2012 XF Portfolio. 95K miles. 19" Caravela wheels with replacement solid lug nuts (learned the lesson when I had to call a tow when I could not get a lug off because the OEMs had rusted and couldn't get the supplied wrench on a couple of them). Located in the Northeast USA. Mixed town and super slab motoring. Crusier, not a boy racer stoplight grand prix weapon. Kumho tires. Just setting a baseline.

Those of us that are in the NE US know the drill. Snow, ice, melting, freezing, lowest cost bidder building our roads with the quality materials that implies. The season of bomb craters gracing everything from local streets (it's almost criminal how bad my town takes care of the side roads (not the one the politicians live on, though...right?) to the interstates is back with a vengeance this year. And having low-profile tires does not help. In the last 3 months, I've had to have 3 rims repaired: 1 bent and 2 of them cracked. 1 sidewall bubble (replaced; luckily the shoes only have 1500 mi on them and replaced under road hazard coverage.) I'm not careless and try and read the road and avoid obvious issues, but sometimes it just happens.

My heretical thought: swapping out the rims for those that are applicable to the 308 or 350s, which used 60 series tires. Driving the same roads, my '03 XJ never had a problem riding on 60 series shoes; I'm thinking the decreased sidewall height of current tires as well as the more delicate rim structure can't absorb the punishment of driving on streets and highways that are one or two steps removed from rutted dirt paths representative of early 20th century motorways.

Of course that assumes that the bolt pattern, backspacing, and width can be accommodated by the earlier rims; preferably I'd rather run with at minimum 55, preferably 60 series rubber. Will the handling be different? Yes. More flexing in the sidewall will have an effect on turn-in and straight line. The ride would probably be a bit more 'ministerial', to use a phrase I heard once. But I'm thinking that the increase of aspect ratio would increase the ability to absorb the crappy surfaces this car has to deal with and reduce my visits to the wheel shop (they know me by my first name at this point, and I'm tired of swapping out the red rim donut on the side of the interstate while semis blast past me.)

Thoughts? Has anyone gone down this road (so to speak) before? Or, have you found tasteful replacement wheels that are seemingly not as fragile as the Jag rims that stand up? Lot of opinions, I'm sure; taste in wheels right now takes a back seat to useability and reliability. TIA.

(Photos for reference and showing off...lol)



October '25 in Fall River, MA.

Clean and unmarked interior. Still smells new, and leather is soft.

After an interstate thrash to my PA home.

 

I'm also interested to see whether others have done this. Our local roads are appalling and even the freeways have holes that appear wthout warning from under the car in front. My 2008 4.2SC has 20" rims with a tiny band of rubber around them; upside is it handles like a thoroughbred, downside is I can never relax. One pothole cost me $1100 in tyres plus $400 for a rear rim repair.

 

Sounds sensible to go for more sidewall with smaller rims.

 

To the OP, I would think that a large online supplier, such as 'Tire Rack' would have a variety of suitable rims to choose from, in sizes that would allow you to run with a tire that has a little more sidewall height.

 

[QUOTE=bdboyle;2901617]

My heretical thought: swapping out the rims for those that are applicable to the 308 or 350s, which used 60 series tires. Driving the same roads, my '03 XJ never had a problem riding on 60 series shoes; I'm thinking the decreased sidewall height of current tires as well as the more delicate rim structure can't absorb the punishment of driving on streets and highways that are one or two steps removed from rutted dirt paths representative of early 20th century motorways.

Have you done anything about this yet?
It's become a more urgent consideration for me; i took the wheels off yesterday as part of a rioutine service, only to doscover that one of my front tyres has a near circumferential gash at the inner part of the tread area and the rim has an obvious buckle on the inside. I took it today to a specialist wheel repairer, they spun it up on their machine and found that the outer rim has a dent, the inner rim is worse than it appears and the wheel may not be repairable! Oh yeah- and if they can repair it it will cost about $600! So with the wheel and tyre I'll be down over a grand. Again.
I can't keep doing this. I'm going to be shopping around for some smaller rims off a lower-spec XF.
One unknown in this is what rims will fit over the 360mm front brakes- does anyone know?

 

Yeah, I looked in there but wasn't impressed by the selection. Not looking for ghetto ride wheels (heck, I put OEM steel wheels on my Lotus to replace the GKN alloys that came with the car when I couldn't find a shop to lug balance them). I'd like to stay with the Jag OEMs, but wondering if the wheels from the XJ8 series '98-'08 would be useable. Probably not. It's a thought, though.

 

I can understand that.........

The wheels I got, to use during the winter on our then 2009 XF, I think came from Tire Rack or Discount Tire Direct (they were separate entities, back then) and were a classic 5 "split spoke" wheel. We didn't have an upgraded brake package on the car, so caliper clearance wasn't an issue, and I seem to recall that the wheels were either a 16 or 17 inch diameter. And sadly, as I age, my memory isn't what it used to be, and I just can't remember what brand they were.

 

I've basically not done anything YET (my car is still buried under 40+ inches of snow from a week ago here on the south coast of MA...got some buds coming over later to help me dig it out). Was fitfully investigating finding the 18" diameter Cygnus style which would give me a half inch more sidewall...(change from 245/40-19 to 245/45-18) and what looks like a 'meatier' rim. That rim was standard on that year XF, so shouldn't have a problem.

