Hi, new to J.F. and glad to see this area. Just acquired my first Jag - a '97 XK8. It came with Fuzion ZR1 255/50 R17 (install date 5/08). Specs call for 245/50s. After making a left into my sloped driveway from the street, the left tire caught the inside of the fender. Not a good result.


So...in the market for a body shop and new tires and considering the original tires (Pirelli P-Zero) or Michelin Pilot Sport A/S. Thoughts?

 

Are the 245/50 also 17s? Or are they 16s? There is a difference.

the 245 refers to the width of the tire. The 50 refers to the aspect ratio (height of the tire from the rim - so a 245/50 will be 245 mm wide and 124 1/2 mm from the rim to the tread). The final number refers to the rim size in inches. The means Radial, but all tires now produced are radials.

So, the overall diameter of a 245/50 R17 is going to be larger than that of a 245/50 R16...by an inch, which will be more than enough to continue to tear up the inside of your fender.

My thought is to check the original rim size for your car, and go back to that as well as the original tire size.

 

245/50-17 that is the factory size. However looking at the picture, is your car lowered???

if you have 255's on there, not only will they be wider, but taller too. i don't see how it hit your fender like that if your suspension is normal. something else is amiss i think.

 

A 5mm height difference should not cause you this type of horrible problem.

As previously stated be looking to check suspension settings.

Unless your sloping drive is more like a cliff face with a bump at the bottom that you hit at high speed, you would not normalyl load the suspension to this extent.

 

Yeah, the wheels appear to be the original 17" rims.

It did seem strange that that amount of tire size difference would cause the damage, but was thinking maybe Jaguar's are built with exacting tolerances

To my knowledge, the car hasn't been lowered. Perhaps unintentionally by gravity over the years... On level ground, measured in the position of the pic, the tire has a little more than 1" / 2.5cm clearance to the damaged fender rim and approx 3" / 7.6cm to the wheel well enclosure inside. What is normal?

 

Called the local Jaguar Dealer and the tech agreed that the tire size difference would not cause such trouble.

Scheduled a service appt for next Tuesday to get the suspension looked over. Hopefully, things go well and this isn't the first of many trips to the dealer. Despite the convienience of having it a mile from my house, I can't afford to have the car spend much time there.

I'll keep an eye open for posts on Pirelli vs. Michelin.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

If you want a quick check, measure your 'ride height', the distance from the center of the wheel to the rip of the fender. Here's your factory specs.

 

For the record on this - the dealer response is summarized as follows:

Spring bushing/seats causing lowered right height causing problem. Front upper spring bushing/seat assemblies both sides are bad;
rubber weakened sandwiched out (have to order....).
Seat assembly?

Also, all four tires are the wrong size for the car. Correct size is
"P245/50/17".... Replace 4 tires.

PM me if interested in the cost estimates on these. I'd appreciate a reply if you think this diagnosis should be questioned...

 

Ride height can be affected by upper shock mounts, mine recovered almost a full 1-inch after getting them replaced. That, with the little wider tires that were on it could definitely be an issue, when turning into an incline at anything faster than a crawl.

Sorry you had to learn about it in this way.