I just measured the distance from the centre of the front wheel to the underside of the wheel arch and it was only 360mm and i believe it should be around 400mm on my 2001 XK8. Is this likely to just be the upper strut mount or is it more likely that I am looking at a complete front suspension rebuild.

 

Probably the big Bush right at the top of the spring on top of the shock absorber, it should be around 15mm, it's probably flat!, this combined with spring fatigue, meaning the springs will not be as high as when new ( had the weight of the car on them for years)
Thing is once you start dismantling the front suspension, things break bits are sized other bushes are obviously past best.
Personally I would bite the bullet, new springs, full Bush set, strip it clean treat and paint each part, then put back together 👍🇬🇧

 

I did not know the English prime minister had an XK8 and did his own repairs.....If you tell us where you live it would help !!!
everybody with older XK8s seems to be having this problem..jack it up ..take off the wheel and have a look at the top bushings ..springs are cheap so get your hands dirty.

 

No one could spell or pronounce my name until Mr Sunak came along. I am based in NL. I keep scraping the bottom and the front does feel a little hard. If I can get the car inside I will do it myself but don’t fancy doing it on the drive with this variable weather.

 

If you would fill in the details top right it would help ..I have no idea where NL is .....

 

Added to my profile, its The Netherlands.

 

Rishi, there are plenty of threads in this forum regarding the front suspension. A quick search will turn up plenty of good and quite recent information.

I've recently had the same problem on my 98 convertible and have solved it by replacing my shock mounts and springs. My shock mounts had turned to dust and my original springs had sagged considerably. While everything was apart I also replaced all ball joints and bushes, not that it's necessary in some cases but worth thinking about.

As a word of advice on shock mounts, just pop the caps off the top and check the condition of the foam rubber mounts as well as the ones underneath. Also research the cast polyurethane mounts by @baxtor as an alternative to the OE mounts. I'm just in the process of replacing my new aftermarket ones which are already beginning to fail with the poly ones. They will probably outlast the car, and definitely me.
Good luck.
Redjags

 

Thanks. Already had a reply back so I think I will order a set. Includes spring isolators too.