Alloys keep cracking on my 06 X-type estate. 80 mile round trip on A roads that are full of drains and repairs and some pot holes is destroying my wheels. Any recommends to alleviate this? Should I ditch the 18in wheels and go for 17in with bigger profile or just bite the bullet and buy new alloys for a car worth £1k but still drives brilliantly?

 

Senners, if you have crappy roads, then going with a steel rim that is 17" in size is probably your best bet. Jaguar alloy wheels are known for being easily bent/damaged. But, even an aftermarket one is going to take quite a beating based on what you are saying. THis is where spending some money is going to be your best bet. You can either drop the $1000 once or keep buying $150 rims.

 

Wheel design can have something to do with it. A wheel with fewer spokes has a longer gap around the circumference and so is more vulnerable to damage on poor roads.
My original Jaguar alloys have seven spokes. I've done 160000 miles on them over roads bad enough to break two springs but without damage to the wheels.

 

my old 04 came with 17 inch caymans and 3 where cracked. I replaced them with the basic stock 16 inch rims and never cracked a rim again. Plus the ride improved dramatically IMO

Now my 05 came with caymans again. I already replaced two rims, but granted it was just for cosmetic reasons. Bit since you can get them delivered on E bay for 120, original refurbished, I am not going to stay with them.

 

I had the 18" Arubas on mine and I replaced three wheels in 6 years. Those are hard to find and not cheap, but I thought those looked the best on that car of any wheels I have seen and wouldn't change the over to something else. Just kind of figured that was the cost of doing business.

I have had a Mercedes C300 for almost two year now and I have the split 5 spoke 18" AMG wheels and have hit quite a number of bad potholes around here in that time and so far, so good. Am actually quote surprised the car still drives great....so far. I'm sure the day is coming when I bend one of them.