Hello everyone,
I thought I would share my experiences and problems I've been having after spinning out/ hard impact on a kerb resulting in damaging the rear.

I'm sure we have all tried it, putting our foot down, trying to kick the ****-end out??? That was the attempt, instead, mine just went completely OTT and spun out, resulting in me doing a 180 degree spin and impacting the kerb hard. I probably hit the kerb doing 5-10mph, resulted in a complete stop, alloy wheel taking the full brunt of the hit.
Resulting damage (initial view) was a damaged 18' alloy(big chunk missing), the tyre lost some initial pressure but then nothing so was able to drive home (about 2mile).

So after a coffee and a telling off from the wife I took the car for a drive, noticed the steering alignment was out (driving with wheel at 1 o'clock) and when getting to a higher speed (motorway) I could hear a noise coming from the rear.
So before going to a garage I bought a new alloy(£150), new tyre(£120) and went for another drive, things seemed much better but still alignment was out and the noise was still there. After this I took a deep breath and went to Kwik-fit for a laser alignment on the Hunter's system ....
Once they lifted the car up that's when the full extent of the damage started to come apparent...
The rear stabilizing arm had a huge bend in the middle..
This was caused by the wheel buckling under the car according to the technician(luckily with the camber set to over 5 degrees on these (rear) this counter acted and stopped it going completely under) So now I had to get it repaired, took it to Jaguar... New rear stabilizer arm, new Bush, new pins and a new rear wheel bearing as this had been flattened/ crushed (this was causing the noise when driving).... resulting cost of my Jaguar trip.. £205 for parts and a whopping £190 for labour.. and this included VAT etc..

 

Glad you and the car are (I assume) now Okay...I'm sure the wife gave you the appropriate ***-chewing, so I won't add to your wounds..But I'm also sure there was an expensive lesson learned here...I always say, it's nice knowing we have go-fast cars, but do we need to prove it?

Happy trails here after.

 

Thanks, yes me and the Jag are safe and sound, all repairs done and all running and driving as it should be..
I agree, lesson learnt and a bit of a "warning" to others to not get carried away or be complaisant..
I certainly agree with the prove it statement, im certainly not one to show boat or speed for others sake, I thoroughly enjoy the silent beast beneath the dexterity and the prowess of the attitude the car shows in its elegance.. I will definitely be looking at keeping my heavy fut firmly out the way of the "go-faster" pedal from now on....

 

Agreed with DPK, I'm sure you got enough of it from your wife. But it could have been a lot worse, glad you are okay and I would imagine you now have a newfound respect for what your car is capable of

 

Stuff happens, you learn a hard lesson, and move on. But, I still commend you for having fun with the car. What's the point in having a RWD car with gobs of power if you can't kick the tail out every once in a while?

I am not saying anyone should be doing this on the street, but an empty parking lot on a rainy Sunday morning? I am definitely doing what a RWD was meant to do. My only advice is, stay away from curbs, unless you are an expert.

 

How did you get the car to do it? Turn off the traction control?
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Thanks guys..
tbird6:
As with most of the XF's(I Believe) there are a few settings you can mess with, on this occasion i was on my way home, empty street at 5am so it was as safe as could be i guess..
I had mine in S mode with Dynamic mode engaged and Trac DSC activated which allows for some play in the rear, looking back now I obviously just put too much gas when going around the bend but because i had the Dynamic mode engaged the steering response was more and there for when i over corrected it spun out completely...

Has anyone here been on any track days with the XF? Would it handle a track day?

 

KP,
What spec of XF do you have? I'm guessing you have a 3.0 diesel, possibly an XFS, judging by the 18" wheels.
Before I got my XFR I had an XFS with a tuning chip fitted, and both will lose the rear end quite easily in Dynamic + S + Trac DSC mode. The R just a little easier than the S!

 

Thanks for the explanation. I guess on the XF you can turn off or tune stuff much better?

I have a 2005 STR and with the traction control/DSC off I can loop the car but it's still hard because the car can spin the tires so fast I hit the rev limiter (which you can't turn off) and then the brakes get applied and the fun is all over.
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In the XFR, yes. Very stable impressive platform.

However, on the street my XF RS can be very squirrely and kicks very hard unexpectedly to the left when it breaks loose when DSC is off. My other toy I drive will break the tires loose on command but it's very stable and easy to steer out of. I suspect something in the Jag's stability control makes it fight the "natural" response of the car that I'm used to.

