Hello,

First-time poster, long time lurker. I've had a 2005 S-Type R since July that I bought with 42,000 miles. I suspected one of the rims was slightly out-of-round shortly after I bought it, because it ever-so-slowly leaked air. After 4 months of Chicago's potholes, not only is one wheel bent, but 2...one front and one rear, both on the right side. As you can imagine, driving at highway speeds is no longer all that exhilarating, but rather disappointing: "here come the vibrations".

The STR comes with the factory staggered fitment, which I personally love. Mine came with the "Vulcan" style 18x8 (fronts) and 18x9.5 (rears). When I first took it in to get checked over a month ago, I was told that both right wheels were bent. I took it to WheelsAmerica (they seemed to have a good rep) to be repaired and they told me they could NOT be repaired. I'll take their word on this, since in this economy someone telling you they WON'T take your money and even attempt something, says a lot.

And, really, I'd much rather replace than try to repair a wheel. No biggie, or so I thought! There are dozens of SCAM websites out there that CLAIM to sell these wheels for ridiculously low prices. Let me save you the waste of time: in all cases, "Add to Cart" really meant "begin scouring salvage yards immediately...fail to find something...then send an email two weeks later saying the order has been CANCELLED BY PROVIDER". In other words, they claim to sell what they don't have and can't reasonably expect to even acquire...wasting days or weeks of YOUR time while you think they are on the way. Unethical, I believe...but that's neither here nor there.

I want to replace with OEM if possible. I've looked and looked, searched this forum, Ebay, Craigslist...nothing so far. With the 1000's of online wheel stores, it's hard to believe no one has anything. I've even looked at aftermarket...there is ONE that claims to "specialize in Jaguar"...Coventry wheels. They look ok to me. But, they offer no staggered setup for an R! To me, that is ludicrous...you SPECIALIZE in Jaguar but you tell potential customers that they'll need to go with all 4 as 18x8.5"...? Am I just being unreasonable?

I know most here are far more knowledgeable than I about these cars. I see people linking to different wheels they are looking at. My question is, how are you determining these will work for your vehicle, when every shop or online store I go to says they have NOTHING for my R? Should I be giving them a range of specs, rather than giving make/model/year which seems to throw a wrench into their systems?

I am happy with the 18" OEMs. I would even consider going to 17's...I just want the ride to be nice again. If anyone can point me in a general direction to just HOW to buy wheels for this vehicle and KEEP THE STAGGERED FITMENT, I will be forever grateful.

And, yes, I did search the forum extensively beforehand but there doesn't seem to be a comprehensive resource on this...or I totally missed it.

Thanks all.

 

I thought about ordering from the place below. I think the wheels are reproductions, but the prices are good. Hope this isn't one of the scam sites you're referring too.

http://www.wheelsandcaps.com/catalog...TYPE&Year=2005

 

I went through the same issue when I was looking for wheels. NO ONE HAS A SET DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME!!! Your best bet is to buy them from one of the dealers. I received a good price quote from Jpamporschejaguarparts.com and think about it. They will be BRAND NEW and you will be starting with a fresh set of wheels.


http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...?siteid=214626

 

siltorch,

Thanks for the reply, but actually that WAS one of the "scam sites". LOL. If you HAD ordered, this is what would have happened:

1) Your place an order for your Jaguar wheels (the chrome version, supposedly...haha) for $254 a piece. An absolute steal!
2) After giving them your credit card information and place the order, you receive a confirmation email.
3) An hour or two after the confirmation email, you get another email: "Your status has been changed to: LOOKING FOR PRODUCT"
4) You instantly regret coming to this site, and you REALLY regret that they have your credit card info. You feel a bit "at their mercy".
5) A few days later, you realize you can't purchase elsewhere before getting this resolved. So you call them directly and give your order # to a salesperson.
6) They reply that they don't have these in stock, but get this....if you STILL WANT THEM...the price is a little over double what they've quoted on the site!
7) After laughing a bit and explaining to the moron how business is done in the real world, you confirm your order is cancelled and you move on with life.
8) 2 weeks later, you receive another automated email from this company that your status has been changed to "CANCELLED BY PROVIDER".

