Just joined the XJR club
#21
06-18-2012, 05:24 PM
Congrats! She's beautiful in that dark color and I heartily approve of de-badging the front wing!
Funny indeed--my Dad had a 3.8 Mk2 which was black with red leather
Funny indeed--my Dad had a 3.8 Mk2 which was black with red leather
#22
06-19-2012, 01:25 AM
Thanks guys.
Actually the R badges on the wings were already gone when I got it. It seems the front bumper and part of the wings were re-sprayed at some time (and not a great job either) I guess the previous owner took the badges off then. I just took the XJR badge off the bootlid, it was damaged anyway, someone must have opened the boot in an underground garage & hit the roof....how you manage that I'm not quite sure, but there you go...
Actually the R badges on the wings were already gone when I got it. It seems the front bumper and part of the wings were re-sprayed at some time (and not a great job either) I guess the previous owner took the badges off then. I just took the XJR badge off the bootlid, it was damaged anyway, someone must have opened the boot in an underground garage & hit the roof....how you manage that I'm not quite sure, but there you go...
#24
06-30-2012, 05:52 PM
Beautiful Car!!! The Black/
cranberry seats and door inserts
would be my ideal X350 XJR.
That looks like a very cool drive...
I hope the parts of DE you were
in had plenty of de-restricted zones.
When I bought my car, it had under-
inflated tyres, and a couple of bent
rims, and low oil... still averaged 24.9
mpg and made the 440mi drive with
ease.
Won't Switzerland's speed-***** judge
you for traffic violations more harshly
now that you are driving an XJR, though?
Ian
cranberry seats and door inserts
would be my ideal X350 XJR.
That looks like a very cool drive...
I hope the parts of DE you were
in had plenty of de-restricted zones.
When I bought my car, it had under-
inflated tyres, and a couple of bent
rims, and low oil... still averaged 24.9
mpg and made the 440mi drive with
ease.
Won't Switzerland's speed-***** judge
you for traffic violations more harshly
now that you are driving an XJR, though?
Ian
#25
06-30-2012, 11:37 PM
Thanks Ian!
Your story is very close to home...
When i picked up the car in North London i couldn't really take it for a proper test drive, really bad congestion in the suburbs and the roads were so poor, i was concentrating on avoiding potholes, speedhumps & working my way through traffic.
Wasn't until i got out of the city on the motorway at speed that i realised it was pulling to the left and had a quite a vibration through the steering wheel, especially under braking. Found a Kwik-Fit on the way to Dover, and pulled in for help.
Turned out the front wheel alignment was out by a mile, and the right front wheel was bent, probably from a monster sized pothole. The guys at the shop were great, did the wheel alignment and took their time to balance the bent wheel to reduce the vibration, i would not have been able to make such a long trip without them.
I knew the rear tyres were pretty bad, but on close inspection in the shop, it became much clearer, one was from 2006, the other 2007, they'd been over inflated at some stage & were bald in the middle, while still having 1.5mm on the wear markers. Also a number of cracks in the tread...
No 255/35/20 in stock at the shop & i had to get going anyhow. Quick survey of the guys in the shop "would you drive 1000mi on these" the majority answered yes so that was that.
So i had to take it "slow" on the way home, self imposed speed limit of 100mph.
Since putting on the new tyres & changing out the bent wheel i've stretched it's legs a couple of times in Deutschland, 150mph comes up pretty quick in these cars!
Your story is very close to home...
When i picked up the car in North London i couldn't really take it for a proper test drive, really bad congestion in the suburbs and the roads were so poor, i was concentrating on avoiding potholes, speedhumps & working my way through traffic.
Wasn't until i got out of the city on the motorway at speed that i realised it was pulling to the left and had a quite a vibration through the steering wheel, especially under braking. Found a Kwik-Fit on the way to Dover, and pulled in for help.
Turned out the front wheel alignment was out by a mile, and the right front wheel was bent, probably from a monster sized pothole. The guys at the shop were great, did the wheel alignment and took their time to balance the bent wheel to reduce the vibration, i would not have been able to make such a long trip without them.
I knew the rear tyres were pretty bad, but on close inspection in the shop, it became much clearer, one was from 2006, the other 2007, they'd been over inflated at some stage & were bald in the middle, while still having 1.5mm on the wear markers. Also a number of cracks in the tread...
No 255/35/20 in stock at the shop & i had to get going anyhow. Quick survey of the guys in the shop "would you drive 1000mi on these" the majority answered yes so that was that.
