Hello all,
My stock, low mileage 1995 XJS (not V12), convertible handles like a boat! It has got to the point where I don't want to drive it anymore as it has had me facing the wrong way several times. I have to say I am not a fast driver, I drive with all the restraint of my age and the road conditions. No off track road racing for me.

Can anyone advise on what can be done to improve the handling. I have read a lot about changing to poly bushings at the front end and beefing up the roll bar, together with adding an aftermarket roll bar at the rear and replace the shocks? All of these sound reasonable (and I don't mind spending the money), but I want to make sure it will make a significant difference. I had a 1994 XJS Convertible back then and I remember that one being superb, was there any changes made from the 1994 - 1995 year?

Any advise you could give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

B

 

If it is really that bad you should be looking for a repairable fault rather than upgrades.

***** joints, bushings, tie rods, steering rack bushings. Something bent. Subframe mount delaminating.

Cheers
DD

 

Hi Brendan

Great suggestions by Doug. The only thing I would add is possibly your tyres. When I first got my XJS it had Wanli tyres on the front and Federal on the back. Both extreme budget tires (utter crap) and not suitable for the car. The first time I pulled out of the petrol station in the wet I ended up perpendicular to the road! I was doing about 15mph at the time! First thing I did was put a set of Pirelli P7s on it, made a massive difference. In addition to this I also got the tracking checked.

Are you able to describe any of the handling issues you have encountered as this may help narrow down where to start looking? As an example, a couple of years ago I had an issue where under heavy acceleration or deceleration the back of the car got very twitchy. This turned out to be a loose radius arm (not visible on visual inspection).


With regards to Dougs suggestions, if you do start going down the replacement route, I would start with the rear bushes as its surprising what a difference these can make. Often bushes can still look to be in decent condition when inspected even when faulty.

On the topic of poly bushes, they tend to be a good replacement option for bushes that will be under compression however, I would stick to standard bushes where there are twisting actions e.g I have poly bushes for the large bush on the radius arms but Metalastik rubber bushes on the small end.

Good luck and keep us posted.
Rob

 

I would check all the suspension rubber pieces. A delaminating rear suspension mount(s) can give rear end steering that would cause odd handling issues.

Another thought is my car had broken limited slip pieces inside the differential, so the axles were effectively locked together ( the PO was a hooligan) and that caused the rear end to want to side step when power was applied.

 

Radius arms to add to the list. For completeness:
All front suspension bushes
Steering rack bushes
All front suspension ball joints and steering rack track arm ball joints
Front subframe bushes
Rear cage mounts
Rear trailing arm bushes
Shock absorbers
Set up front track/camber/castor

Do all this and it will handle properly.

 

Tyres.

 

Is that all? That's not so bad.
Are 'radius arms' the arms with the 'rear trailing arm bushes'?
Is this one of the bushes in question?

1988 Jaguar XJ-S rear suspension radius arm small end bush? Original Metalastik material.
I have bought poly bushes to replace these but I haven't installed them yet. Once I started researching the installation, it seemed to be fraught with peril - I read that because of the way these arms move as the suspension compresses, putting poly bushes at both ends can cause the arms to break. Correct?
I find the handling of my car to be a bit dodgy at speed - a small steering input seems to result in an unpredictable and disproportionately large response. Even changing lanes on the motorway doesn't always feel quite right, but I'm not sure if it's my aftermarket 17-inch wheels following cambers. My car is a sportpack model with all the original bushes except for the poly I've put in the front suspension. I've looked at the subframe mounts and asked them if they were in good condition, but they wouldn't tell me.

 

Yes thats the right one. I just replaced mine. I used poly bushings for the small one and a regular rubber one for the large one except I turned it 90 degrees so it was the same as the sport pack. Here's the part number and brand.



also to remove the radius arms you need to remove the bottom part of the shock by the bolt that holds the small part of the radius arm or you cant get the radius are bolt out of the way. But remove the large end from the car first. Depending on the condition of the car you might need some force the pop it off. I used a 4ft length of 2x4 with a 45* angle cut on one end wedged between the car and the frame and then all 200lbs of me on the other end. I thought I was gonna break the 2x4 but it did pop off. No damage.




And when reinstalling I was told not to tighten to torque spec of the smaller bushing bolt until the weight of the car is on the suspension not while the car is on stands... someone will confirm.

 

Hi Brendan

I had Drunken Sailor syndrome on my Car as well, which was caused by the Top Front Shock Absorber Bushes being worn away so much that they were completely missing, which wasn't picked up during her MOT Test!

