Terrible question - getting a clunking over potholes and such in my front end. Jacked up, not getting much play from front wheels in either 12/6 or 3/9 directions. Ball joint and tie rod end rubbers are all shot, so I'll probably replace them all eventually but otherwise no visible bad/missing bushings or anything. Would the upper shock mount have enough play in it to cause clunks over bumps? They do show some wear/squeezing when viewed from above.

Thanks!

 

Typically, clunking over bumps is due to the anti sway bar bushings collapsing. Cheap, and a bit of a pain to replace, but DIY job.

 

Thanks. Will check for that.

 

cdre, just curious since I have 99 xk8 convertible with 74000 miles and I was wondering if you had any front end problems prior to your current problem

 

Car is new to me, so no idea of what priors suspension issues. With 160k, I'm sure I've got some tinkering to do down there though.

 

Fmertz is right, but I've seen loud strange noises from upper control arm bushes too. Thinking back it was similar to your description. Replaced with polyflex bushes, a simple enough job.

John

 

Yes. The upper strut mounts disintegrate badly and clunk and lower ride height and affect alignment. I have recently replaced them on two of my XKs, made tremendous difference in ride and noise. Used upper mounts from Euro ( Rock Auto). Lower strut bushings are also often bad. On my XK8 replaced the struts as they are affordable, not so or XKR, replaced just the bushings, struts are very expensive. Your alignment shop will probably tell you that special eccentric bolts will be needed for alignment. way overpriced from Jaguar, I believe there are other sources. Good luck. Also it is much simpler to take struts to a local shop with a strut compressor to replace the bushings.

 

Thanks for the insights! I'll start tearing stuff apart this weekend to see what's what...

 

For the anti-sway bar bushings, there is no such thing. They are somewhat of a pain to remove and put back. They are so cheap you should just order them and replace them, regardless of their condition. Just my thoughts.

 

I just scanned above don't think we mentioned the obvious. If your shock mounts are bad, it will show in the ride height. Measure from bottom of wheel arch to center of wheel. Specs posted many times, think it is around 15.25 inches.

John

 

Shock mounts are a known cause of clunking as you describe. If you are going to start trouble shooting underneath, look for any "saw dust" up into the upper shock mount housings. Tomasso's post above covered most of the basics. There are a couple of other threads on this forum that go into the DIY of a complete front end suspension overall. Mine is one of them.

If I were to it again? I'd buy the complete bushing kit, bearings, shock mounts, etc. and replace everything at once. Instead, I did it peice meal. On the upside, you learn all about replacing the camber shims on the upper A arm pivot bolts... but I would have been happier just doing everything once. Also, forget about camber correction with the eccentric bolt... it moves the lower A arm out about 1/32nd of an inch! That translates to about 1/8th degree of positive camber.

Regarding the post about using ride height to determine shock mount condition, theoretically, its correct; however, our springs and rubber parts are so old that hardly nobody has OEM ride dimensions anymore. My front end was raised by the new shock mounts, but I don't think I could have determined they were bad by simply measuring hub to wheel arch. It was a mute point w/ me, because I could feel the shock rod threaded end, moving in the bushing.

You are at the exact same mileage I was when I began to notice noises, vibrations and shimmy shaken parts. The most frustrating part was that after I had replaced or rebuilt almost everything supsension related, it turns out that the motor mounts were the principal and intitial cause of most of my problems. On the upside, I got a new front end.

 

Pulled shocks today. Driver side upper shock mount was collapsed completely and passenger side looks relatively new. Both lower shock bushings were completely bad and most likely the source of my knocking. Dropping them off at a mechanic tomorrow to have the upper shock mounts and bushings installed. Upper arm bushings fresh and ball joints, steering linkage and sway connections appear to be good. Going to replace the main sway bushings when I reinstall the shocks. Hopefully that sorts it all out!

 

After action - the shims/washers in the bolts holding the upper A arms in place were very tight to the actual bolts and made removal a pain. Had to hammer out. I ran a 5/8" drill bit through them before reassembly and went together easy.

Put everything back together including sway bar bushings and front end is tight. Glad it wasn't a motor mount after all the suspension work. I have a little rattling back in the rear end so I'll need to get under there and do some investigating but 100% better after working the front.