So I am starting to collect parts for my suspension rebuild and have a few questions. Once I start I will actually make a thread with progress and my aggrevations. But for now .....


The suspension has 158,000 miles on it and it shows. It was lowered properly by an independant before I bought the car and gets excellant tire wear. Allthough steering feels tight when I hit bumps and it shakes rattles and rolls. One rear shock I believe is shot as when I hit a bump it literally bangs. My XKR is a tank. Changing the end links helped a bit.... That being said

1) Powerflex bushings. Ive determined alot of my noise is due to the bushings that being said Black or Purple. Being the car is so heavy Im thinking Black. Thoughts? I know it is not a mega handeling machine

2) Ball joints. Are some better than others? Priicing does not seem over the top unless I went maybe t ojaguar direct

3) To CAT or not to CAT. WHY are CAT shocks for the 07 and up so affordable? I assume they do not fit in my cat. That being said I cant justify buying them new and dont want to mess with used. SO factory non CAT shocks and unplugging the moduale it will be. The later model dont fit right???:O))

4) Shock/strut isolator foam. Why oh why did they use foam Is there any reason it cant be made out of poly? Has anyone used a different material? Seems just a bad material choice all together with such a heavy car. Also seems to be a big failure item

5) The rear seems a bit more involved. Is there anything I should look into prior to doing this job that I may miss that should be done while its all apart?

Im sure once I start Ill have questions even after searching for teh answers. Just figured Id get ahead of teh game as I like to be prepared

thanks!

 

Don't forget the front cross member vee mounts, especially if you have "shaky" steering.

 

Also swaybar bushings, tie rod ends, lower shock bushings (if keeping original shocks), Looks like you know what your looking at Slowepoke.

As for Powerflex purple or black, it seems as most agree the blacks are just to harsh for street use. My purple's came directly from Powerflex USA.

Quite a few choices for ball joints, my uppers are Raybestos from Rock Auto, $33.99 ea, lowers are Lemforders from Christians Foriegn car parts, $48.95 ea

Rock Auto proved to be a good supplier of quite a few parts, good price, quick and reliable
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Check forum posts as I recall you may end up with a code displayed if removing your CATS

Good luck on your project, look forward to seeing your results
Cheers, BK

 

It probably would have helped if I had ridden another xkr before buying this one. So I dont knwo what to or not to expect. The steering feels tight as thought there isnt a tie rod issue and all of the ball joints actually look good but I figured Ill just replace everything.

What are the V bushings? I can tell you the steering wheel does do a bit of bouncng around. Its kind of funny actually

Thanks all. Wish I could have found some brembos while I was at it...But no luck. Was looking for some pegasus rims but the cost.....OUCH...Fount soem montreals at a steal which may work out well:O)

And disconnecting module in trunk gets rid of the CAT issues from my understanding.

 

Vee mounts are the mountigns for the rear of the front cross member casting.
They delaminate over time. The issue is that they control the cross car play of the casting close to the steering rack mounts so turning the steering can either steer the car or flex the vee mounts. I rebuilt mine using the original vee mount metal components then cast polyurethane rubber to provide some resilience. Much more direct steering.