Folks, whats the best options out there for lowering my XJR? Im at about 76000 miles and feel the shocks likely due to be changed. I figured If Im going to do that job, I may as well do the springs as well if I can realize a drop of the car. I dont want to do coilovers, just springs and shocks. TIA

 

There are only a couple of kits, one I haven't seen available lately. But CarID carried one last I knew for around $500. Other than that, you can cut the springs, I believe member Greverrr did that, look him up, he's in the NE, I think over toward Boston. There are a few threads on this to do a search on also.

 

First of all, it depends where you are coming from (does your XJR ride high as per US standard, or lower as per ROW standard).
Then, second, what are you looking for?

This time, Highhorse beat me by a minute, but I agree with him on Greverr, he did some interesting stuff.
We shared some info on cutting, and how much, I can digg it up for you if you go that way.

Finally, I have read some very mixed reviews on the lowering springs available for our cars.
Think got a lot to do with my first remark.

 

For Eric....

 

I appreciate all of your help folks. Im not a believer in cutting springs, Id rather buy new springs and shocks that lower the car from 1-1.5 inches.

 

Then be careful what you buy, there are folks here who bought the Paramount or Mina's, and found out some strange lowering levels.
No personal experience with any of them though, and again, it really depends what is your ride height now.

PS. Do a search on mentioned Greverr, he found no ill effects on the cutting.
As long as you remove a ring from the top, and flatten them out, nothing should happen. Just time consuming, as you need to shorten them in steps to prevent overdoing.

 

I've wondered why people want to lower the XJ when it's already a low car by design, not to mention all the work Jaguar did in tuning it - if it's solely aesthetics why bother?
I can understand Greverr's efforts as he autotracks his R. Bigger rims, lower profile tires would give an improved look if that's all that's required, no hacking up springs which is always risky and a major compromise.

 

Mainly for aestatics I guess; If you have a high running XJ in the States, I can fully understand you want to bring it down ... the gap between the tire and wheel well is just tooooo much, it looks almost hilarious sometimes.
Nothing nicer than the wheel tightly tucked in the well ...

 

What makes the Euro and ROW XJRs lower?


The springs in the parts catalogue are listed as the same part number. Does anyone has any info to contradict that? I would EXPECT different springs and dampers as per what the target market is...


Anyone know?


The XJRs in America are definitely softer. I used to cane the Euro XJRs getting them sideways out of the gates of Whitley. My Jag with its suspension is all over the road!

 

I dunno, mine seems to be pretty well balanced for my taste.



These are KYB shocks with probably 20k on them at the time of the picture, and the stock springs with at that point, 180k on the clock, so that's probably why it's a little soft. Doesn't ride any worse for wear, really, but those KYBs died 10k later, and I should've known better.

 

Although not supported by evidence, I still believe that Jaguar 'adjusted' the ride height for the US and the ROW by using different thickness of spacers / packers for front and rear.

Why else should they offer different thicknesses for the packers?
Surely not to adjust for tolerances.

Together with the triangular geometry of the suspension (which increases the real ride height difference) it makes sense .... maybe .....

 

I agree the aesthetics are nice but with the minefields masquerading as roads in my area it's just not feasible. I come very close to bottoming out as is.