Hey all!

In an attempt to get rid of the horrible wheel gap my XF had when I got it (at 65k miles, now at 75k), I cut my springs. I took one coil off the front and 1.5 coils off the rear (the rear gap was almost 6 inches).

The car now sits much flatter -as opposed to the huge rake it had before- and more flush. It doesn't look like its rubbing in the wheel wells, but I have a few concerns after my shakedown test.

A) I went over a good sized bump getting onto the freeway (stopped at a light, turned into the on ramp, which has a 3-inch dip across the width of the road) going about 5-10 mph. Heard a pretty good thump from the rear of the car. I haven't heard it since, but I worry that I have overlooked something back there that could bite me in the *** (pun intended) later.

B) the ride is considerably bumpier than it was before. I understand that cutting springs will increase spring rate, but now even slight bumps have me literally bouncing in my seat. Would replacing shocks help this? Or did I just make my car stiff as hell unless I get stock springs?

I'm a base model 2005 NA. All stock, except the rims, but they are the same 18/19 stagger.

Thanks everyone!

 

just encase you want to try again i have a set(all 4 springs) from a limited ,,100 + 25 shipping then you can cut 1/2 coil front and 1 coil off rear or go back to stock. jim

 

I may take you up on that near the end of the month. :-)

 

Did you trim the rear bump stop down?

If not your bottoming out on that, I trimmed almost 50% of it off but I first only trimmed 25% off and it was a little bumpy so thats when I went back and cut more off and it now rides great so if you've not cut any off that will be bumpy as hell

 

Also 1.5 coil off the rear is a bit drastic, I think the most anyone normally takes off the rear is 1 coil

 

The one-time "Thump" may have been your rear swaybar smacking into the upper control arm. Take a close look at the swaybar mounts (where they atach to the chassis) when you get it back up to replace your now-useless springs.

JMHO

 

Thanks! I'll take a look next time I get it up in the air. :-)

 

Wouldn't I run into this same issue with the Eibach springs as well? These are beautiful cars, and shouldn't have the same amount of wheel gap as a small truck. Lol.

 

Yep. There's a whole slew of threads on adjustable end links and offset/adjustable camber arms.
All in relation to lowering.

Read on, my friend...read on....

 

I'm reading as much as I can! Lots of info to absorb, long days and longer commutes make it hard.

I'm very pleasantly surprised at how robust this community is. There's lots of info out there, just trying to sift through it all.