In the past I have never used a spring compressor for this. I will typically remove the shock, disconnect the sway bar, support the lower control arm at the ball joint with a floor jack, remove the ball joint nut, and then let the control arm swing down and the spring can be removed by hand.

Wondering if anyone has successfully used this method with the XF?

I am manufacturing a set of 1/2 shims out of UHMW that I can put on top of the spring so I can return my car to stock ride height after the V8 swap.

Jared