Hi ,
I have just purchased a 2010 XKR , ( 45000 miles) its gorgeous !
However , on the short test drive I thought it was a bit of a stiff ride, the owner asured me it was normal . ( also quite a bit of wind / road / tyre noise , nowhere near as quiet as my XJ8, not sure if its connected)
On buying the car and driving it 100 miles home , I found the suspension was incredibly hard, back roads were a bit of a nightmare, and in fact I had a bad back on getting home . The dynamic setting seems to make no difference . I have no idea if its relevant ( as I am new to the car) but its VERY easy to lose traction even accelerating lightly ( I am pretty sure the dunlop rear tryres are quite old so will be replacing them this week with Michelins) There are no fault codes ! I have had an XJR before so I have a good idea where / when I should lose traction.
Before I start spending money at the dealers , does anyone have any ideas ? I have looked at the forums but even though several people seem to have had this problem , I cannot find a solution , or 'path' to take to fault find.

 

Welcome to the club, @Jim G !

True enough, the xkr is a road holding machine. If you leave the car in “standard” mode, you should experience a softer ride.
And you are absolutely right, proper rubber is essential. Should you be running old, highly pressurized, very low profile tires, you should expect a jarring ride.
If keeping the car traction was that difficult, you have the wrong rubber, period.
There is a significant difference in the feeling of an XK vs the XKR. In no way, should you be comparing the ride to an XJ8.
I had a 2005 XK, that I traded for the XKR as that was the feeling of the ride I wanted. There too, the XJR was significantly stiffer than the XJ, and not as stiff as the XKR.
The manufacturer of the tire is only part of the story. It sounds as if you are preferring a softer ride than the xkr typically provides. Adjust the decision on the tire version , appropriately.

 

Jim,

Welcome to the Forum!

You didn't say anything about the seller, and left me with more questions than answers. Did you buy it from a Private party, Jaguar dealer, or independent used car dealer? What due diligence did you do? A Pre-Purchase Inspection by a competent Jaguar mechanic? Did you review the service records? Was the water pump replaced? Any accident history? Did you rely on CarFax? What was the air pressure in each of the tires when cold? Overinflation will result in a harsh ride, as will problems with the CATS suspension modules. .

How did you determine that there were no Diagnostic Trouble Codes? Did you use a proper device that can read Jaguar suspension faults? Not all code readers can read all the Jaguar DTCs. I think it's unusual for a 13-year old XKR to have no stored DTCs, and that the Seller may have erased them.

You may want to try a "hard reset" to clear the volatile memory in the modules and reset them to the factory defaults. Maybe you'll get lucky.
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-reset-256946/
Good luck!

Stuart

 

By an Autel HP200. They're about $80 US o Amazon and will read all Jaguar codes. It it a Bluetooth dongle with an App and it will also give you live data. Select suspension an drive her. What you describe doesn't sound normal. I don't care what others say about firm ride. No way your back should hurt. Codes are the best way to get feedback and with the Autel, you don't need to be a mechanic.

 

Do you mean AP200? Went looking for HP200 but this is all I can find

Thanks

 

Jim, welcome to the XKR. Couple of things, and I hope it helps. Download the 5.0 maintenance manual for the XK/R in this forums stickies.The 5.0 uses continuously variable damping. This is a complex system that controls the damping factors continuously at all 4 corners. When something goes wrong, it defaults to its hardest mode, which may be big part of your problem. Don't know if this is similar to your XJR.

I bought mine with old Michelin Pilot Sports, 19" rims and 2-stage CATS dampers at 75K miles. Over a year, I replaced the concrete tires with Continentals and the dampers with Bilstein OEM's. After a few weeks, they wore in to a pretty comfortable ride. But when I started, it rode like a Harley hardtail.

You may be in default (hard) mode, and with the old tires the ride sucks. Bad news is that with the age of your car, even with the lower mileage the dampers might be at EoL. Or one of the many control inputs (see the image) for your CATS have failed.

Consider what Sean says and get the Autel to see if you have suspension codes. Or if you have SDD you can measure the signals going to the dampers. Not sure if you can read the signals confirming the state the dampers are in. Really bad news is that Jag XKR damper replacements are $700-900 each, and I'm not sure if Bilstein equivalents are available for your version of CATS.

Good news is that it's very fixable.

 

You could always as a first step try a Hard Reset. Disconnect BOTH battery cables and touch them together for a few seconds, staying COMPLETELY away from the battery posts. This will drain the volatile memory from some components and may fix a gremlin.
Your battery may also be low, it needs to be 12.6 volts or a bit higher after sitting overnight. If not, you either need a top-off charge or a new battery.

