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I have been told by multiple sources (Local Jaguar Dealership, Jaguar independent shop, etc.) that our camber in the rear can't be adjusted and I will need to swap out my springs, shock mounts and isolator pad to bring my car back in spec.
Do we really have a rear camber bolt we can adjust? If so, where is it and how is it used?
Does anyone have any experience with how much can be adjusted (Fractions of degrees or more?).
To adjust the rear camber you need to install a different axle shim on either side of the differential. Do a search on axle shims and there are a ton of threads. When I lowered my car I had to install thicker shims to kick the top of the rear tires outwards to correct the camber.
The car seems to ALWAYS come with 4mm shims and most of the time a 6mm shim will get the rear camber back within spec.
The dealer i worked at only stocked 6mm shims 'cause that is what always seemed to work.
There is an adjustment bolt in the rear suspension - the outer pivot bolt of the wishbone - but it's for adjusting the toe setting, not camber. Helpful advisors occasionally get confused between camber, toe and caster angles
The car seems to ALWAYS come with 4mm shims and most of the time a 6mm shim will get the rear camber back within spec.
The dealer i worked at only stocked 6mm shims 'cause that is what always seemed to work.
Were both 4mm and 6mm shims dealer installed? Where exactly do they go?
They go between the half-shaft rear axles and the differential output shaft - those two items are bolted together and the spacer/shim goes between the two... they are round spacers with four holes in them. There are instructions to do the job if you search... I ended up using my impact wrench and those 4 nuts are TIGHT the whole way.
If you refer to the picture of the (very nicely cleaned up!!!) rear suspension above, you can see that the lower arm is fixed in length, and the upper arm is the half shaft. With the diff output flange and the wheel hub carrier, these 4 make the sides of a trapezoid. You can make the camber of the wheel less negative (where the top of the tire is not so much tucked in the wheel well) by making the top of the trapezoid longer, in this case by adding shims to the half shaft.
Separately, double check the negative camber on the front as it is generally a sign that the upper shock mount is wearing out. This is a poorly designed part by Jaguar that tend to just wear out quicker than anybody wants. Excess negative camber = inner edge tire wear.
Within, there’s a post by a fellow member ‘SpeedFerret’ who has added an attachment. It gives some helpful guidance on rear Camber adjustment. Basically, he discovered that a change of 0.5mm spacer thickness will change the rear Camber by 0.19 Degrees (Angle Decimal).
This ‘Spacer verses angle’ ratio will vary a little through the range of suspension travel (Due to unequal length Half-Shaft and Wishbones) but, it is certainly a good guide for you.
More importantly, what this does reveal, is that IF you have the factory spacers omitted (as motorcarman says, they are normally 4mm thick), then you will have a negative Camber of:-
-4.0mm = (8 x 0.19 deg) = -1.52 Degrees Camber
This is very close to the actual condition of your Camber results.
In summary, you need to get some 4mm Spacers because yours are suspiciously missing!!!
Within, there’s a post by a fellow member ‘SpeedFerret’ who has added an attachment. It gives some helpful guidance on rear Camber adjustment. Basically, he discovered that a change of 0.5mm spacer thickness will change the rear Camber by 0.19 Degrees (Angle Decimal).
This ‘Spacer verses angle’ ratio will vary a little through the range of suspension travel (Due to unequal length Half-Shaft and Wishbones) but, it is certainly a good guide for you.
More importantly, what this does reveal, is that IF you have the factory spacers omitted (as motorcarman says, they are normally 4mm thick), then you will have a negative Camber of:-
-4.0mm = (8 x 0.19 deg) = -1.52 Degrees Camber
This is very close to the actual condition of your Camber results.
In summary, you need to get some 4mm Spacers because yours are suspiciously missing!!!
Could be missing because my car only has about 10,000 miles on it lol. I don't think the original owner ever had an alignment done. It still had the original OEM Pirelli P Zero system tires on it when I picked it up!
JaguarXKR,
That looks absolutely fine to me.
Your car has low miles and the underside appears in excellent condition - it even looks untampered.
I suspect your Silverstone rear is -1.5 deg Camber by design and I wouldn't alter it without more research.
JaguarXKR,
That looks absolutely fine to me.
Your car has low miles and the underside appears in excellent condition - it even looks untampered.
I suspect your Silverstone rear is -1.5 deg Camber by design and I wouldn't alter it without more research.
Agreed. Does anyone know what the specs for the later cars with the "handling pack" call for the rear camber setting? I believe that spec matches the Silverstone cars.
X100 Rear camber bolt??
