I just bought a 2006 VDP with 25,000 miles. The car has had excellent care, but it feels to me that it rides a bit stiff. It may be fine, but I'm not sure. If nothing in the system is ostensibly malfunctioning, will it have essentially the same ride as when new? Or do the air springs lose their ride quality with age?

 

Hi Jim,

Welcome to the Jaguar Forums! It's great to have you with us.

I have moved your post to start your own thread on your specific topic.

The short answer to your question is yes, the ride quality deteriorates with age. This is probably more a factor of normal wear of the shock absorbers/dampers than the air spring bladders, but obviously both are directly related to ride quality.

However, if your ride seems too firm all of the time, it is possible that your ECATS adaptive damping is inoperative. The default setting of the shock absorbers is firm, and to switch to comfort mode the Air Suspension Control Module (ASM) sends a 5 volt 400 Hz pulsed signal to the solenoid valves at the top of each air spring/shock absorber unit. You can easily see the wires that connect to the tops of the front shocks. Do you have a CATS Fault warning on your instrument cluster?

Cheers,

Don

 

The age and wear usually loosens up the ride. Get an alignment and have them check all the rubber boots in the suspension. I am sure mileage and especially weather accelerate this issue. Hot climate, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and other climates with 100+ summers are killers on the boots and seals.
If you have original shocks they are not hard, even brand new. But when they default to hard setting it feels like solid. Very hard. Mine has done that when fighting issues with strut air leaks and later an air compressor that quit compressing.
Check for aftermarket coil overs. None of the hose are hard, but may not be as soft as the air ride. Mine has sport suspension and it feels like comfort. Never driven a x350 without the sport struts, but if they are softer than the sports, red dot, I would not like the ride.
Your Super is supposed to have the green dot struts.

 

This thread is titled "Firm Mode".
My understanding is that the Air Suspension has nothing to do with "Firm Mode", or "eCATS" ???

 

Hi Chris,

The last activity on this thread was in 2019. The thread title my browser sees is "Does the age affect the ride of the air suspension?" Does your browser see the title as "Firm Mode?" Curious!

Firm Mode and Comfort Mode are functions of the ECATS (Enhanced Computer Active Technology Suspension) adaptive damping system, which is Jaguar's re-branding of Wabco's ECAS (Electronically Controlled Air Suspension) system. ECATS is integrated into the Air Suspension Control Module (ASM), which controls both ECATS and the air suspension. So the two systems are linked, but their functionality is different.

The default mode of the ECATS system is Firm. Depending on the driving conditions, the ASM modulates valves in the shock absorbers to change their damping rates to the Soft/Comfort Mode.

There is a long explanation of the air suspension and ECATS systems at this link:

Air Suspension & ECATS System Summary: Components & Operation

Cheers,

Don

 

Sorry I meant to post in the "Firm Mode" thread. Might have scrolled down to "related" or something.

 

ECATS only switches the damper settings, the air springs remain the same rate at all times. However, unlike coil springs, the air suspension is always maintained at the correct height and geometry. When I had my X350s the tyres lasted a very long time, (OK, I'm old and slow too !!), but much longer than I would have expected.