So I made my own Shock Absorber Bushes which instantly Solved the Problem, which you can make out of any Hard Rubber or even Nylon from a 1/2 in thick Chopping Board, where you can tune the handling to whatever feels best

But if you want to remove the Trailing Arm, its easy to do if you make up a simple Slide Hammer so less chance of doing damage to the Car

Making a Slide Hammer and removing the Trailing Arms

Making and replacing my own Shock Absorber Bushes

 

Haha, "Drunken Sailor syndrome" describes it perfectly. Around town the handling seems OK but at speed it gets on the booze a bit, and because there's no feel to help in taming the wayward behaviour or sensing the limits, it's no confidence-inspiring sports car.
When I was changing the front suspension bushes I noticed the upper mountings of the shock absorbers were a bit loose, but I just tightened them without checking the condition of the bushes. I'll make a point of checking them. I'll also go ahead and try installing my poly bushes into the small ends of the radius arms.
When I'm braking at low speeds over an uneven surface I sometimes hear a bit of a knocking / clunking. I had been assuming it was the transmission mount, but I guess it could be any number of things including the shock bushes. This is my first Jag, I've only had it a few years and it has to compete with my other hobbies, so I make slow progress on its many issues.

 

clunking at bumps mean your shock bushings are shot. I would replace the shocks at this time.

$100 for a pair of Sachs, with the OEM feel, or twice that for Bilsteins, which will tighten it up a bit. You might enjoy that.

This list you should be looking at is (all related, and can be done, "while you're there")
1. shocks - easy, no special tools required
2. upper control arms - easy, no special tools required
3. both upper and lower ball joints - loaner tool probably required
4. tie rod - loaner tool from auto parts store required
5. sway bar link bushings - easy, not special tools required

 

Hi Ben

When you say 'changing the front suspension bushes' did you change all the bushing at the front? I ask because, I had a similar fault to the description above. Didn't happen every time I braked but often enough to cause concern. Also noticed it seemed to happen more often if I was braking whilst the wheels were at or near full lock. If you've not done these yet, before going to the expense of shock absorbers I would highly recommend just changing the front drop link bushes.These are an ideal candidate for poly bushing as they are compression, not twisting bushes and relatively cheap. I brought mine last year for circa £20 ($38 NZ). Whilst it is still a good idea to look at renewing all consumable components over time. This may not be necessary to solve your issues. Also if you change everything in one go, you may not now what has actually fixed the faults you have described.

Good luck
Rob

 

Not the swaybar mounts or subframe mounts or (sport pack) steering rack mounts.
1. shocks - I haven't changed these
2. upper control arms - Done. These bushes were worn. I've even done the lower control arms by using threaded rod as a spring compressor, and it wasn't fun. One of the lower control arm bushes had been attacked by power steering fluid, but it looked worse than it was.
3. both upper and lower ball joints - Done.
4. tie rod - I haven't changed these
5. sway bar link bushings - Done. The bushes I found here looked like they could have been shock mount bushes cut to size, and the nuts had worked loose.
The car feels better to drive now than it did when I bought it, rolling on LingLong tyres on the stock lattice wheels. With the slack in the sway bar drop links, it did not appreciate being thrown into corners like the FWD Alfa Romeo 33 I had before it.

 

What tires, and how old are they. They have date codes. Unless you have worn or broken parts, or a serious alignment problem, there is nothing that will affect the handling of your car as much as the tires do. And tires that were great when new will be pretty slippery at 6 years old, dangerous at 10 years old. If you drive with any enthusiasm, replace tires with a matched set if 6 years or older. Some say 5 years.

 

Tie rod is probably the least important on this list.

You can do a search on this forum for poly sway bar links. I didn't think they held up, but if Rob519 says they held up for him, then you should consider it.

Lastly, you did all that work (congrats on the lower control arm...would LOVE to hear how it's done, I have not done mine), and you haven't treated yourself to new shocks. It's time. You're gonna pull the shocks off and wonder how you didn't get to it sooner.

 

I redid my entire suspension system in Superflex poly bushings where applicable - there are some segments that must be OEM I believe lower front bushings need to be rubber as does the large rear radius bushing, or you'll ebd up ripping the mounting peg out.

I strongly suggest doing all front/rear cage mounts with the very front bushings in Poly this will greatly reduce side to side movement and help prevent steering issues.

KYB Grey shocks are a good balance stiff and responsive but not unbearable, cheap to.

Assume any rubber that is routinely traumatized like bushings is going to be up for renewal. I went from highway boating to right angle turns with 1 finger on the wheel, they can be very sporty when fitted with better bushings.

No need for rear roll-bar it causes more problems than it solved.

 

Note for the OP, have you changed the steering rack bushes? This is very important on the XJS.

 

Greg, my 96 already has the upgraded CBC9107 steering rack bushings, which do not need replacing....ever? I don't know if Jaguar used those only on 96s, facelifts, or perhaps the PO was in there and had them upgraded.

In any case, its worth checking which bushings you have before making any plans.