So i had to take it "slow" on the way home, self imposed speed limit of 100mph.
Since putting on the new tyres & changing out the bent wheel i've stretched it's legs a couple of times in Deutschland, 150mph comes up pretty quick in these cars!
#26
07-01-2012, 12:03 AM
That's a great story! (good job restraining yourself to 100!)
That size tyre, in the US, has a strangely cheap tire availability.
My car is wearing Falken FK452, which cost $195 in my size (255-40-18)
( €154), costs just $136 ( €107) in the 255-35-20. Why!?!? That is a
bigger piece of rubber. The prices seem to have no logic.
I wish I had access to the Autobahn... It would be a luxury to treat
my car to wide-open-throttle more often. Sadly, that is a continent
away from me. 100mph on a US Interstate could very well land you a
$350 ticket.
The cranberry interior sure is rare here... I have only ever seen it
in one XJR.
A little more on my car's pickup... I bought mine in Hollywood, FL,
which is basically North Miami. (A lot of shady, black-market type
cars are in Miami than most of the US, so I had to be wary here!)
The fuel station across the street had faulty pumps, so I damn-
near ran out of fuel trying to get to a station! I was with my
mother at the time, and she had a meeting to get to... so on
the way back we were often doing 90 (she was in the XK8)
it was a good drive. I wish, at the time, I had put in some more
oil though!
The car had 40k miles on it then, now it has almost 59000.
Actually, I am going to look at a black '03 (X308) XJR this week,
1 owner, 92k miles, R1 Brembo/BBS package, all options...
Anthracite over Oatmeal. I too am hoping to join the ranks of
supercharged Jaguar motoring. I bought my car in a compromise,
it was my least favourite colour (silver), but I settled because silver
really suits my car. And it was the Sport, not the XJR, because
no suitable XJRs were available. (they all had too much mileage!)
I have regretted not going for the XJR, it is more suited to the
enthusiast driver, and its gearbox lasts a lot longer. Also,
the cosmetics are even better than the XJ Sport.
It's interesting to me, though, that you would choose
a RHD Jaguar, when living in Switzerland. That could
make an average roundabout seem quite scary?
Ian
That size tyre, in the US, has a strangely cheap tire availability.
My car is wearing Falken FK452, which cost $195 in my size (255-40-18)
( €154), costs just $136 ( €107) in the 255-35-20. Why!?!? That is a
bigger piece of rubber. The prices seem to have no logic.
I wish I had access to the Autobahn... It would be a luxury to treat
my car to wide-open-throttle more often. Sadly, that is a continent
away from me. 100mph on a US Interstate could very well land you a
$350 ticket.
The cranberry interior sure is rare here... I have only ever seen it
in one XJR.
A little more on my car's pickup... I bought mine in Hollywood, FL,
which is basically North Miami. (A lot of shady, black-market type
cars are in Miami than most of the US, so I had to be wary here!)
The fuel station across the street had faulty pumps, so I damn-
near ran out of fuel trying to get to a station! I was with my
mother at the time, and she had a meeting to get to... so on
the way back we were often doing 90 (she was in the XK8)
it was a good drive. I wish, at the time, I had put in some more
oil though!
The car had 40k miles on it then, now it has almost 59000.
Actually, I am going to look at a black '03 (X308) XJR this week,
1 owner, 92k miles, R1 Brembo/BBS package, all options...
Anthracite over Oatmeal. I too am hoping to join the ranks of
supercharged Jaguar motoring. I bought my car in a compromise,
it was my least favourite colour (silver), but I settled because silver
really suits my car. And it was the Sport, not the XJR, because
no suitable XJRs were available. (they all had too much mileage!)
I have regretted not going for the XJR, it is more suited to the
enthusiast driver, and its gearbox lasts a lot longer. Also,
the cosmetics are even better than the XJ Sport.
It's interesting to me, though, that you would choose
a RHD Jaguar, when living in Switzerland. That could
make an average roundabout seem quite scary?
Ian
#27
07-01-2012, 12:32 AM
Any funny you should mention Falken 452's, that's what the car is wearing now.
I couldn't justify putting brand new rubber on rims with kerb rash, did I mention every wheel needs a re-furb? except the right front, which was the un-used spare. The bent one is in the boot. Anyway 452's in my size go for about €250 each in Germany, I picked up a set of four second-hand with 6-7mm left on them for €300. Happy bout that! I spend an afternoon cleaning the wheels & went through a full bottle of silver touch-up paint, looks a lot better now!
