Start with jacking up the car at a jack point. On the XJ-S there are two on each side of the car. The front one is just behind the wheel arch underneath the car. You will see a little metal stub with round disk. That's it. The rear one is just before the rear wheel arch near the end of the radius arm--same kind of stub. Be careful not to place the jack under the radius arm or the joint where it connects to the body. This could damage the arm or attachment joint. Using a small piece of wood as a padding between the jack and the stub, jack up one corner of the car, carefully remove the wheel and place it and the lug nuts in a safe place. Although not required (because you are not crawling under the car), a jack stand should be placed under the car for safety purposes. Never get under a car held up solely by a jack.

Again, start with my favorite of favorite cleaners, Dawn (brand) dishwashing detergent. I am repeating myself yet again but this stuff is superb at degreasing oil, tar, brake dust, etc. Put a fair amount of Dawn in a bucket with water as hot as you can get it. Then take a hose and spray off as much mud, dirt, brake dust, etc. you can inside the wheel well. Then take your stiff nylon brush and start scrubbing!

Just like the engine cleaning article, you most likely will not get it all clean in one pass. After scrubbing the inside of the well, the suspension parts, and the brake caliper and rotors, rinse off with a strong stream of water. I then recommend using the same Xtra Steam [brand] cleaner product that I use on the engine. It will do a farily good job of taking off the last bit of dirt, grime, and oil that is in the wheel well and on the brake calipers and suspension parts. Like a shampoo bottle's instructions, lather and repeat with Dawn and rinse off.

Pay special attention to the brake calipers (which are most likely very dirty and may have to be scrubed with a sponge all around to get off the residual brake dust), as well as the springs and shocks inside the springs. This is especially true for replacement shocks like my Bilsteins, which are a pretty yellow color. A good rubbing of the springs, shock body, and the anti roll bar(s) shows a surprising amount of clean, shiny looking painted metal. Again, not easily visible with the wheel bolted on the car, but it is pride in ownership, time with the Jag, etc.

Step 2--Drying The Suspension and Brakes
Everything should be mostly clean and wet at this point. Take an old towel and wipe down the brake calipers and suspension parts. Funny, but a little glass cleaner can help with the final bits of stubborn grime that is still there. Make sure eveything is dry, as the next step will require perfectly clean, dry parts.

Going back to the front brakes, I stuffed newspaper around and masked off everything else and painted the brake calipers. At first, I did them in engine temp paint aluminium color, but later changed to it (using engine temperature paint) to a red color. I've seen several other high performance cars (e.g. Porsche) with red brake calipers, and I think it looks pretty neat.

Additionally, there are two round "letters" embossed on the calipers. As an extra touch, I painted the top circle silver and the bottom circle yellow. Now the caliper looks like a high performance item, but is 100% stock. By the way, in my opinion, the stock calipers are more than enough for even hard street use, so unless you have the money and time, replacing them with Brembo or Wilco calipers is overkill if you just want better looking hardware. Of course the aftermarket pieces will perform better.

Painting the little circles can't easily be done by masking them off (I have tried and failed). Instead, take a clean tuna can (or some other small recepticle) and spray the heat resitant paint into it until you have enough to dip a thin head paint brush into it. I bought some cheap toy watercolor brushes at a Dollar Store and used one for each color. Simple, inexpensive, and effective. Then just throw the used brush and tuna can in the trash when through.