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So I have gone through my first round of suspension work.
Replaced the front shock uppers and lowers, the front sway bar links and bushings, as well as the rear shock lowers.
It solved all noises, so that's the good part.
However, it did not solve the problem that the car runs slightly lower at the front, and more disturbing, runs 10mm lower on the left.
FL370
LR380
FR390
RR400
(target = 400mm)
These are about the same values as before, when we bought the car.
During installation of the front struts I switched left and right without results, so the shocks should be ok.
Yesterday we had a good look at subframe bushings, the rear donuts, the spring seating, the control arm bushings and the ball joints.
Car has 136.000km, but they all seem reasonably well at least, pretty good actually for what a visual inspection is worth.
I don't like to throw money for nothing, and I am a bit stuck on what to do next.
There is surely something off, but was wondering if any of you have any pointers on this one ...
Last edited by ericjansen; 03-13-2019 at 03:00 AM.
You’ve fixed the noises! That’s good but car still leans left side.
When you reassembled the suspension, did you check the left and right had the same spacers on the spring pans. People change these, to modify the stance of their cars
When you reassembled the suspension, did you check the left and right had the same spacers on the spring pans
We just swapped the uppers, nothing disassembled.
But I swapped the struts after that, which should have made the right side lower ... which it isn't 😭
Last edited by ericjansen; 03-13-2019 at 06:19 AM.
Had a look at the parts list for a 2003, but there is hardly anything besides the single packer they could have forgotten at an earlier swap of the uppers (can hardly imagine they took them out on purpose).
Last edited by ericjansen; 03-13-2019 at 06:21 AM.
Apologies for asking a very basic question, but is the car is on completely flat ground when being measured (as opposed to the picture you posted)?
Yeah, sure.
It is the average of 3 measurements in our B2 parking, flat floor, no occupants, gas ~1/2 full.
The front came up a 1/4 inch both sides with the new uppers, the old ones were not too bad.
Last edited by ericjansen; 03-13-2019 at 07:08 AM.
My 97 was a little lower on the left front after replacing the mounts, and I found it to be spring sag. They do get tired. You can make a spacer up to 10mm thick to fit between the shock mount and the body. I used a plastic cutting board.
Sorry, my laptop blew up, so I am a bit slower in responding.
I am aware of the tolerance, but I refuse to believe that should be applicable between left and right front.
That, plus the total difference between the lowest and highest value is 30mm, double the tolerance ....
As also mentioned, I swapped the left and right front struts, and the left remained lower, that should exclude the spring sacking.
I was also thinking if the rear caused this, but with most of the weight from the engine, I think the front is dominant ... Still puzzled ...
What I've done in the past, with other Cars is after the redo, most of the time the structure of the suspension is all screwed up and is still trying to find a good place to settle....I would take the Car out for a drive and look for the roughest Road I could find and drive up and down round and round hitting every bump I could find for a good while. Most of the time, this would make all the rubber twist and turn into place and solve the problem of height and the other adjustments that had not found their way back while going through the installation procedure....You should try this before you do any replacement procedures...
When I had the Rear suspension redone on the XKR, it sat up pretty Tall in the rear and looked pretty funny! Incidentally, I've never seen so many long bolts as the XKR has in that mass of steel back there, what a mess...but it works after a bit. Drove the car as stated above and it settled down just fine....
By the way, the Photo by the Bridge is exceptional and the Jaguar is Beautiful...You have done a great job with it and I know you are not done yet! Keep up the good work!!
Thanks for all suggestions so far ... but still not convinced we hit the culprit 😉.
I am sure it is not the rear springs, while changing the rear lower bushing last week, both springs are about the same.
We had to push each rear wheel up individually to get access to the shock bush, and the car started lifting at about the same point.
Right now, I suspect ''worse than they look" wishbone bushings, or otherwise a collapsed V mount (do they at all?).
03-13-2019, 02:50 AM
Suspension inbalance
Eric---The Jaguar Man!!
