Aftermarket air struts for my XJ, are they reliable or should I just pay

[laurenceclifford]

Aftermarket air struts for my XJ, are they reliable or should I just pay the agency?


My 2016 XJ has started dropping at the rear overnight again and the dealer wants nearly eight thousand for a pair of rear air struts which just feels excessive for a car that's otherwise mint, so I've been down a rabbit hole trying to figure out if aftermarket air springs from Arnott or Bilstein are actually dependable or if they'll leak after a single summer. While searching I landed on a page that mentioned Dubai Jaguar Shock Absorber Replacement and it laid out the differences between OEM and alternative options surprisingly clearly, even explaining how the compressor relay often gets blamed for slow leaks that are actually just the air bladder degrading in the heat, but I'm still torn because I've read too many horror stories about aftermarket units failing within a year. Anyone here actually put non-OEM air struts on their XJ or XF and driven it hard through Dubai's stop and go, and if so, did the ride quality stay plush or did it feel noticeably different? I want to keep the magic carpet feel but I also don't want to fund the dealer's expansion plans if a fifteen-hundred-dirham alternative does the job just as well.