I have a 2001 XKR. I bought it used and it has lowering springs on it. It appears to be too low. It hits the spring stops on moderately sharp bumps and the tire rubs the fender lip in front when I hit a bump while turning.
It has Silverstone wheels and brakes on it. I think the wheels are 20". I would like to know what ride height will work and what spring kit will eliminate this issue. I really like the car lowered, but cannot deal with the compromised driveability. Any help is appreciated.
Will

 

I would first check the shock mounts. They when the go bad the foam bush crumbles away and the ride height suffers as a result. It becomes a problem even in cars without lowering springs. Easy to check. Open the engine bay and the strut towers are to either side. If you see that the shock rod is off centered, you need new shock mounts, if the foam is red and crumbling, you need new shock mounts.

Welsh Enterprises sells a urethane upgrade at a fair price. I guarantee that will go a long way towards improving your ride height and the camber of your front wheels. You should also consider doing the lower shock bush, the control arm bushes, and ball joints while you are there.

 

The "silverstone" wheel are likely the Detroit 20" wheels that first came with the XKR Silverstone edition in 2001. Can you post a picture?

Are you 100% the springs are actually lowering springs and not just sagging old original ones? Especially at front it tends to get very low over time, both springs and mounts get compressed over time

 

As giandanielxk8 mentioned - could be upper mounts, but could also be the bump stops as those are the same foam material as the OEM upper shock mounts

 

Check out this recent thread where post #2 has the correct ride heights.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...rtible-225013/

I'm in a similar situation, where a previous owner had put in new springs and shocks with a noticeable rake. I did the full front end suspension re-fresh recently, due to crumbly top shock mounts, but it didn't help lift the front significantly. I did toy with putting in a DIY spacer but decided against that. As mine is a base 1999 XK8 I'll live with it - with non standard 245/45/R17 wheels (stops the tyre binding within the wheel well) ......, until the shocks go bad and then I'll swap the springs out.

 

Tell me - why lower the car at all? Does it improve handling or looks? I would also be interested to see any side be side photos of standard vs lowered suspension.

 

That's a matter of taste of course. To me the XK8 looks better when lowered a bit, original it doesn't look connected to the tarmac. Maybe some people don't want it to look connected to the tarmac, it's up to everyone to decide for their own

 

Higgins, she sure does look nice. Re: lowering, I've always noticed that Jaguar made/makes a big deal specifically noting that the sportier versions' special suspensions are lowered by a small amount. I've seen them advertise this for both the X100 and X150.

The curious part is that the change seems tiny. A lot less than 1cm as I recall. Last time I saw this announcement was when they announced the " Final 50" XKRS at the end of the X150 run.

There's so many experts here. Does it really make that big of an improvement? Is it mostly just advertising exageration?

I remember thinking about this when I decided to renew my front springs a few years ago. Didn't the Silverstone X100s also advertise a few mm's lower too?

John

 

Handling is not necessarily improved by lowering the car, it might even ruin the handling if you go to far. But for looks, yes. At least to my eyes

 

Of course! (As he bangs self in head) - they Never said it improved handling. I admit I just assumed that's why they did it.

Reminds me of a true story from back in the 1960s. Chrysler (I'm pretty sure it was that company) started advertising their new "wide track" suspension. Apparently everyone including the magazines started talking about the better handling. I saw an interview a few years ago with one of the guys who was an executive with the company back then. Turns out that tests showed absolutely no improvement in handling with the wide track! But then they never said it would. This guy laughed to himself as he thought back. About the only change they saw was that these cars with the wide track wouldn't fit in the standard automatic car wash track any longer.

Well it looks like I fell into that assumption- lower = better handling.

John

 

Here is a photo of my car. As you can see it is very low in the front.

 

I posted a photo.

 

Willtoliv,

Lovely car. Your X100 is a beautiful motor, and I'm sorry about your current problem. Before purchasing new springs and shocks, it's worth going through the few possible causes mentioned above - simple visual checks.

Did you check your front upper mounts? What's the ride height (see my post #5)? I attach photos below of possible culprits.


Bad upper suspension mounts. You can also see this from above too from the engine bay.


Bad lower shock bushes

Let us know what you find.

 

Nice looking coupe! It has got the 20" Montreal wheels. The front sure looks VERY low. The rear also very low. As mentioned by multiple forum members, check your spring mounts. No lowering springs should bring the car that close to the ground

 

I would think that you will be all set after you replace the upper shock mounts... as previously stated, go with the Welsh mounts and you should be good to go... I lowered my jag last year (using H&R lowering springs) and this is how my car looks: