Hi,

Has anyone fitted the German market spec shocks to their XJR6? How did they compare to the standard spec Bilstein XJR shocks?
Do you know if there were front and rear German spec shocks and if so what are the part numbers.

I ask as I am planning to refurbish my suspension soon.

Thanks,
nickdabs

 

The originals have a different part # for the front and back but are both stiffer B6 series then the B4 on the softer series on the VDP

 

I have had both in front

both are a bit disappointing in rebound damping. Green ones (non german version) were quite soft on rebound and the yellows are better. At least this is the mental image I am having at the moment. I have not driven the car since September 2019 so there is hmm some foggyness there...

adjustable KONI specials that were in the car when I got it (in front) seemed to be better but those were on their last legs so to speak so I changed firstly to the greens and then to the yellows. Rear ones are some aftermarket generic ones, those I am planning to change to b6 hd ones in near future.

neither bilstein nor jaguarclassicparts are willing (or able seems) to tell the damping factor of the shocks at least they did not want to tell me this info when I was trying to check for correct damping factor for H&R lowering springs. Someone at this site had some info on this though.

There are companies in UK that make adjustable ones, like Spax (part numbers G3234 front and G3235 rear ) iirc. and they are not that expensive at least compared to European pricing on Bilstein, quality is unknown . Rockauto in US is selling Bilsteins B6 about 50% less than you can get them in Europe, again iirc.

 

Hi,

Thanks for that, so were the yellow German ones only on the front or are there front and rear German spec shocks/dampers. I think yellow ones (for the front) are on sale at SNG Barrett, I would be keen to know if people think they are worth it as they are quite a bit more expensive than the standard XJR green shocks.

Thanks,
Nick

 

Hi

there is yellows for the back also, the jaguar part numbers (from Jaguar classic parts) for XJR different shocks

1. rear german version (yellows) MNA3540EB
2. rear greens MNA3540CD -
3. front yellows MNA2140BA
4. front greens MNA2140AC

and for what is worth X308 sport rears that also would be physically fit in the car are with part number MNC3540CA, and this is the one that the x308 XJR is using if I have understood correctly. But again what is the damping characteristics I do not know and like I mentioned Jaguar classic parts did either not know or did not want to part with this is info.

for the greens, below are pics from the dampers I had with Bilstein part numbers showing. Purchased from SNG Barrat

front shock, bilstein part numbers

rear shock, bilstein part numbers

Andy (XJRengineer) has yellows all around and has been quite content with them. In my case it could be just the mismatch between front and back shocks that is causing the annoying effect of nose of the car getting lifted in rebound. Let´s see when I get the new ones to back also.

 

Hi AnttiM,

A massive thanks to you for all this information. Very helpful.

Looking at prices the German spec ones are so much more expensive than the Green standard XJR ones, that I will probably go with the green. My shocks are definitely nearly 24 years old so whatever I do should probably be an interesting improvement.

I suppose it would have to be a super-compelling reason for me to go with the yellow version.

Thanks,
Nick

 

Here is the pic of label on the RockAuto sourced b6hds. 24-185806

for some reason these did not come with the upper isolation bushings. So please be advised to check with the supplier before ordering...

Unfortunately I did not remember to take a pic of the fronts when the car was on jackstands and the labels were oriented so that i could not get them to show in photo.