Hi one and all, my 2004 Xtype V6 AWD has rear wheels that are too far in at the top and too far out at the bottom, I looked at the top control arm part number and it was 1S71-5500-AC , 1X43-5500-AB this part is apparently off of a Ford Mondeo. The wheels have always looked a bit wrong and summer 2016 I changed the lower "baby arms" because the bushes were shot. My question is this if the top arms were too short could that A make the top of the wheel tip in and B ruin the bushes in the lower arm by increasing the tension on them. I must add that the car has wrecked a set of rear tyres in about 2000 miles with all of the wear on the inner surface only. I took the car for 4 wheel alignment today and was told that they couldn't do it that the top control arms were probably wrong, with the only good news being that nothing underneath was bent or twisted, any help or advice would be appreciated whilst I wait for the very expensive new arms (genuine Jaguar) to come in the post. Is it feasible that the lower arms I fitted were too short?

 

You here a lot of rumors about the Jag being like the Mondeo. As you have found out they are not the same. The wrong upper control arm has probably only damaged your tires. You can visually inspect for distortion of the bushings for the remainder if damaged you can replace as needed.
Her is a link to the only known, so far, substitute for the upper control arm. I might add no where near the cost of Jag arms.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...rol-arm-88530/

 

I discovered a little while ago, mine was "Thermo'd" by the previous owner. Made my alignment much easier and perfect in specs.

 

Andy, read this. I think this should answer a lot of your questions that you have. If you have more, let me know.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...rol-arm-88530/

The rear of the car is actually a Volvo S40 from what I can tell. The front is a Mondeo.

 

I've tried to find the relevant Volvo parts I assume that they must be USA specific variant because over here all the ones I can find are non-adjustable.

 

Great Britain source =

https://h-tune.co.uk/hardrace-forged...-volvo-v40-13/

 

Same product on UK EBay

https://m.ebay.com/itm/Hardrace-Forg...-1&_mwBanner=1

Funny that a couple of suppliers in the USA are half the cost, same product

 

Many thanks for the info Dell, I'm still waiting for the genuine parts to arrive, if they don't do it then I'll try the alternative adjustable ones. I measured the ride heights and offsets today, the rear sides are identical at 657 mm from ground to wing, however the rhs rear tips in at the top by app 35mm the lhs rear tips in app 43mm so a big difference there, I also noticed that the spring carrier arm to hub carrier bush looked a bit worn could this be the culprit for the difference?

 

Ok so parts came and now on the rhs wheel looks much better the lhs is improved but still wrong. The interesting thing was that the correct jag parts are exactly the same as the incorrect ford parts, maybe up load pics later. The ride heights of both rear wheels are on the low side 355mm so only just in tolerance, I'm going to see if increasing the ride height back to original specs also moves the wheels back into alignment properly, and if it does then I'll use spring spacers until I can get the rest of the bushes changed ie rear trailing arm front and rear bushes. I suppose that I could check it first by jacking up the car and then raising the hub to the correct ride height and then place a straight edge out from the disc to see if the camber improves. The only thing thats stopping me at present is a broken jack and the wonderful british weather.

 

Andy,
I have replaced my upper control arms a few months back, due to similar problems as yourself.
When the upper and lower control arms wear, due to the negative camber, causing the upper arm to be in compression, and the lower arm being in tension, so the bushes wear accordingly.
I fitted these S40/V50 04-12, C30 07-13 PFS Adjustable Upper Rear Suspension Arm-Pair
I removed one nut on each arm, and screwed the adjustment all the way in and tightened up each remaining nut on each arm.
Upshot is now the negative camber is approx 0.5 degree, so spot on for what I want.
Make sure you replace both lower control arms as they are terrible for premature wear.
I fitted original jag labelled ones.


The replacement Volvo upper arms, when done as above, were approx 2mm longer, so reduced the negative camber compared to factory spec jag arms.


Paul.

 

Thanks for that Paul surely if you have still got the upper arms in compression then the lower arms will fail much faster? Over the last 6 months my car has had new rear lower arms, new springs, new droplinks and arb bushes and now the upper arms as well, I think if the spring packers can raise the ride height back to stock then all will be well and then at least I'm not introducing more stress into the rear suspension, however I am a pessimist at heart so I've saved the links from Dell in my ebay favourites. Just a thought this business of tightening the bolts once the wheels are on the ground surely if the settled ride height is known then the hub could be raised to that level and then the bolts tightened whilst the wheel is still off, would this work? simply because I don't have access to a lift or pit and I'm too big to squish under the car. One last point the car has less than 50k on it so I'm a bit disappointed that the rear needs so much work on it.

 

As the stock setup has the rear wheels with negative camber, this improves grip, and reduces tyre wall roll when cornering hard.
The downside is premature wear on the inside edges of the tread.
As the bushes (top and bottom) wear, the negative camber increases, so increasing the standing stress on the bushes, so accelerating the wear.

As the slightly longer upper control arms cause the wheel to have reduced negative camber, this will lower standing stress on both upper and lower arms.

Regarding tightening bush bolts, as long as you have that side of the suspension compressed to where it would be, as you suggest, then yes.

To tighten the top outer control arm whilst the car was back on the ground, I was able to position the wheel so I was able to use a socket and wrench through the alloy wheel to tighten it a few clicks at a time.
This top bush was the hardest one to get from underneath whilst the car was on the ground.

I would say the lower arms are the most fragile, and seem to wear more rapidly.

I also found it impossible to detect play in the lower bushes by hand, with the wheels hanging, and the car lifted on the subframe.
With the suspension unloaded, the bush is not in the same wear area, only taking off the lower arm, and holding one end in the bench vice allowed me to swivel the bushes to reveal areas of wear.


Paul.

 

I installed the adjustable uppers, and decided to replace the lowers just on general principal.


It was a good call. Thet looked fine on the car, but one fell off when we loosened it, and the other came apart by simply pushing the bushings with a finger.


If you going to be in that far, spend the few quid and do both sets!

 

So new adjustable arms arrived today, hopefully fit them tomorrow then 4 wheel alignment and then all should be well. Many thanks to all of you for your advice and patience.

 

My rear wheels where sitting badly also, and wearing the inner edges of the tyres. I decided to replace all the rear bushings on the upper control arms, lower control arms, lower torque arms and trailing arms, this brought the rear weels back into alignment.
I found when I checked the bushings I could detect on ware on them, expect for the torque arms, but when I had the arms on the bench I could see how the bushings had worn.

 

My first thought was cut springs, just a thought.