Hi All,

I have been struggling with what's going wrong with my 1998 XK8's handling. It leans quite a bit on hard turns and was recently aligned. I have been planning to replace the shocks since she has 75K miles on her, but today I observed her from the side. The front appears to be lower than the rear, I don't remember that before.

I recall over the years we have had discussions about ride heights, but I looked right past them figuring I'd come back if I ever needed to. This afternoon I measured the front from the center of the wheel to the lower edge of the fender: 14.5 inches. I just tried to find the specs with a search, no luck.

I found one thread that said the measurement should be 15.25 to 15.5, does that sound right to you? The upper shock mount seems OK from above, centered with no signs of wear, but I suppose I'll have to look from below.

Could a worn shock and the corresponding lower shock mount's wear cause this?

Thanks for taking a look. I've got to find the most cost effective solution, but safety has to be #1 priority.

John

 

The yellow pad that the spring rests against at the top collapses, and the springs become tired and sag. Spec. is 15.74 front, 15.94 rear, but feel lucky if you get over 15 front without new springs.

I have made spacers 3/8 thick to fit on top of the shock mount to help.

 

Worn shock absorbers will not affect the ride height - they are not part of the spring rating on these cars. The lower shock mount is easy to check, but unlikely to be the problem. As RJ 237 says it's likely either the top shock mount or springs causing the drop.

 

+1 on it being springs and/or top shock mounts. The only way shocks would affect the height is if the bottom bushing was completely gone.

15.74" is correct for the front. At 14.5" you are starting to get into negative camber territory. That will hasten wear in the inside of the tires.

 

Mine was at 14.5, I replaced the top shock mounts and the shocks, now sits at 15.5. Likely the bottom shock bushing not the actual shock contributing to the issue.

 

Thanks Guys. Looks like this will be my next job. From you experience does this affect handling too? What I mean is 1 year or 35000 miles ago I could enter a turn at say 50 mph on an exit ramp and know I could apply acceleration to increase the rear wheels traction by the transfer of weight. Frankly right now I would not feel comfortable doing something like that, too much body roll - I guess I can sum it up by saying I've lost a lot of the feeling of confidence and stability in the aggressive turns. Not a very technical description but it's late after a long day. I hope you get the point of my question: From your experience, will the upper shock mount replacement return a lot of the "tightness" and stability that I am missing too?

Thanks,

John

 

Hi John I have a 99 XK8 with 118k. I have been following the postings here and my Jag was doing exactly the same handling issues as yours. The front end had dropped to 14.25 inches and the rear was at specs and measured 15.75 inches. I looked for all the issues this forum has talked about bad bushings bad shock mounts and it all was perfect in fact looked like new. The springs were bad and sagged to where the wheels were rubbing on the bottom of the fenders. Rather than taking the whole shock assembly apart just to replace the springs I used spring spacers for around $30 and it brought the front end up to 15.75 inches and now the camber is within spec and I was able to get the Jag aligned and now it handles like it did when new. I was wearing out tires on the inside edge and replacing them much sooner than they should have been. The rear suspension height was correct but the camber and toe were not within specs and I shimmed the rear end and now its also within spec. The Jag handles like new and I drive it hard. instead of diving into a corner its flat and the tires are wearing perfectly. The rubber bushings and shock mounts are good probably because its a California car.

 

The shock mounts and pads degrade with time more than climate. If they are in good shape, they were probably replaced.

 

Billat3800ft,
You nailed it, thank you that's exactly what I was hoping to hear. Looks like I have my next job mapped out for me. Unfortunately right now I'm in a position where I have to choose my expenditures very carefully, this helps me zero in on the fix. Now I can't wait.

John

 

I tried using spacers from Autozone without good results. They did not seem to fit very well and I felt they would fall out on the first good bump. Plus they only gained me about 1/4" in height. Not the 1.5" as promised on the package.

Any chance you have pictures of your springs with these installed? Maybe I just installed them incorrectly.

 

Here is a photo of the spring spacers I got from napa auto parts and they are working perfectly