Hi all,

Been awhile since I last posted, been out enjoying the car whenever I can and It seems to reward being used more frequently.

Recently re did my rear shock mounts and in the process fixed a suspension fault which had been on for 8 months because one of the wires to a rear shock had gotten pinched and eventually snapped in two. Bit of swearing and reattaching later I have a fault free dash for the first time in months.

Anyway this got me thinking about my CATS shocks, they are ok for now but there will come a time when I will need to replace the shocks, at that point should I just switch over to standard (non adaptive) bilsteins and disconnect the CATS module? Mostly asking because the cost of the CATS shocks (and the added cost to get them shipped from the UK all the way here and cleared) makes me wonder if they are actually worth it. Especially since the system is slow to react by modern standards anyway.

Would appreciate your views on this as I haven't found a lot of discussion on the subject.

Cheers!

 

Sajiv, many of us, myself included, with normal suspensions keep thinking "I sure do wish the guy who purchased this car new had ordered the CATS".

But then I've never had the pleasure of driving a car with it. I guess the big question is: how much difference do they really make ?

I do assume that you enjoy pushing your driving skills a bit. If not I suppose the answer is self evident.

well I am sure you do enjoy everything your Jaguar has to offer. I look forward to hearing from those who have driven both to get a better appreciation if the difference from a hands on experience.

John

 

I drove a 2000 XKR with CATS on several occasions while working on it and was not impressed to the point of being willing to pay extra. Nothing like the Sky Hook on my Maserati.

 

I am looking forwards to getting rid of mine and feel the ride can only get better without them, my gut feel says there are stuck on firm but there are no error codes or warnings.

 

They only change the rebound, not the compression and my experience is that it does make a difference and is noticeable BUT it is slow to respond.

If you toss the car into a corner it takes a moment to settle into the firm setting so rather warbles a bit before feeling confident. If you disable the system and force it into firm permanently, then the car feels more confident going into the same corner.

What the system really needs is premonition so that it could know what you are about to do, rather than just react to the thing you have already done.

Is it worth it... eh... probably not.

 

On mine, if you rock the steering from side to side while driving you can feel the suspension firm up. I like how comfortable the car is normally, and wouldn't like to lose that comfort if the non-CATS versions are as firm as mine is when it is activated.

 

When I am driving down country lanes or fast on motorways I do find the car is very stable. At £700 a pair I don't think I could afford to replace them if they went wrong.

 

I haven't driven a non-cats car.. but from all the cars I have driven I would say the ride is a bit on the hard side (XKR) and not worth the price.. I can't tell what the system is doing half the time.. if one of my shocks goes out it's going to be a tough decision on replacing the shocks.

 

Thanks for the input everyone, the cost of shock replacement is what has me most concerned. (Because taxes and costs to get them over here can easily add about 120% to the already high price of the units in the UK or US where I order my parts from).

Guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Just recovering after some unexpected steering related expenditure at the moment and hoping no more expensive surprises will come around for a little while at least!

 

I just noticed your other car Bones28. The 300ZX is on my "must own one day" list, you're VERY fortunate to have both!

 

I have no problems with it, but when the time comes, I am going standard since it's not worth the money to me.

 

I am now faced with the same dilemma-- whether to blow a bunch of $$ on Bilstein "Damptronic" shocks, or go with the Bilstein "non adaptive" shocks for a third of the cost (about $130 ea). The consensus of the posting through the years reveal that most don't think its worth the money... with exception of the purists. The trade-off is slightly better handling for a lot of money. The question will always be: is the ride, or the handling noticeably better.

Only objection to the conversion, would be that the annoying fault light will come on.

Any professional advice on where the CATS module is located in the trunk, and how to disconnect/disable it?
Thanks

 

You're not the only one. I'm 50:50 too.
From what I was told, you can disable the CAT suspension by unplugging the module in your trunk. That way, no fault light on the cluster.

 

I think the ride is softer with the adaptive
shocks when they are in the “comfort” mode.

The less expensive Bilsteins are midway between the the two extremes of the adaptive shocks. In other words, a compromise between comfort and handling, whereas the adaptive shocks can have it both ways. Albeit at a cost.

I’m not totally in the purist camp, but am also trying to weigh the pros and cons with an eye towards maintaining the value of the car.

If I was in the market for another XKR, if it didn’t have the adaptive shocks then I would lower any offer by the amount needed to buy them and install them.

Z

 

The CATS module in in the boot nea rthe boot lock under the boot board. It's attached to the wall of the boot. Pretty sure if you remove the CATS module the shocks will revert into the stiff mode and the ride will be terrible. You can test it out by unplugging the shocks directly. I tried this out once and the ride was terrible. Best bet is to just get the standard non-adaptive shocks. I have thought about it and will probably do this just to save money, if I notice that the ride is worse or it doesn't handle anywhere near as well then I may one day revert back to the adaptive shocks although I have my doubts. 135816d1473500760-suspension-fault-wont-go-away-acdm.png (412×351) (jaguarforums.com) number 5 is the module location. There are also accelerometers in the car that connect to the module so if you wanted to install the CATS suspension on a none CATS equiped car you would need to do a lot of wiring and install the accelerometers.

 

If you were to replace the adaptive control shock with the 'standard' non-adaptive version would you need to replace the coils as well? I have post concerning this very topic in that I'm replacing all of my standard components including the coils. It appears the coils for the adaptive suspension have different part numbers to the non-adaptive ones and I'm not sure of the difference.

 

I had the same concern and found out what you describe here. The spring should be different to accommodate less damping?
Mina has two separate sets of springs for XK8 and XKR... is this due to CATS vs. Non-CATS?

 

So the day has come when I had to decide which way to go. Gotta keep it real lol. Spending the $$$...I guess that makes me a purist