So I took the car to the tire place today to get an alignment and get the front tires balanced (I put new rear tires on a few weeks ago). After measuring everything, they told me that they could adjust the toe, but the camber could only be adjusted at the Jag dealership. Here's the result of their computer printout which shows the before and after measurements and the specified range.

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As you can see, they got the toe within spec on all four wheels, but the camber is slightly out of spec. I'm actually not that concerned about the camber because it is out of spec in the "good" direction; the tires are leaning in slightly, which helps with aggressive cornering. Also, camber doesn't affect tire wear nearly as much as toe. I've checked the bushings and they all appear to be fine, but do you think worn bushings could be causing the camber problems? Also, the caster on the front right is off by about a degree and a half. That won't cause tire wear issues, but I understand it can cause handling problems. Any ideas?

 

From the JITS: Front Camber Adjustment: The front suspension on vehicles up to VIN 031302 does not provide the facility to adjust the camber angle. This can only be achieved by replacing the original rear fulcrum-bolt of the lower-wishbone, with an eccentric fulcrum-bolt. The eccentric bolt should only be fitted when directed by Jaguar Technical Support. See operation (57.65.02). Eccentric fulcrum bolts are supplied by Jaguar Cars Ltd.Description of Eccentric Bolt Both ends of the eccentric fulcrum bolt, i.e. the threaded section and the head are concentric with the holes in the crossbeam fulcrum flanges. However, the center section of the bolt (arrowed), which retains the wishbone rear bush, is eccentric to the two ends of the bolt. When the bolt is installed; rotation of the bolt will cause the lower-wishbone rear arm to move in and out. A raised strip (arrowed) on the bolt head flange indicates the position of the bolts eccentric section, to aid positioning when adjusting the camber.The function of the eccentric bolt when it is rotated, is to increase or decrease the distance between the lower-wishbone fulcrum center at the crossbeam and the ball joint center, therefore altering the camber angle.

- LH drive vehicles from VIN 031302 onward are fitted with the shorter upper wishbone on both sides. These measures counter the effects of road camber on steering and eliminate the necessity for adjustment of suspension geometry.

All that said I have a 2006 which is lowered and my awesome non-dealer Jaguar mechanic sourced the "Eccentric Bolt" to get the camber closer to spec.

 

what do you know, someone that thinks - camber is good(it is for that reason and I like that )
your caster sux having more on the left than the right, that will want to make the car drift right. But the more negative right front camber will easilly counter the caster as camber push is always more pronounced than caster. Camber isnt much of an issue on tire wear till you approach +/-2*s
I would say you need to inspect the upper shock mounts. They deteriorate alot with age and drop ride height and camber. Look up into the perch an inspect for callapsed foam bushing material. The upper inspection around the nut for the shock is okay , but useally that last viseable sign.
And I would have set the front toe to .16 instead of .12 Ive just experianced still innner tire wear at .12, but you really need to push out when aligning to see where the tire/toe settings move to and adjust static setting accordingly

 

He means, load the wheel with a big crowbar (to simulate the driving condition) before setting the toe.

Also Sam, search for threads that I started (there aren't that many after 3 years) and you'll see I've started one that dealt specifically with alignment and all my advice given there, and one for suspension as well. There's been another members do a writeup on their upper shock mount installs too...after finding them sagging and offset, killing the camber. Lots of good historical threads on the subject.

If you've got new tires, protect them from the 'toe out blues' and get that set perfectly.

 

Thanks Matt, according to the computer printout my toe is good now, and I can live with the camber the way it is. I'm going to look up into the wheel wells in the next day or two to see if the upper shock mounts are starting to deteriorate. The nuts are centered when viewed from above, but I'll do like Brutal said and look up in the wheel well.

I've only had the car a couple of months, but I've put about 2500 miles on it in that time. And it's not my daily driver! My wife and I have been taking day trips in it. I'm really wishing I had your light gray seats. These black ones can be painful.

 

..but then the car would not be my evil twin (or doppleganger as one other member noted) You'd simply be my twin, and I can't have that.