This is 100% true. Now, even if I had BELIEVED that they had a brand new wheel for double the price (which to me still isn't THAT bad, considering)...I wouldn't buy it just out of principle. I hate this type of bait and switch routine. And LOTS of companies are doing it.

Watch out, people. As much as I love online shopping, in a case like this I've LEARNED the hard way that I can't even think about placing an online order. You HAVE to get someone on the line, give them the part #'s, and see if they actually have it in stock. Guess what: they won't. Not for any Jaguar wheel they have listed. And they ALL list them.

 

NVMYJAG,

Thanks for the link. Actually, this was one I had come across by searching the site before posting. Then, as of now, they don't seem to be a solution because when I click on Wheels, most of the subcategories such as "Vulcan", "Zeus", and 18" have nothing listed.

Some of the categories like "Type 4" and "Type 5" seem to have wheels with prices for them, BUT don't list the wheel size. As you can imagine, this makes me a bit nervous. I know EXACTLY what I want, but this site is....to put it nicely...a little bit amateur.

However, if you've ordered from them, and can vouch for them, that definitely counts for something with me. Do you have an "R" model as well? Keep in mind that if you don't, you probably have had a MUCH easier time finding wheels for your non-supercharged S Type and don't appreciate just how difficult it is to find true OEM replacements for the staggered "R" setup.

If you do have an R, and you purchased from this place, please tell me how you managed to find the wheels based on their site...because it's not making a lot of sense to me. I see spec drawings with no specs...lol.

Your help is greatly appreciated, though. I've had shops actually tell me, "Well, I'll order 4 of THESE, although I think the rears might stick out a little and look funny. And we can't take them back once we try to put them on." It makes me scratch my head and wonder if people out there REALLY would say yes to a proposition like that. Crazy. Be prepared and have your specs ready...because apparently NO ONE is willing to admit that they really DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT JAGUAR parts. Way too much "guessing" out there, with absolutely no research on the part of the "tech" guys. They don't understand why it should be any different than getting a wheel for a Camry...hey....I wish they were right....haha.

 

When I was going to purchase a set they were the only ones that had them IN STOCK AND READY TO SHIP, plus they had the best price of everyone I called. I was lucky enough to find a used set. Oh, and yes they will be the correct offset. They are on the forum w/the user name jpamparts and the guys name is David (good guy to deal with).

Instructions
• Put in year, make, and model
• Scroll down and the second from the bottom is “wheels” click
• “Wheels” will appear right under “wheels” click
• Click “wheel alloy”
• Click “Vulcan”
• And there’s the price of $337.19 front and $387.96 rear.
• You can even click on the illustration and see the pic of them.

 

05chi str,

Wow! I'm sure glad you posted here. I was getting ready to order soon! How funny - this was my first post as well. Thanks.

 

NVMYJAG,

I've done exactly that. I even tried it again, but I show "No items are found in this category" for the Vulcan wheels. Perhaps they are out of stock...?

Are you clicking on a year other than 2005? I can't figure out how you'd be showing them and I'm not. I'd be perfectly satisfied (maybe even ecstatic) with one wheel each, front and rear, at those prices. Unless they're not chrome, because then they wouldn't match my existing...

 

siltorch,

No problem. It's not a "scam" in the sense that they run off with your money or charge your card...it's more a colossal waste of time. I think it's unethical to knowingly list items as "for sale" and yet have nothing in inventory. Any semi-modern website can be tied to an inventory system quite easily so that any item "out of stock" won't let you add it to the cart...so you don't waste your time or theirs. Sadly, I think they all list EVERYTHING so that they get more hits from search engines. I find it impossible to believe that some of these shops located in Podunk, Michigan (population 17) have access to Jaguar OEM wheels. In fact, they don't. But they have a website, and they want traffic, and they seem to work off the possibility that they might run across one at a salvage yard when someone orders it. When I say I've spent a good month searching for wheels...I really mean it. My waste of time is your gain...lol.

 

Welcome to the STR Club!

Where abouts in Chicago are you?

Any pics/mods of your beast?

