My car 2000 model XKR has a very firm drive and you feel every bump and it's as though the car is falling to pieces. I had the the usually bushes at the front replaced and a vast improvement.

Ive also heard that unplugging the CATS module in the boot disables the CATS and makes the ride much smoother.

I did this and first impressions were yes a smoother ride but not 100% sure if I'm imagining it or not.

Can anyone confirm this?

Kind Regards

Rocky

 

Caveat: I do not have an adjustable suspension on my XK8.

My understanding is that unplugging the system makes it default to "stiff", rather than "soft". Also, keep in mind that, as far as I know, the overall adjustment focuses on the "rebound" part of shock, not the compression, so the initial response to a bump in the road should be the same all the time. Only the way the car rebounds from that initial compression is adjusted.

Having played with (manually) adjustable suspensions on other cars before, the most noticeable to me was driving at some speed over those "waves" found on some roads, or in situations where there were some shallow, fairly long dips in the road (as opposed to potholes, or rail road crossings). With a normal car hitting those kinds of waves, the car tends to bounce. With a stiffer rebound, the car would take the initial hit the same, but would not allow the car to bounce, it would just recover onto the rest of the road in a very nicely controlled manner. Hard to explain, I suppose.

 

Good explanation thanks.

 

A friend of mine is suffering exactly the same problem. The sensors on the suspension stiffen the ride when you first start off and then goes 'soft'. Sounds to me like its permanently thinking your just starting off.

I thinks its the sensor gone wrong. Have you checked your ride height sensor?

 

Thought I would bolt-on a few CATs questions and revive this thread. I have an 03 XKR and it has CATs. I believe the previous owner has disabled the system or put on non-CATs shocks to save $$$. My question would be, does anyone know where the CATs system plugs into the shock? Is it on the top in the engine bay or elsewhere? Is there a motor or module for the CATs system and where would one find that? Also, if I decided to replace my shocks with non-CATs shocks would there be any unpleasant problems that you guys would would expect to arise?

I think I need to replace my shocks and springs since my ride height is very low even after replacing the upper shock mounts (just measured it to 14" today). Figured I would go with regular shocks and springs and want to anticipate any issues.

Thank you all for your help, this forum is amazing and I would be Jag-less or bankrupt or both without you guys!

Best,

Corey

 

Hi Corey,

I replaced my CATS shocks (at great expense) last year only because I wanted to keep my car as original as possible. CATS shocks have an electrical connector on top (see attached photo). The module is in the boot/trunk. If you decide to go with non-CATS shocks, search the forum for the proper sequence in order to disconnect the module. Otherwise, you will most likely end up with an array of error messages.


Cheers,

Stu