Hello everyone ,
I have an xkr 2007 and I would like to change the spring because this car it is very very soft ...what do you think about ? Thanks for all

 

I have a 2007 XK and I went with the Mina Gallery lowering springs. They were less than half of the price of the Paramount-Performance springs due to the exchange rate! I definitely noticed better handling and the car looks so much better without all of the space between the tire and wheel well. As I understand it there are a few companies that manufacture the springs for various other companies.

 

Do you have some compatibility problems with cats system ? Here in Italy they told me that the cats can't works fine with lowering springs ...I'm really confused ....could you tell me about a comfort? Thanks a lot Lorenzo

 

Not sure where you heard that from but I have the PP springs and my cats work fine........ride is stiffer than stock but still wish it was even stiffer. Ride is still softer than my SL65, my buddy's Viper and my other buddy's 997TT. My buddy's Viper being the stiffest....I think I hurt my kidneys going over a bump. His Viper setup rides and sounds more like a race car for the streets.

You should email or call PP just to make sure but I doubt the cats will be different from the US version to the Italian version XKR. Also, not sure where is the correlation between changing springs will effect cats....even their catback exhaust should work fine with the stock cats.

 

He is not referring to the catalytic converters. He is referring to the C.A.T.S(Computer Active Technology Suspension). I have heard that some lowering springs can cause the C.A.T.S can lock up. This however is not the case with Mina Gallery springs or Paramount-Perforance spring.

The ride with the Mina gallery springs is stiff but not to a point that causes an uncomfortable ride.

 

Hi Moe and Ghost,

Did you notice a reduction in roll after adding the lowering springs?

Stock right now I feel like there's alot of sidewards roll during high speed cornering.

Also, do you lose a lot of ground clearance?

Thanks

 

Hey Mike....mine is about a 1 inch drop with the PP. Like Moe said...it is stiffer than stock but by all means not bone jarring stiff. I do wish it was alittle more stiff as I still do feel alittle more bodyroll during cornering than I like. Possibly you can also add a bigger sway bar and or polyurethane bushings...have not seen these aftermarket upgrades available though.

As for ground clearance I find the front bumper stilll goes over the curb when parking near one (amazing).....but now with my front splitter I have tap the front splitter onto the curb once when parking. Small chip on the paint of the splitter. Going over speed bumps I've had no problems so far either although I try to angle my way over.

Here's the difference in the paramount as you can see the gap difference in the rear. I bought it more for a lower stance.


BEFORE (MINE WHEN STOCK):


AFTER:

 

By far a more effective method to reduce the roll is to replace the swaybars with much stiffer ones. If you had to do only one, the rear REALLY needs a much stiffer one to balance out that heavy understeer and roll in slower corners. However, I have not seen any aftermarket swaybars available for the XK.

On my '05 XK I followed the posting of a member here and actually constructed a setup that used dual Jaguar stock swaybars. It made a difference, even though I would have liked even more roll stiffness.

When I looked under my '08 XK for checking out the exhaust for possible replacement I did notice that the swaybar was hidden away pretty well. It probably would be quite a job to replace it.

However, racing shops do make tubular custom, adjustable swaybars if you want it really badly. For me, I'm just treating my present XK as a soft cruiser and leaving it stock. I am somewhat tempted, however, to put on the lowering springs, mainly for the significantly improved looks that those springs provide.

BTW - my preferences for street driven cars were generally springs as soft as a lowered suspension could handle without bottoming out and greatly increased swaybar rates. That is where your flat handling comes from. Too much spring stiffness will cause (besides a terrible ride) the car to bounce and skip sideways in corners with uneven pavement surfaces. Not a reassuring sensation. Most manufacturers will default to way too soft rear swaybars (as on the XK), as they provide a "safe" understeer that will save novice drivers when they go into a corner too fast. I had found that I could generally easily double the stiffness rates on the rear swaybars without the car getting to be "tail happy", meaning, prone to spinouts.