 

ACTUALLY I just push out with my arms evenly at the same time to do this. Its gives you an idea of where EACH cars toe will go when driving. As an example if Ide have set a front toe setting static to .16 they will useally move to .6-.12. SOOOO if youre at .10-.12 static, youre likely gonna be toe'd out when driving. And then there are the cars that have to be "toe'd into the read" cause when checking deflection they move out ALOT

 

^ cuz you're big and strong

I have to tell ya I did try the 'toe-in to the red' at my local tire store, trying to get all the use of out my 5-year alignment program I purchased, and it didn't work out to well...my outer edge went pretty quick...too far. You just can't guess on these front ends.

 

To revive an old thread--just got a couple of tires for the car and wanted to do an alignment. They discovered they needed some "camber kit" and called the local Jaguar dealer for the parts. I am being quoted some crazy amount for the lousy eccentric bolts ($60 if I recall with may be each bolt)!!! Does this sound right?

Doug

 

Yeah, that sounds right. How new are the upper shock mounts and do you have lowering springs?

 

FWIW, The Camber Adjusting Lower Control Arm Bolt only provides about .5 degree of Camber Change.

 

I don't have any lowering springs and am not certain about the shock mounts (only about 48000 on the odometer). The odd thing is that according to the workshop manual, the EARLY vin number cars did not come with a camber adjustment and you had to replace the lower wishbone bolt with the eccentric bolt. So does that mean the LATER vin cars already had that in place? I'm confused.

Doug

 

It might be time for new upper shock mounts. They are polyfoam, so age kills them not miles. What is the distance from the wheel center to the fender lip?

The easy way to check the upper mounts is look at the upper shock bolt and see if the foam is crumbling or the shock bolt is not centered.

Ride height is the camber adjustment. Raising the ride height reduces negative camber.

 

I also posted this in the original thread I started:
Doug

 

Camber curve built into the front suspension geometry adds canber in response to weight. This can make braking a little squirrely, but can significantly reduce understeer when turning.


The Springs are mounted to the body, so the relation ship between the body and wheel is more important than if the spring was mounted to a frame that the body sat on.
The upper spring mounts are isolated from the body by 1"thick donuts of foam that can compress and break down, lowering the right height and increasing the camber.

 

I believe the the proper dimension from center of wheel cap to fender lip is supposed to be 15 inches. if you are at 14 the shock mounts have probably outlived their useful life. The eccentric bolts are pricey. Think I paid about a hundred for the pair. My xk is a 2000 so they were not installing these at the factory at that time
do the shock mounts and some of the suspension geometry will be restored.

 

I picked the car up this afternoon. The alignment guy installed the eccentric bolts and did some adjustments, also adjusted the rear wheels. It wasn't cheap but now all of the readings are in spec (except caster but the guy said that cannot be adjusted and is not important). My ride height measurement is unchanged (about 14" from wheel center to wheel arch).

Doug

 

The Caster can't be adjusted without a hassle, but it can be adjusted by removing the upper wishbone and moving the shims.

If the front end is lowered from factory ride height, it can be just enough to put the caster resulting from the factory shim locations just under spec.

 

The stock ride height for the front should be 15.75". If you are at 14" that's more than most lowering springs will get you. While you may now have correct alignment, you still have some suspension issue. Either the bushings or coil springs or both. I would have these checked.

At 14" you are likely to get some tire rubbing as well.

 

I had some bushings replaced a few years ago when I was trying to chase down a clunk, although nothing was done at the upper shock mounts which I suspect could be the culprit. Although this was basically the condition of the vehicle when I bought it back in 2008 when it had 16,000 miles. Maybe the previous owner did something to lower the front since he warned me to be careful about coming out of a driveway since the front was so low.

When I was searching through the forum I did come across several posts by others where the ride height measurement was similar to mine. I have never experienced any tire rubbing issues. I guess the next time I bring the car in for some service I will ask about upper shock mounts.

Doug