Rough Riding on not so good roads

[obrien58]

On 27/11/2016 at 0:34 AM, obrien58 said:

I have just succumbed to buying the XF having been a S type diesel owner for some time now and been very reluctant to change.   I saw a silver XF Luxury diesel advertised at a very reasonable price and took the plunge, my sad S type still sitting in my drive but relegated to parked at the back waiting for me to advertise it for sale.

My first impressions of the XF are not good at all and I nearly jumped back in the S type but can't because it is now not insured.

Faults:

1/  The bouncy castle effect over local roads, I cannot believe how it hit's  a bump and then seems to want to reproduce it  until it hits the next one . Would the Spires kit mentioned on here cure that and is it very expensive ?

2/  Whilst I realised there was no gear lever/selector before I purchased I did not realise how boring this would be with the knob change, which incidently can be very dangerous and costly if you don't take care coming out of sport mode if done too  fast.    I very nearly went into reverse managed to stop just in time .

3/ Only had the vehicle a week and got DPF full warning on dash, having read about  what this means on here and  Google  making me look at my S type even more with desire as in 8 years never had this warning at all.

So all in all not a very happy Jaguar driver at the moment any help / advice  gladly accepted and appreciated.

Regards

18

 

 

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On 27/11/2016 at 0:34 AM, obrien58 said:

Re . ride in XF , UPDATE have tried 2 bags of sand in boot and ride improves 50% !!!!  so the problem is weight compared to my S type i felt the XF so light to drive in fact TOO light so put the sand in boot . This obviously will impact on fuel consumption , and not quite what Jaguar would advocate for image purposes. But having driven Jaguars for nearly 50 years this is the worst.

 

 

[Terence Sawyer]

I thought there must be something wrong with my XF. The ride is horrible and more like an old banger than a so called luxury car. I was lucky enough to own a Mk 11 1960s Jag and two XJs in the 70s and theses were like floating on air even over rough unmade roads the suspensions were so good. My recently purchase XF gives a very hard ride and jolts even over minor indentations and manhole covers. It is such a shame that this good looking car is produced with sub standard suspension. Is it possible to fit normal depth tyres rather than low profile tyres to the standard wheels on the car? I am sure this is part of the problem.

[Dom13]

On 3/27/2018 at 5:15 PM, Terence Sawyer said:

I thought there must be something wrong with my XF. The ride is horrible and more like an old banger than a so called luxury car. I was lucky enough to own a Mk 11 1960s Jag and two XJs in the 70s and theses were like floating on air even over rough unmade roads the suspensions were so good. My recently purchase XF gives a very hard ride and jolts even over minor indentations and manhole covers. It is such a shame that this good looking car is produced with sub standard suspension. Is it possible to fit normal depth tyres rather than low profile tyres to the standard wheels on the car? I am sure this is part of the problem.

Hi Terence,

I bought my first Jag in Oct 2017, a 62 plate XF Sportbrake Portfolio with only 25K on the clock, I was expecting the magic carpet ride so was a little dissapointed with the harsh ride, a little research and a bit more spending and now I have it right.

It came with 19" wheels and 245/40 tyres, which whilst they look great were a big contributor to the harsh ride, add to this that the Sportbrake has self leveling rear air suspension.

I managed to find some original second hand 17" XF wheels on here, powder coated black, which matches the car, they came with 235/55 Dunlop winter tyres, this made an immediate improvement but I didn't really like the feel of the Dunlops, I bought some Nokian Weatherproof all season tyres and now it feels like silk, quieter, smoother, gripier, better in wet, better in snow, better in the dry, I really couldn't recommend the Nokians enough and they are cheaper than Dunlops, Michelin and Pirelli.

If you want some I highly recommend buying them direct from the UK suppliers at nordic tyres dot co dot uk and getting them delivered directly to your local tyre fitter, don't buy from one of those online companies that pretend to be in the UK but are somewhere in Europe that typically have older stock tyres and get orders wrong.

IF you look at all those older gorgeous Jags, none of them had low profile tyres, that's the key, remember, the tryres are the only thing in contact with the tarmac so it is vital to get that part right.

I hope my rambling helps.

Best wishes and happy motoring,

Dom,

P.S. I have kept the original wheels for when I decide to trade in for a newer model, @ £500 per wheel I didn't want to get them damaged, 2 birds, 1 stone.