I have a 1999 XKR, with a knocking noise from the rear suspension. A Jaguar specialist took a look and told me the cause of the knocking is the adaptive shock. He advised me they are around £1000 new

Question, is this a common problem, and is that price about right?

 

The upper shock mounts are constructed of foam that crumbles away. When the foam crumbles away, the Shock washer can bang the top of the top hat.


The sound is like that of using a slide hammer to rapidly pull a 3" diameter washer into contact with a stiff piece of steel.


Your shocks could still be fine. The foam is relatively cheap. The likely offending foam bits come free with new $100 non adaptive Bilsteins, but can be purchased separately from Jag parts vendors.

 

Thew lower damper SPHERICAL JOINTS can also wear and become noisy.

bob

 

The consensus opinion from north Texas is it could be less than £100 in parts to fix the issue, then its just labor to remove the rear shocks, and rebuild the upper (PU foam) /lower (spherical bearing) shock mounts.


I'm not an expert jag mechanic like Bob (Motorcarman), but if I was being timed and had a fully equipped shop, I'm confident I could remove, fix and reinstall the upper and lower shock mounts in less than 4 hours, because I think I could do that in my garage on Jackstands.


Your problem is VERY common, but £1000 seems excessive, unless the shocks are actually bad... and there is stuff that goes bad before CATS shocks do. You should probably get a second opinion from another Jaguar specialist.

 

Thanks guys. I won't rush out and replace the adaptive shocks just yet