I've seen the pics of your silver XJ, it looks great! But as you say buying second-hand and rare/special cars is always a compromise. My X-Type was a compromise (colour combo, mileage & condition vs. specification) and the XJR a compromise again (colour combo & condition vs. mileage & specification) you can't always get what you want...
The RHD is a bit of a complicated story. Short version is i'm Australian, and this car will not stay in Switzerland forever. Driving a RHD car is no problem for me, I grew up RHD, the problem is swapping between the LHD X-Type to the RHD XJR and back. Messes with your head....
Good luck with the XJR hunt. Superchargers are addictive!
I couldn't justify putting brand new rubber on rims with kerb rash, did I mention every wheel needs a re-furb? except the right front, which was the un-used spare. The bent one is in the boot. Anyway 452's in my size go for about €250 each in Germany, I picked up a set of four second-hand with 6-7mm left on them for €300. Happy bout that! I spend an afternoon cleaning the wheels & went through a full bottle of silver touch-up paint, looks a lot better now!
I've seen the pics of your silver XJ, it looks great! But as you say buying second-hand and rare/special cars is always a compromise. My X-Type was a compromise (colour combo, mileage & condition vs. specification) and the XJR a compromise again (colour combo & condition vs. mileage & specification) you can't always get what you want...
The RHD is a bit of a complicated story. Short version is i'm Australian, and this car will not stay in Switzerland forever. Driving a RHD car is no problem for me, I grew up RHD, the problem is swapping between the LHD X-Type to the RHD XJR and back. Messes with your head....
Good luck with the XJR hunt. Superchargers are addictive!
#28
07-01-2012, 02:23 PM
I should buy that touch up paint for the XJ Sport's wheels.
One woman driving during a thunderstorm, driving with
her headlights off (at night, in the rain!!) caused me to gash
one of my wheels very badly.
Australian? That explains the excellent English. Thought you
were Swiss! Thanks for the nice comment on my XJ,
I've fallen in love with this bodystyle... I just covet the
supercharger very much.
I hear tyres in Europe last about 1/2 as long as their US
counterparts, due to EU noise restrictions? It is unfortunate
that they cost 3x as much new.
Ian
One woman driving during a thunderstorm, driving with
her headlights off (at night, in the rain!!) caused me to gash
one of my wheels very badly.
Australian? That explains the excellent English. Thought you
were Swiss! Thanks for the nice comment on my XJ,
I've fallen in love with this bodystyle... I just covet the
supercharger very much.
I hear tyres in Europe last about 1/2 as long as their US
counterparts, due to EU noise restrictions? It is unfortunate
that they cost 3x as much new.
Ian
#30
07-04-2012, 02:49 PM
#32
10-16-2012, 01:35 PM
Junior Member
An excellent specimen of a car, but I need to ask where you got the chromed reflectors from? I'd like to swap those out as well as the side blinkers (clear LED, preferably, but at this stage I take what I can find that looks better than the awful orange crap that's standard).
#33
10-18-2012, 02:48 AM
I've wrapped the original reflectors with a Mirror Chrome Vinyl that I bought off ebay.
It's not a perfect match to the factory chrome pieces, but looks a lot better than the orange reflectors.
The car passed the Swiss MFK (vehicle inspection) with the reflectors wrapped, and I know of another XJR in the UK that passed an MOT with the reflectors wrapped too.
It's not a perfect match to the factory chrome pieces, but looks a lot better than the orange reflectors.
The car passed the Swiss MFK (vehicle inspection) with the reflectors wrapped, and I know of another XJR in the UK that passed an MOT with the reflectors wrapped too.
#38
01-09-2013, 09:11 AM
#40
01-09-2013, 09:34 AM
Thought it might be a good idea to provide links to the mods/repairs i've done to this car so far:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ur-x350-75369/
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...uper-v8-82799/
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...kup-xjr-80371/
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...removal-80799/
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ack-xjr-77305/
Convert Bi-Xenon Lamps RHD to LHD & vice-versa
Quaife LSD
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ur-x350-75369/
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...uper-v8-82799/
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...kup-xjr-80371/
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...removal-80799/
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ack-xjr-77305/
Convert Bi-Xenon Lamps RHD to LHD & vice-versa
Quaife LSD
Last edited by Cambo; 06-04-2013 at 07:10 PM.