Just had all new shocks/springs/upper/lower shock mounts/upper control are bushings. these are not the best pics but I swear the top of my tires are still tilted in a little. Not as bad as it was before the repair but still. Is this just an illusion??? Even the top shock bolt is not centered. Hard to see in the pics but they are not centered. I was at a car show tonight and looking at other cars with same set up that middle bolt was DEAD center in every car.
Between parts, new front tires, alignment, labor and all I got about 2200 in the front end of this damn car.

 

Hard to tell, the top shock mount bolts would have no affect on the tires leaning in.

 

what would if I am right that they are, with everything I have had fixed?

 

Passenger side has a definite lean. The shock bolt should be centered. It is not.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camber_angle

That would be the Camber angle which is set by the control arms. I'm no suspension expert and I'm sure someone else will chime in but I " think" there is a offset bolt available for the lower control arms to adjust this.

The spec is:
Right -1.3/-.3
Left -1.2/-.2

This should show up on your alinement report

 

I will get a better pic if the car today and post it.

 

well I took it to a shop and caught a guy before he left for the day. He say both tires are cambered in, pass side worse than drivers. He said something about a bolt kit to fix it?? The car does not come with this bolt???

 

My front wheels lean in a little at the top, but that is more because I brought the wheels out an inch and a quarter on each side,(front and rear) with the 4.75" to 4.5" lug pattern adapters. My rear wheels sit straight.

With 2400 miles on the wire wheels and tires, I haven't noticed any excessive wear problems, even though Goodyears are known for that, and it still corners like a dream.

I am used to replacing the tyres on the Porsche every 12,000 miles, because that is the norm with them, and their camber set up. I suppose I could spare spending that on the Jag, because the 16" tyres are pretty cheap, compared to the originals, and are just as wide.

I am thinking stiffer springs in the front would raise things up, but I don't want to raise the front end up more than the rear. Besides, the car looks and rides extremely well.

I know an XK8 isn't a sports car,(even though the slack jawed drooling morons around me think it is) but real sports cars have the same camber look to them. Unless I see any real wear issues, I am going to leave well enough alone......Be cool....Mike

 

A quick forum search came up with this

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...upgrade-81140/

I just entered "off set lower control arm bolt" and came up with a lot of info, give it a try.

This is what I was referring to in my earlier post.

 

BRGJag,
What I would do.
Folks have said, somewhere on this forum, that there is a tool to hold the shock shaft from turning, while the nut is tightened and was available at auto parts houses, but I've been unable to find it anywhere.
Any way, find some way to hold the shock shaft from turning and give that nut a twist or two if you can. The people that did your work may not have tightened it enough. After I did my replacement of the shock mounts on my car , that nut would not stay centered and each time I drove the car about 20 miles, I would check and it would be in a different location. I did the thing I just told you to do and was only able to --maybe-- tighten the nut a cu--hair, but since doing that it must have been enough, because the nut remains centered since.


Cheers

 

Can I ask what the bolt being not centered would cause??

 

Nothing as far as I know however if it is loose it could cause the hole to get wallowed out.

 

Speaking of how the tires look. The only thing I would do is have the frontend aligned by a qualified Jaguar shop--either a dealer or excellent independent shop.


Trying to gage if a tire looks right from a photo is the first step in spending a lot of un-necessary money.

 

I looks like it to me, I stopped by a shop and caught a tech on his way out the door and he said they look out of sorts, that the right one was worse which has been said here also.

 

Well the shop that is working on my car says that the center of the shock bolt is the best it will be for my car, in so many words that after putting all new shock stuff as I did and the type of set up it is, that is the best they will be.
They are still fiddling with the front camber issues. The Align shop is still working to get the camber fixed. Did the car come new with any camber? If they can't fix it why is it out? Worn suspension? It was thrown out there that I may have to get that bolt kit to fix it.

 

The only thing I could think of is the spring plate wasn't centered properly when you had the parts changed, this is the lower one, if 'cocked' it would cause the shock to deviate from center.

 

Hello,

I have recently found the same problem on my XKR as well. The passenger tire is far worse that the drivers side, also, the tires are worn unevenly. The passenger tire is FLAT on the inside while the rest of the (same) tire looks like it has 25k miles left on it! The car certainly wasn't build like this.

I do know that I have some front suspension issues. The struts knock at times. I just haven't got them replaced yet. But the camber adjustment is made in the control arm, not the struts, so what gives?

Any ideas would be hot. I don't feel my car is in proper driving order at the moment. I will check out the other threads as well, and do some general searches.


Edited****
I think I found my issue here https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...upgrade-81140/
shocks. I KNOW that mine are bad.

 

you springs may be bad also. I put new ones on mine and it raised the front a good inch plus.

 

Here is a picture of the specs they ended up with after working on the align of my 03 Jag.
The European car repair shop I had work on it say this is best that can be done. The BOLT kit thing was mentioned but not suggested to fix any remaining camber. They say the car comes with some for handling.

 

the dark box in the middle for Camber says. I assume those numbers are LEFT and RIGHT

-0.6 0.8