My 05 raises quite bit when given full throttle from say 25 MPH. It also dips quite a bit coming to a normal stop. My experience with 4 wheel disc brakes is the car stops with virtually no nose dive on the other cars I've owned. The car has 93.000 miles and rides great otherwise. Only had the car 3 months so have no way to compare. I ordered new upper shock bushings today because it seems to sit a bit low in the front. Will those help with the nose dive at least?

 

Neither of the two XK8's I owned exhibited pronounced nose lift or dive unless I planted my foot on the accelerator or really stood on the brakes but they all had less miles than yours.

At 93k it's reasonable that shocks, springs and suspension bushes will be getting tired and some replacement could be due.

Lift and dive suggests worn springs whereas bounce usually indicates worn shocks. Failed upper shock mounts will slightly drop the ride height.

Graham

 

Honestly... The parts aren't too expensive.
And since you've already committed to replace upper shock bushings, why not replace the parts you're going to have to take off to replace those mounts?
In order to change the mounts you'll need to take off the shock / coil spring strut assembly.
You can get Bilstein shocks and coils for a reasonable price online.
It'll be worth every penny and dramatically improve the ride.

 

If you have interactive shocks they aren't cheap. Are you using sport mode?

 

Yes, an oversight on my part.

I guess I should not have answered without knowing what he has in his car.
Hopefully he doesn't have interactive shocks ..if that's possible for that year.

 

I use sport mode about 50% of the time. Would sport mode affect the raising up? And no, I have regular shocks. My main concern is the nose driving on brake application. The last 4 wheel disc brake car I had that did this had seized rear calipers not gripping. I just replaced all the pads last month and they were all worn about the same, by that I mean, very thin all around.

 

The reason I asked about the shock type and sport mode is that the interactive shocks are stiffer in sport mode.

Since you have standard shocks they may well need replacing. Push down on the fender and see how it rebounds. If it bounces up and down with little resistance that's a shock problem.

 

With regular shocks, new Bilsteins will fix this. besides sloppy upper mounts and loose shocks, the new shocks will have new lower bushings that can get sloppy, too and allow extra rise/dive.

 

While your shocks maybe going bad and since your recently worked on the braking system and see this dipping you might want to bleed out the brake system again to ensure proper pressure to all calipers. If this was happening before the brake pad change as above shocks (and perhaps springs) may well need replaced.

 

grantorino62: I am in the process of replacing the front shocks on my '06 and wanted to pass along a few thoughts. Plan on replacing the upper shock mounts, shocks and wishbone bushings and lower shock mounts. Order all these parts well ahead of when you plan on doing the work as any parts coming from UK will take a month to arrive.
Also do not plan on doing this job in a single day; have another car to drive. Reason for this is that the fulcrum bolt can be very difficult to remove.

Short update: the Bilstiens shocks came with a lower shock mount, not poly but rubber. So you do not have to order this unless you want poly.

Full Speed Ahead.....