So...for now the trac control has to stay on for the RS

 

Hi guy's,
Yes I have the 3.0 XF-S, its great for power but I agree, once it kicks its quite difficult to control, even with everything turned off and on a nice flat road it seems to still go against the motion you want it to do... It almost feels like the balance of the car doesn't sit right...
I have read a few threads regarding remapping, chipping and others such as after market upgrades but I'm not after changing the cars schematics, just a little more performance... If im being honest since my little bump I havnt had any of the gadgets turned off, not quite confident yet to try again ha-ha
I'm interested to hear from the guy's with the supercharged version??? Does that perform/ handle better with the set-up it has for the power? The XF-R seems like the perfect beast for having fun in.. the specs blow me away on them and I am 100% considering an XF-R for my next Jag, tempted by the F-Type but being honest, I like 5 seats and I would probably bankrupt myself with fuel costs too...

 

Just another quick question/ topic...
Tyres... I have the Pirelli Zero spec tyres on mine and I have gone through a few sets now, I don't wheel spin and obviously don't do hand brake turns so why are these so easily worn down? Jag themselves recommended these yet I'm hearing that cheaper alternatives are much better suited for the car? Thoughts on this chaps n gals please? Thanks

 

Heavy, performance cars eat soft tires quickly. It's just physics and material properties of the tire.

 

What's the tread wear rating on the tires you are using now?

I stay under 300 if possible because I want a softer better handling tire. But as was posted above that means you do wear them out pretty quick.

I only have the older STR and my rear tires are gone at 18K-20K miles. Just part of playing the game.
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Sorry to hear about your accident - thanks for sharing. Good for us all to know. How old / what mileage is your car K Piper? You say you've been through 'a few sets' of PZero - so how many miles do you get per set?

I have a 2010 XF SC - basically same setup and power to the XFR. I've found it very stable and well balanced - although I keep the computer on to keep it in control.

Were you running the PZeros when you spun? I assume you know they are high performance summer tyres - they are not designed for cold weather use. I'd have thought mid December in Manchester is pushing the limit of their grip. Pirelli tell you they void the tyre warranty if you use them below 7c as the rubber can crack. You should consider some all seasons - my guess is you are having traction and stability problems as the tyres are not right for the ambient temps.

I run a summer sport tyre in the summer (the Hankook venus evo - much cheaper by the way). But come the cold weather in Nov/Dec they start to loose grip on cold days and the car gets skittish - so I switch to the winter tyres. You might consider a different tyre choice or a separate winter option?

 

Hi guy's,
BritCars:
Thanks for the suggestion, I'm currently going through at least 2 sets a year,(creeping to 3) and my mileage is on average about 16K a year so my set lasts around 8k miles, not much when looking at continentals with an average span of around 12k miles...
I had these on at the time of my bump and my local tyre garage said the same thing about the grip on these not being ideal at this time of year... I never knew about the tyre warranty being void with the lower temperatures, certainly something I will be mind-full of in the future...
I see many places advertising the winter tyres, last year I had these on and to be honest I didn't see any issues but I only really do motorway journeys, so would I still benefit from a winter set?
My model is a 3.0 TD V6 S
Its actually quite sporty for a Diesel and the comfort Is unbelievable, I get so many comments on how smooth the ride is and how well it sits and rides. I have a few friends with high performance Audi's and BMW's but Im the only one I know who has a Jag and they are all envious of it, I've never really pushed the boundaries of the high performance of mine, tbh I dont want to smear the Jag owners reputation by wheel-spinning and driving like a tit but I certainly dont mind every now and then when its dead in the morning on way home putting my foot down Its so responsive and I love setting off from a stand-still, I would have liked more noise from the engine or exhaust but I understand why its set-up as a quiet beast..

 

Being a turbo diesel there is not much you can do to improve the exhaust noise.
I fitted low restriction straight-through rear mufflers to my old XFS and it made only a small difference. A little more growl under WOT, but still dead quiet at cruise. The main difference was a deeper burble at idle, once the EGR valves opened (about 2 minutes after start up, once the motor reaches operating temp).
I fitted the exact same mufflers to my XFR and it was just too loud and droney for my liking so I switched back to the stock mufflers.

 

... umm different car, but similar weight and layout

I've done 20K on the present tires and there is lots left ... except
for inner edges but that's a different problem.

 

Wow - 8k miles for a set of tyres seems terrible... I must have done at least 10k in my Hankook's since I got the car and they are still half the tread left. I know these cars eat tyres quickly, but I'd suggest 8k is much more quickly than most XF vehicles. Might want to try and work out why they are wearing so fast...

 

I think it's called a "heavy foot"..judging by the OP