of the missing 2 thin shims which is just under 1.8mm. The car now seems to be tracking better, although it could probably be improved by swapping left to right as Baxtor suggested.

The bushes used were the aftermarket versions from SNG Barrett - the polybush versions do look like a much better design and if there is no room for shims, so much the better.

Thanks to everyone who commented and I'll update this thread when I've had a look at the right side.