TR4SPY

I was born in Poland hence S100 bring back many memories as it is somehow similar to what I used to see on the road on a daily basis. Although I never owned one, my father used to drive Fiat 125p and later on FSO Polonez Caro which was hell of a clunker. The comparison to the Tacoma narrows bridge seems to be spot on to what I am experiencing! There is a high chance you are right with the propshaft. I will have it checked too and will post the outcome in case anyone else had something similar in the future. Hopefully it will not end up on a whole propshaft replacement...

I can relate. Used to have Seat Ibiza FL2 1.9 SDI 2000, which at some point gave up and the driver side wishbone just turned into dust while driving, luckily at low speed. At least it was a straight forward - no symptoms then one day, whole car just collapsed on one side. Skoda S100 seems like a lovely car to drive, could not imagine it being a beast 😄 What engine was it? The Jag even though I have that issue for a while, don't want to give up (which is a possitive, I guess!) Yes, multiple times and no crabbing spotted. It is more vertical than horizontal. As if the gas in the shocks is gone or if there was a play in the wishbone bushings. Yet all mechanics claim suspension is in good condition. It has to be something clearly not visible at the first glance. As both rear cambers are out of alignment, one mechanic is pointing towards differential or propshaft. Those might be expensive to repair, hence I want to be sure as much as possible before spending even more money. ...and yes, it was scary at first when the whole body started vibrating on the motorway (rear wheels felt like going up and down constantly even though road was smooth) and it felt like sitting in a helicopter with a spinning washing machine at the back. But nobody found an issue, I could not figure it out either so just kept diagnosing it and still commuting to work, I am still alive so... I am just worried about the stress on all the components and trying to figure out what the heck is happening here.

Hi John, I bought it already on 20's and everything was fine for two years. As swapping alloys and tyres gave me little to none difference in the ride quality I crossed those two things out of the list, but I will try to get some summer tyres for the 18's or to get someone with 19's and put them in and report back here. All the issues started around 125k miles mark and in that time I remember only thing being reported by the mechanics were front forward lower wishbones so called banana arms which apparently were never replaced by the previous owner. They have not seen any issues with upper wishbones, however now I am thinking about it, I feel like that might be my issue. To clarify: Some time ago I started hearing all the plastic trims inside of the cabin rattling more often. I also observed wobble of the passenger seat from time to time. At some point while commuting to work on M25, whole body was vibrating (when driving on cruise control). That was happening on a daily basis, different parts of the motorway, different speeds as long as it was on constant speed. Remedy was to switch lanes and slow down a bit then speed up and the vibration was gone. It felt for a few seconds like the back of the car is about to blow up, literally 😄 Like a massive subwoofer/washing machine about to explode. That issue lasted for a few months (meanwhile nobody could diagnose it properly) so driving like a lunatic was a temp workaround. Steering wheel is slightly vibrating while on motorway, the faster I go, the more noticeable are the vibrations. Any imperfection in the road or even a small bump feels bumpy - ride is rough. Can feel it through steering wheel, can hear it as the passenger seat wobble and all the plastic trims rattle. Literally feels like car is about to fall to pieces. Please note - there is no issue when driving on a smooth surface, car act normal. I wouldn't say the whole car is wandering. I have a feeling that once I go through small bump, the back of the car keeps vibrating for few seconds then settle... or at least that's the feeling I get. Whatever that is, has to be related to the rear of the car. There are no cracks or leaks on the shocks, though I do believe those were never replaced as most of the suspension. Now, after few months going back and forth with no proper fix, the vibration of whole body while on cruise control seem to be mostly gone by itself (does not happen that often), but the rest of the symptoms remain (steering wheel vibrate (the quicker I go, the more noticeable), bumpy ride, feeling every single road imperfection, plastic trim rattle, passenger seat wobble, back of the car feels more bumpy then front) and ride quality is far from what it was when I bought it. One mechanic thought it is a front passenger wheel hub but that did not solved it. Another blamed tyres and/or alloys, same result. Now another one is suspecting differential or any of the remaining wheel hubs. While I am personally pointing towards 1. Shocks 2. CV Joints 3. Upper wishbones hence I am preparing my wallet to send the car to Jag Spec in Doncaster and ask them to check it all while get the gearbox service, differential service and type B service done. Previous owner was replacing parts when the main dealer told him to. Many parts are sitting there since car came out from factory. Funny enough, the car passed the MOT with no advisories, I already went to few mechanics and nobody see an issue even though it came out poorly on wheel alignment (I am attaching copy of last one that I did). I would like to mantain it and keep it for as long as possible, yet that one is baffling me big time.

Like I have mentioned, I tried three different sets of alloys and three different sets of tyres. Each set was balanced, tyres were also checked. One set of alloys was bent but replacing it with a perfectly round set did not change the drive feel. I had Dunlop's, Pirelli's and now Michelin's. Every single time there is no difference and car is still bumpy and wobbly. My bet is on the shocks yet the Specialists (I visited two plus two/three other garages), claim everything is OK with suspension. I am tired of replacing part by part with no improvement. Alloys and Tyres were tested on a different Jag XF and there was no issue, hence I am still convinced it is something with the suspension.

@abiltcliffe, what was the outcome after all? I have an XF-S X250 2009 and I have exactly same issue now and it makes me mad! Like you I decided to leave it for a while and wait until it get bad so finally could tell what is the issue, yet that does not happened. So far I have been at Grange Barnet where they did full car check and replaced anything that needed to be replaced (it was in 2022), then in 2023 replaced front wishbones. 2023/2024 replaced all tyres, alloys (twice - 1 set of 18's with winter tyres just for a try, then new 20's with summer Michelin Pilot Sport 5 brand new tyres). Wheel balance done each time on Elite Hunter machine. Last month I had replaced front passenger wheel hub as it was marked by Independent as faulty. Car has 135k miles on the clock. Been to Jaguar Grange, two Independent Specs, two ATS's - none of which see an issue with suspension. Recently did allignment check and the rear cambers are slightly out of the limit (negative values). Yet apparently there is no setting on them and if those are out of limit, it points towards suspension - which once again, nobody see an issue with! It literally drive me nuts as the car is wobbly/bouncy. It is not related to speed but the road quality. Even at slow speeds, when there is uneven road I can feel it all bumpy. On motorway if I drive with constant speed, the vibration can develop from time to time. All the mechanics give me "maybe" guesses and all are rather expensive - propshaft, driveshaft, differential, any other wheel hub. But no one can pin point where the issue really is. I am tired of replacing part by part and seeing no results.