I'm thinking about lowering the rear of my XK8. There's no way I can lower the front with the arden spoiler as it scrapes now.
Anyone know where I can purchase just the rear springs or if it will cause any issues just doing the rear only? There's just such a big gap between the tires and fender. Drives me crazy.
Also hoping it may pivot the front up a bit as well.

 

Phil-

I lowered the rear (only) of my car about 18 months ago. Mina has a great set of lowering springs, and even though they promote the complete set on their site, they'll sell you the rears only for about $ 250 if you call and ask.

No problems to report, drives like a dream, although you probably want to have a seasoned pro do an alignment for you afterwards, to make sure that camber, etc are still within spec.

Lowering the rear helped the car's stance tremendously. You should also consider spacers for the rear, to push the wheels out just a bit. This also helps the stance and better fills the wheel well. Forum wisdom has shown that spacers work fine for wheel sizes UNDER 20". I bought a set from Tony at Paragon and I've been very happy with them.


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I did both front and rears, started with rears only but didn't like the look. You will need the shims though as the camber is ugly without them. I went to Paragon as well. Have an alignment done after you have the springs fitted and he can take the numbers and make a set of custom shims for you.

 

Already installed spacers so that's done. I've been waiting on Chris at mina to get back about just the rear springs but nothing yet. That's why I posted this. Hoped someone knew where I could order just the rear springs.

 

I see 2 different definitions of "Spacers" in this discussion.

1) Spacers that fit between the Wheel and the Mounting Flange that move the whole wheel outward (for a wider stance).

2) Axle Shim Spacers that mount between the Differential and the Half Shaft to adjust the Wheel Camber.

When the Rear Lowering Springs are installed, the Axle Shim Spacers need to be increased in thickness to reduce the increased Negative Camber caused by the lowering.

I changed from the 4.0mm (Factory Installed) Axle Shim Spacers to 7.5mm units when I installed the Mina Rear lowering Springs on my car. This brought the Camber back into the acceptable range.

 

Correct, fixed post, I should have said shims. Spacers won't help the camber and if you don't fix that tires will wear badly and look funny.

 

As I'll be having this done, where do I purchase these shims? And what would the process be to install these? Am I looking at major $$ with the additional shim change added?
Thanks for the info.

 

I picked up a set of 1" lowering springs from Eibach via ebay for $160 shipped. Had the rears up on while it was in for tranny stuff. Looked great, a slightly stiffer than stock spring made the car have a little less roll in the rear. Car looks much better imo. Decided today to put the fronts on and it looks even better.. Haven't driven it since as it is too nice of a day to be all couped up!

 

Jaguar supplies these Shims. They can be purchased from a Jaguar Dealer. For Example (item 2):

2000 JAGUAR XK8 Parts - Direct JPLV Porsche Parts.com

 

Cool!
I just ordered the springs so I'll get on these shims as well.

 

What thickness did you use?

 

I installed 20mm spacers, rear only. Here's a pic:





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