I am looking for some staggered wheels as well.....Cant find any at a reasonable price, but am thinking of getting a set I like and have the rears widen at a fab shop....

 

You are correct on the 05 not having anything, but I was using 06 and they showed up. They aren't chrome since none of the wheels came from the factory chrome. IF they came from the “factory” chrome I’m pretty sure the Jag dealer had them chromed. They were willing to have them sent off for me to be chromed.

 

Riski,

I recently moved out of the city and now live near O'Hare where I work. Des Plaines / Mt. Prospect 'burbs.

It sucks that you're thinking of having to go to a shop to get the rears widened to keep your staggered setup, but after this ordeal I can understand why. If staggered wheels are out there for the "R" models, they sure are well-hidden. I've seen other members with R's that bought aftermarket rims...not sure if they kept them staggered (I'd assume so) or if they had them custom-made. What I've heard is that Jaguars & Porsche's are harder to find wheels for because of their funky bolt patterns.

Still...no place online offers an aftermarket alternative that keeps the staggered fitment? None? It seems hard to believe. Like I said, Coventry Wheels supposedly specialize in Jaguar wheels but won't offer a staggered set...they want you to go to 18x8.5 all around.

Not only do I like the looks of the staggered, but it would seem that some of the driving characteristics would be negatively affected by doing something like that, no?

 

Will the 8.5 even fit on the rear of the STR.
If anyone on here is doing this with an STR please chime in and give us your thoughts.

 

If I were, I'd be looking at the jag brochure(s) and/or asking a jag dealer, at least to start with. The brochure(s) has/have been mentioned before on the site I think. jag-lovers.org is a good place for such, usually.

The STR looks to be 8x18 front and 9.5x18 rear for quite a while.

 

WRONG, if you have the money you can get a set of custom made wheels. There is a member on the forum that has one of the nicest set-up on the board but they weren't cheap. Check out 03JagSTR and you can see the custom set-up he has. The wheel company is COR out of FL. I've spoken with them and the wheels are somewhere around $1500.00 EACH.
http://corforged.com/home.aspx

 

I got my staggered rims for my 2005 S Type R chromed at this place.

http://tinyurl.com/y8m2ws4

Pretty good people to deal with. When I returned my factory rims they found 3 out of the 4 bent or damaged. Yet they balanced fine and I had no vibration? They have these Vulcan wheels come and go instock. They prefer to swap rims but do sell outright also.

Here is a set of Vulcans chromed and staggered from LA Tire and Wheel.
http://tinyurl.com/y9bxopr
.
.
.

 

You can get iForged, HRE, and other custom 3 pc wheels made....but as far as staggered wheels to bought in the STR bolt pattern and back spacing would be next to impossiable to find.....

I am not sure on the backspacing but many other models share the same bolt pattern but not much on decent design....
FordTauras 86-Up
Tempo 83-94
Thunderbird 89-Up
Freestar 04-Up
Windstar 95-03
JaguarS Type 00-Up
XF 09-UP
XJ 04-Up
XK 07+
XKR 07-UP
X Type 02-Up
LincolnContinental 91-03
LS 00-Up
MK VIII 93-98
MercuryCougar 89-97
Sable 86-05
Monterey 04-Up
VolvoS40/V40 04.5-Up
S60 01-Up
C70 99-05
V50 05-Up
S70 1998 up
V70 98-Up
XC70 01-Up
XR70 01-05
S80 99-Up
XC90 03
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Something like this I would not mind spending a lil extra on and widen two of them up on the inside to maybe 10-10.5 to put a nice 305-315 tire in the back

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/18-5x...Q5fAccessories

 

The Tire rack lists a couple of options for the s type R:

http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/resul...&autoModClar=R

My favorites

http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/MiniW...d=true&sw=1280

 

Those are nice but 4k for OZ wheels are a bit much.....Rather go w/ some HRE's or iForged for that.....

 

05Chi, so what's the plan, you going to 'exchange' your vulcans for the LA wheel n tire program?

Ever considered going with a different style on the R? There are some other s-type wheels, even the XJ wheels (newer year) will fit your S, and remain staggered.