Gents,

I am seeking some input on doing a staggered wheel/tire set up on my 01 XJR.The wheels in question are BBS Milan 2 - 81/2 J X 18H2 ET33 and 2 - 9J X 18H2 ET35. I am thinking of going with the standard 255 in the front and 275 in the rear. The big question for me is, will this set up cause any issues with the suspension, differential etc? I don’t have much knowledge in this area and would hate to embark on this if it would result in differential or any other issues. Just had the wheels professionally refinished and eager to get this project sorted by either doing the 255 in the front and 275 in the rear or simply going with 255 across the board. Thanks in advance for your input.

 

The 255s are plenty wide as they are, but it depends on your personal preference. Going with the same on all four corners gives you the option to rotate them all, whereas if you go staggered, you won't be able to. But I've been pondering the same thing once I get my other u-joint replaced tonight.

 

If you're into pushing the car on the track- it will tend even more towards understeer now.

 

Thanks for the input gents. The vehicle is basically driven once a week here in FL, I don't intend to track it. The staggered configuration would definitely be more of an visual upgrade. I had this set up in my old AMG E55 and loved it, but it came staggered from the factory hence looking to make sure I don't end up doing any differential strain/damage or any other issue by going with the staggered set up.

 

I run a staggered set-up for several years now, using XKR Double Five rims, without any issues.
In my case Front 8Jx18ET33 with 245/45 and Rear 9Jx18ET35 with 275/40.

I absolutely love the look, it fits the car perfectly.

Three remarks:
- If you go F255 and R275, your side wall will be slightly larger at the front. I went 245 for that reason.
You can go 285 in the rear as well, there is space enough in the well, but a 285 on a 9" rim is at the limit.

- If you go for 245/45 and 275/40 profile, you will still get those nice fat tires (which I personally love on this model), if you go for a 40/35 profile, It will all get a bit tinier.
A 255/45 will probably start to scrape at full turn.

- It depends a bit on the tire shape, but using a 275, and surely a 285 (with ET35), will need a modification of the rear bump stop.
You will need to 'halve' the stop, or buy the late model XJR ones which are basically also halved.
If you are luckily you already have the halved ones ...

 

Many thanks Eric. You and many others on this forum are a wealth of information. You have now sold me Sir on the staggered set up and the 285 does sound very tempting indeed. The rear end of the vehicle would look fantastic with the bigger tires. Any recommendations on the tires? I do recall reading a few threads from a very knowledgeable gent in the UK that stressed upon the use of asymmetrical tires on this model Jag. Looking forward to getting the wheels and tires sorted and moving on to completing the project in full with the Brembo brakes.

 

Sounds good.
I can't add much on tire brands, but one last remark is that I found a lot of differences in actual outside sizes between tire brands.
And then, they also don't really match the theoretical sizes from those internet calculators.
So go double cautious there, one brand might fit without issues, and other simply not.

 

So you can fit 275s on the rear of these cars, with no mods? Eric, car looks great as always.

 

Thanks Brandon.
As long as your rim has an width of 9", and an offset of ~ET35, you will be fine, just watch those bumb stops.

 

Hey Eric why should I watch the bump stops ?

 

If you read the above, you will see that the bump stops MIGHT slightly interfere with 275 wide tires on OEM 9J rims (E=33), depending tire brand.
Hence the warning.

 

This is what happen to mine 275/35 zr18 on BBS Milan 9 X 18 ET35. An this is what happened ( PIC ).

 

Frankly, although it looks pretty serious, I doubt this is caused by the bump stops.
Observing the worn 1/2 inside of the tire profile, it seems much more a mayor alignment problem to me.

On my car, with the car on the lift, the wheels hanging full travel down, the bump stopped interfered half way the side wall, not the top.
With the car on the road, statically, there is no interference.
Dynamically, I can only see interference after a big bump, the suspension extending, but then the damage should be on the sidewall of the tire, not the top.

 

Interesting...
I remember when I got my 20" Detroits, with 275's, I did a quick trial fitment, and drove around the block a couple of times.
I could hear rubbing, and when I took the wheels off something had gouged the very top of the sidewall, enough to start to split the casing.

I never looked thoroughly, but always assumed that this would have been caused by the bump stop. One day I'll swap the wheels over again and have a better look and see if I can pinpoint exactly what is hitting what

 

It was suggested im dealing with a wheel alignment issue

 

Was that ur left- or right side wheel?

 

Hey Eric it was the Left rear wheel.
What are you thinking?

 

I am just examining a picture of one of the members here, which he sent me a couple of days ago.
You see, also in his case, the bump stop is nowhere near to the top of the tire.

The only thing I can think about is that your tire hit the body seam which I see higher up.

 

I suspect I had the same issue, and that it wasn't related to the bump stop at all

 

Eric, that's a excellent observation. As you can see in your pics the bump stop is obviously rubbing on the inner rims lip. To counter this I'm thinking about upgrading to the MNA3750AB Bump Stop which is suppose to be the R Performance Upgrade. Also, I could replace them with bump Stop MNA3750BA which smaller came on the XJ300 & XJ40.pic borrowed from Popsjag from JEC. I'm also thinking about using an H&R 15mm Spacer to Clear the Bump Stop and any other suspension parts.
Still wheel Alignment might be the culprit in my situation. Any an All Your Feedback is Much Appreciated. Thanks