Postby J44EAG » Sat Jul 27, 2019 7:48 am
I can only comment on Bilsteins fitted to a MY02 V8, 4 litre S-type I owned for many years.
Ex factory, my car was a "comfort" spec vehicle fitted with Jaguar badged but Bilstein manufactured B4 "comfort" dampers. As the dampers wore out, the ride became very choppy and disconcerting. I needed to do something about that as it spoilt the car. I`d add that the car also sported a set of 19" ex X350 wheel rims fitted with 30% low profile tyres which made the car corner with improved surity although the ride was a bit on the rough side.
Ordered direct from Bilstein in Germany, I up-graded to "sports" spec gas Bilstein B6 dampers. These were rather firmer and the car drove in a much more predictable fashion. Bilstein had obviously worked hard to ensure the bounce and rebound valve rates were good for the model. Later I fitted lowered and uprated Adamesh springs which were well matched to the new B6 dampers. In that form, the car was probably the best compromise possible.
I later went on the re-bush the entire suspension with a combination of Purple and Black Series bushes from Powerflex but over did the re-bushing by fitting Black Series bushes in the top wishbones. Later another set of upper wishbones were acquired into which I fitted Purple Series bushes which restored ride quality. By the time I sold the car, it was probably as good as anyone could make it. The ride was admittedly at an advanced sport set up and not far off circuit racing spec. When sold on, the best and most expensive part of that car was its B6 based suspension....the rest of the car was falling to bits!
I liked my non-CATS B6 set up. Bilstein have been around for years and I first found their B6 dampers fitted to a Vauxhall Firenza used as a driver training car by a training establishment at Brands Hatch. I enjoyed a couple of tuition sessions on that car some forty years ago. As a result, I`ve always changed my car suspensions to Bilstein whenever I wanted to up-spec a car. Bilstein incidentally are owned by Krupps! Some heritage!!
Mike K
X350 Co-ordinator
2004 XJR