I cant see how this can work??? the spring mount that bolts up to the underside is doing the same thing, now if you made a tower brace out of this then I can say yes it will work.



On my car I can feal wonder under heavy braking, I was thinking of making a tower brace that ties the two together.

Sorry I dont see it...

 

Hi Guys, I'm new to the forum since I've only had my 2002 XKR for 6 months. The vague steering feel was a problem on my car. I replaced the ball joints, sway bar links, tie rod ends, all new Powerflex bushings, eliminated the electronic shocks and replaced with Bilsteins. Shock mounts were in good shape so I reused those. Still had the vague steering feel. I decided I needed to stabilize the top of the shock in the mount. I happened upon some steel plates at Lowes. They are actually a door knob hole filler plate made by Gatehouse. #0253011. They are round and just fit in the shock tower hole where shock mount bolts are. I drilled out the hole in them to make a tight fit over the protruding threads of the shock above the nut. I then made sure everything was centered in the hole and spot welded the filler plate to the shock tower. Now the shock stays stable in the mount and the steering and handling have improved 1,000%. Now I don't have to depend on foam rubber in these design flawed upper mounts. About a $10 max fix, but really works well.
Sam

 

So you made it into a solid upper mount? That kind of defeats the purpose of having rubber there..

I'm sure it helps with turn-in, but at what cost?

I think it is a misconception that stabilizing the shock in our cars somehow improves the geometry of the front suspension. While it certainly helps in a McPherson system, it does zilch to ours. The same would be true of a tower brace as that also would produce no positive effect.

Urethane bushings, and higher front tire pressure (or lower profile tires) are the quickest routes to improved handling and loose fillings.

 

I won't disagree with you, but for me, the proof is in the drive. And it drives very well with precise steering. Thanks

 

Just one more thing about the XKR suspension. This system is basically a strut system. I have done many struts on BMWs and such. The top mount on a BMW is made of a very hard rubber compound to keep the shock from moving. I have installed coilover high performance struts in e46 BMWs and the top mount is totally solid made out of steel that keeps the top of the strut from moving. This was my rationale for stabilizing the top mount in my XKR. Thanks, Sam

 

Our front suspension is a double wishbone design mounted to an independent subframe. It is not a strut system. The coilover shock supports the weight of the vehicle and is not the upper control link for the suspension.

As far as your modification, I​​​​​​I don't doubt that your turn in feels sharper by eliminating the give from the upper mount.

 

Any deflection in the upper mount slightly changes ride height which also changes toe settings as it does. Which is also why when replacing collapsed upper mounts you need to align the car because you changed the ride height and toe settings.
Limiting movement can have a positive affect. And dealing with this since theyre new and under warranty this issue is normal for the car as designed and built. I dont like it either but this is not a worn suspension issue although this will make it much worse. So like anything else dealing with cars, if you dont like it modify it till youre happy.

 

Thanks Steve for all your work and sharing. I plan on trying this myself. Your right about local machine shops not taking credit or debit cars. i have one close to me that I have used a few times. Small, a bit pricey, and prefer cash or check.

 

I am wrong. I'm aware of the double wishbone account I've replaced all the bushings with Powerflex black urethane. I just replace the upper mounts with ones made from urethane instead of the stock foam factory style. I removed the plates locking the top of the shock in place. These new mounts made with urethane are really stable and the car drives great.

 

Sober,

Where did you purchase your urethane upper mount bushings from ?
many thanks for all your inputs !

kind regards,

max

 

It's quite an old thread, but I think I'm not alone in wondering how users have found using the Top shock plate.
I had one set made from stainless steel. However, I would like to know earlier how this adjustment worked for the pioneers of this technical solution.
Thanks for the info...

 

Cyril, If you read the last post by sobergone, you will see he said he was wrong, and the poly bushings solved his problem.
At the time he must have replaced the original foam type with parts from a producer of Poly mounts called Welsh. They were the answer for most of the upper mount problems. Then they changed the formula of the poly, and it didn't last like the first ones.
Then we had other companies like URO come in with the weakest one of all, they did finally improve but a long-lasting effort has been around for a few years.
As you live in Europe there is a Member of the Forum that lives in Australia that should be able to supply you with an example of the best we have at the moment. Just give him a PM by his Forum name baxtor (no capital.)

 

Hi Wayne.
Thank you very much for the information about baxtor and its (your) joint results in the field of damper mounting solutions. I have watched almost all the videos and read the threads on this topic.
This forum probably has no analogues anywhere else in the world! The willingness of you, smart minds, people willing to share their experience is nice, even touching.
My question was how satisfied are the owners who used the method that "Stewe Jack" wrote about, who used stainless plates. (However, Steve is no longer on the forum since 2016).
So I was curious about the experiences of people who have used Stewe's method.
"Soberover" used a different method - welded washers directly into the damper tower. Which he subsequently dismantled and used Powerflex polyurethane. (He is also no longer on the forum).
I was interested because I made the stainless steel plates according to Steve Jack's drawing and also temporarily mounted them using a small silent block as a spacer. I've been driving with this temporary fix for some time now and the car runs stable and doesn't behave erratically. Runs like new!
I know it's a bad method, but somehow it works.
But I am determined to do the repair with Baxtor's Polyurethane Kit.
Thanks again everyone for all the info and advice!

 

My car (2000 XK8 convertible 30,500 miles) drives EXACTLY as described in this discussion! Since I've owned the car for only 2 months and had never driven an XK8 before, I didn't know what to expect but I was pretty sure that needing both hands tightly on the wheel on rough roads at slower speeds probably wasn't right. My front suspension appears to be original, and while the front shock mounts look fine, gravity and time have no doubt taken their toll.

I will be looking for some new upgraded mounts ( Polyurethane, baxtor?) and planning some suspension work next spring.

I really appreciate you guys!

This is my 10th post, I think. No more probation. Yipee!