Dear Dr Phil, (Is this a Boo-Hoo forum? In any case I love her I love her)
So failed a warrant rear lower suspension at 92km (57k miles) and 15 years. I asked Beachams to check that if one side had gone probably the other? "Yes everything" in short.
I'm the only NZ owner of 5yrs of this Jap Import. They said some of the bushes had been "siliconed"...those sneaky Japs or more likely the fly-by-night kiwi importers "made" it pass inspection? I've only done 10k km in my 5ys, embarrassing km but there you go.

I'm not into DIY. I'm awaiting an estimate and it's likely to be several thousands. I comfort myself that if I bought any other X350/X358 of a similar age, probably the suspension has aged even from just sitting around.
(There is no reason to believe my car is anything other than just older, for example I have full records even if some of it is in Japanese, I have found no faults in the bodywork after 5 years etc etc.)

Since I'm not into DIY I am not asking for sympathy. BTW, I just sold my Mercedes A180 after 2yrs, ended up that cost $5,000 p.a. JUST IN DEPRECIATION.
I was thinking I might as well enjoy my XJ as a daily driver, for the cost of a Merc as well. Sold my Merc, then Jag down for weeks, now reduced to a Honda Elysion my last car available. Life is Tough down here!.,..I do have about 9 1/18th scale model Jaguars in my lounge I can still look at...
The bottom line is that if you buy a Jag of "our age", the suspension has either been replaced or is about to be!

 

Well, your Japanese car most likely has bushings that are actually separately replaceable, unlike the Jag, which requires new suspension arms to get new bushings, as they can't be pressed out and new ones pressed in. OTOH, since you have to disassemble the suspension either way, putting new arms in is easier than changing the bushings out and then putting the old arms back in. Bushing replacement is cheaper for parts, maybe more labor.

 

Yes, you are correct. I bought mine last year with 41k miles, currently at 50k and all of the suspension bushings are completely shot and need replacement. No big deal as I will do it myself, but was a bit disappointing when I found my "low mileage" purchase was a complete mess under there. I've owned over 40 cars in my life (most domestic US models) and have never seen bushings deteriorate like this at such low mileage. Of course age plays a factor, but I have older Ford/GM products with twice the mileage on at least 5 years on the Jag and bushings are just fine. Definitely a poor choice of materials on their part in production.

I still love these cars and will most likely own more, but will go into the purchase much wiser this time. I don't care how low the mileage is, if the bushings are original they will need to be taken care of. Makes more sense to buy a higher mileage car for mush less money since they'll need doing no matter what.

 

Why does the Jag require new suspension arms? Perhaps in the early years of the X350, aftermarket manufacturers had not geared up production of the necessary bushes. If Jaguar had to buy bushes to fit into the arms, why couldn't we buy them too?
A quick check shows that a number of companies make compatible bushes for the X350 and X358. Polybush are just one.
https://www.polybush.co.uk/polyureth.../xj-x350-x358/
A small press, or even a bolt and two sockets are all that is needed.
Like Chris Mills, I am in the lower right-hand corner of the South Pacific at the end of the railway line, and while items like coil spring conversions and suspension arms are very affordable in USA, they are extremely expensive down here. We New Zealanders much prefer fixing things to buying things.

 

Well Beachams are getting new "Aftermarket arms", don't even know what but that should make a fun discussion.
Shipping will be at least 2 weeks, so I'm collecting the poor thing to store at my place on a charger.