 

Thanks, great information , especially as it fixable !! What is a SDD ?

 

Thank you for all the information , it was a private sale, so no comeback , good service history , fine on the data check. Full dealer check 3000 miles ago.
Would a hard reset lose my fault codes ? Thinking of trying that then go to a specialist to get codes read , but I dont wnt to lose any important information.
Its not really safe to drive at the moment especially as we have some light snow about .

Ordering tyres today , are 285/30/20 99Y XL Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S the best tyres ( I know thats open to interpretation , I am in noth west UK so it rains alot and can be quite cold )

 

The Michelin Pilot Sport 4S is a sport forward tire. If you were comparing the ride to an XJ, this would represent the other end of the spectrum.
Moreover, they are strictly summer tires. Anywhere near the freezing mark and they are like dull ice skates.
For this reason, I maintain 3 sets of tires and only have the 4S for the hot summer months. Even in the cooler and wetter spring and fall, they are not the best choice.

 

Thanks for that , yes I know it wont be XJ, but its like a rock ! Just had a diagnostic and it says rear damper solenoid . They reset it but said it might last a bit, but its the same, So new damper is needed.

What tyres would you rccomend for all year use, min -1 degrees i would say, I am in UK so wet !

 

I’m glad you got that sorted. That explains the hard setting. Pardon me, I assumed all was as it should be.

Be prepared for the onslaught on responses. I have not listed some that others would recommend.
There are 3 I’d look at if you want a tire that goes from -1 - 30
Continental ExtremeContact Plus DWS 06, All Season
Michelin Pilot Sport AS4 , All Season
I quite like the Bridgestones as well… can’t seem to find the name of the all seasons on tire rack, at the moment.
I also like the Pirellis… when they are new. The trouble is they never seem to wear well for me.

To qualify my response, I live in the land of all kinds of weather and I like to drive in it.
I also have dropped the tire pressures by 5% from that defined in the manual.

 

Yes I mean't AP 200. It will save you hundreds of $$$ and it would have found your issue. Regarding tires, what @guy said ^^^^^^^Continental ExtremeContact Plus DWS 06. I switched away from Bridgestone to the Conti's. Noise down considerably, comfort level much higher. Handles softer than other tires so if you like to scream around corners, may not me the tire for you.

A little more info. Before you swap shocks, because they are expensive, check that the connector is properly set at the top of the shock. The Autel tool will also tell you if you are getting the right ohms/ voltage sent to it. Again , you don't need to be a mechanic for this. Also, when swapping, check at the connector is set and the warning goes away before install. Some are bad from the factory. Best of luck and let us know how you get on.

 

I use my XKR all year round here in New Zealand and have a similar climate (-3 C to 30 C, although drier from the sounds of it!) and just run with Michelin Pilot Sport 4S. Even with the extra power my car has I don't have issues.

The only caveat is the summer tyres don't like being exposed to sub-zero temperatures for long periods so as long as you garage your car you should be OK.

 

Thanks,u102768 , I will get the Michelin

 

@Jim G Did you resolve the hard suspension issue?

 

My suggestion is to plug the new shock in first to ensure it is functioning correctly. I have seen too many people become undone only to realise the new shock was faulty after the installation.

 

Well , got another shock ( secondhand) and it cleared the fault ..... but still very hard suspension , the jag tech guy said its definately very very hard and says to book it back in and he will check the level sensors , Can I do this myself ? as I can see this getting very expensive and going nowhere.
I bought the Autel reader , but unfortunately it only covers engine gearbox and anti lock brakes, not suspension.

 

? Yes it does. Here is the live data I captured on mine.

 

The Autel is a good but limited reader. I have both the Autel and the Jaguar SDD (Software Driven Diagnosis) and there is NO comparison!
If you plan to play with the active suspension system it will require SDD at some point.

You can search on SDD and there are dozens and dozens of threads. The main problem is SDD was only released by Jaguar to their dealer network. It was NOT for us DIY guys! So this is at the heart of all the difficulties in setting up and using SDD. Now I felt it was worth it as I can do so many things and as you have found the dealers have little to no interest in working on older Jaguars. Sad but true! I have saved thousands of me and my friends dollars using SDD.

I can't tell what your problem is but be aware that ANY problem with the active suspension system and it will default to full stiffness which sounds like where your at?
Do follow up on the advice given about checking the wires and plugs on the top of all 4 struts. Just in case it's something simple.
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