Albert

 

GREAT INFO! Thanks guys. You can see quite a difference in the before and after pics around the wheel wells (Great mods Ghostrider) and with the sway bar explanantion I now understand that when I lost her taking a curve too fast the other day it may have been unrecoverable if I had stiffer sway bars. I'm probably better off leaving those alone and just going for the lower asthetics.

 

People on the other sport car forums refers to the stock look as a 4x4 as most stock car has a big wheel gap...... Although most stock bmws (ie. M3) usually comes lowered with hardly any wheel gap.

Also....just remember some lowering springs once installed may take allittle while to settle down to the correct height. I don't think my Paramount Performance springs lowered anymore since as it seems to be the same height as the day it was installed.

 

Ghostrider or Moe-she-sa

I assume you both had the springs installed by a shop?

What about the alignment following the spring installation? How big an affair that was? On my '05 XK the dealer wanted something like $1100 for a 4 wheel alignment because there was no built-in camber adjustment so each wheels had to be shimmed. I am certain that the shorter springs will change the camber and the changed camber will most likely change the toe settings quite a bit. Thus, I figure, a full 4 wheel alignment is mandatory with the spring replacement.

Also, do you remember what your camber settings were front and back? I am used to running something like 1.5 degree negative on the street but, with these ultra low profile tires those setting may not be the best.

Albert

 

After I had my springs installed by my independent Jag technician I took the car to NTB for a normal wheel alignment.

 

I have ordered Mina springs & exhaust for my Portfolio. I am also in the business of performance cars, body and paint. I will be very particular to maintain the correct suspension geometry after lowering so I maintain good tire wear and control. I don't know what that means on an XK yet, but as I get into it I will take pictures before, during and after to keep you posted. Several people have said it doesn't change that much, thats impossible with a 1" lowering on independent suspension. The front should have enough factory adjustment, the rear has no camber adjustment built in and I can not see a good shimming point yet. When springs come in I will dig deeper.

We repaired and aligned a Ford GT40 last week that had gone to 2 Ford dealers for alignment and they just could not get it done due to no built -in adjustment, this is one of the simplest suspensions on on a modern car. We got it dialed in and shimmed perfect, the car drives like a dream. The XKR won't be as simple...

 

I did not have to shim on my XK. However, I have MIna springs on my XJ and they did require shimming.

 

Awesome XKR Ghostrider. I noticed the trim around the side windows and the side louver is black in the "after" photos. Were they painted or is that a film that is applied? If it is the film, has it started to peel around the edges? Are you happy with the results. The Black Series has this & I think it looks great...Approx how much $$ is it for something like that?

 

Eurotoys did the vinyl.....similar to vinyl wrapping roof or hood. Indeed I wanted mine to look like the black pack/XKR75. I did blackout the front grills, rear blade and side louvers also. I'm don't remember how much as I had Eurotoys do the side skirts, rear diffusor, air intake, ECU tune, hiflo cats, HID yellow foglights and blackout kit (including blacking out the window trim) all at the same time. I'm guessing $100-$150. You can probably call your local decal/pinstriping shop to get a quote. If you're in the LA/Irvine area, There's a guy name Don who does great work. Although I've never had anything done from him.....his pictures of wraps on other forums looks awesome. Here is some of his work:

 

How is turn in affected by the lowering spring,as a Porsche driver this car turns like a boat,along one.

 

Lowering springs will generally improve turn-in due to a lowered center of gravity and by the nature of the higher rate, stiffer springs. However, if you really want to make your car turn-in much better you'd need to replace the far-too-small rear swaybar by a much larger diameter one. Unfortunately I do not know any after market sources that would sell a larger rear swaybar. Yes, Jaguar concentrated on a safe, understeering handling for the XK at the expense of a more neutral setup that could result in more spinouts if pushed hard. Having larger rear tires also do not help with your low speed turn-in; they will generally work better at high speed cornering.

You could try alignment changes, such as give the front tires more negative camber for more bite and give the rear tires a slight toe-out instead of toe-in. Those changes, however, will still not deliver the near neutral handling that some of us like. You need the larger rear sway bar for that. Good luck, if you find one, let us know.