Also just spent 2 weeks in SC and drove back Sun-Tues to MA. I knew I was north of Mason-Dixon when the roads became bomb cratered. South of Mason-Dixon...can't wait to get me Lotus and Jag down there...billiard table road surfaces. I know it's because of the freeze=thaw cycle and reliance on harsh chemicals to melt this stuff, but it was a treat to not have to slalom down the street to avoid the craters, pushed-up sewer caps, loose pavement, badly filled cross-trenches...

Will do some more investigation. (oh, yeah, don't forget to get replacement lug nuts... Did mine in November...half of the OEMs I took off were probably never able to be used again...)

 

Our roads are in appalling condition and we don't even have a freeze-thaw cycle that we can blame for it, just local government not taking their basic responsibilities seriously. The 20" rims have become completely impracticable.
Another factor that I have is that our national population is less than 10% of the US and the number of jaguars around is correspondingly low- in fact I just looked at the 2009 sales figures and it appears they sold 1,000 cars here in 2009 (my model year) vs 10,000 in the US- so the chances of finding a set of original rims from a pov-spec Jag is not optimistic. Interestingly, ghetto style (or Boy Racer) alloys appear to have price tags significantly lower than what I've been quoted to repair my existing rim (still waiting to hear if they think it's repairable).

 

Well...trying to find a set of useable (and not mixing and matching) Jag OEM 18" rims is proving to be a bit of a fool's errand without paying dealer prices. So...found a local wheel shop, They're welding and refinishing the wheel that has the crack, going to have all 4 magnafluxed (to see if there are hidden issues waiting to put me on the side of the road), trued up, and refinished in bright metallic silver. Not the best solution (the roads here, after 41" of white stuff 2 weeks ago (today it's 75F out!...it's all melting) are theoretically paved, but entirely broken up...) but, thinking of moving the car South and keeping it down there. I'll live with what I have for now (I did source a spare Caravella pattern wheel, will throw on a tire and toss the donut...) so won't be entirely dependent on that space saver spare. Yes, a full-size tire fits in the well...

Not my ideal solution. But, didn't want to go ghetto with replacements from Tire Rack or the local 'custom' shop.

 

I've had a similar experience thus far trying to find a set of 18" rims, even contacted three people advertising 'non runner' XFs and they all had 20" wheels! The wheel repairer was able to repair my bent rim- they were pessimistic when I dropped it off to them- and it's getting a new tyre fitted now so I'll be mobile again but at a cost of over a grand. I'm going to keep looking out for a set of 18" rims and hopefully make the change before I next need to buy tyres.

 

Maybe S-Type 18" rims would fit.

 

Had thought about that since the XF was developed from the S, as I understand the lineage. Lots of FMCO bits and bobs in the XF even up to the '12 model year (IIRC, the last production run to come out of Coventry, if the door sticker is correct (and I think it has to be)). I think it would have to do with the bolt circle and offset; digging around may provide answers. The Ss I have seen are getting a bit long in the tooth, but if the wheels come out of the southern US, they may (MAY) be in better nick that the abused northern variety.

I could even go down to 17" which would give me an even taller sidewall to get the circumference right. BUT, all of the S type wheels I see are 7.5" vs the 8.5" that are on the car now. Nothing is easy, but it wouldn't be fun if it was...lol.

All this to keep from having to put aftermarket rims on, right? Originality is something I try and maintain, even if it's sometimes painful to accomplish. The car deserves nothing less; it will be interesting to see it with a refinished set of Caravella wheels minus paint chips and curb rash, new center caps, and clean tires.

 

S type and XF run on the same hubs so will be interchangable 18 19 20"

 

I bought the "Portfolio" package specifically because the driver seat has adjustable lumbar support and the base model did not. But for the same reasons as above, I removed the 19" Caravelas that came with the Portfolio and bought a set of 18" Velas as would have come on the base model. That's the smallest that would fit. I am a neat freak when it comes to cleaning my cars and I have to wash the wheels in two phases, rolling the car back or forward about a foot to clean what was between the caliper and the wheel barrel because I don't have a test tube brush that's small enough to fit in between. I researched it and found that the only option I could find to go to 17" would be to retrofit the smaller brake rotors and calipers from the 4 cylinder XF because in Europe, the 4-cyl base model did come with 17" wheels. I didn't want to go that far. But to get a little more "sidewall", I installed 235/50r18 tires. They're a little taller than stock, but they look good because they fill out the wheel wells a little more. That's basically about 3/4" more sidewall than the original 245/45r19s and it was day and night difference in ride quality.

If that doesn't do enough, of if you can't find a set of 18"s you like, you might dial up Spires in England and ask them if they'll make up a "Comfort Suspension" package for your X250. That's what I did and it also made a huge difference. Between those two modifications, its still not anywhere near the "magic carpet ride" of the X308 but its a massive improvement and really no appreciable loss in handling that I could tell. I had read about Spires I think on the other forum. One of their race car customers asked for their help making their XF daily driver ride better on the crappy roads over there and so they did, and an excellent job too. I called and asked them to ship me the parts over here across the pond, basically consisting of 15% softer springs and custom-valved Bilsteins, and had a local indy install them. Now that was about a decade ago so I don't know if they'd still do that or even remember how. But it wouldn't hurt to call and ask.

 

A suspension package is not going to solve the problem that owners of 20" rims and 30/35 profile tyres have on bad roads. It's not about the comfort / ride quality that you feel through the seat, it's about the lack of rubber between the road and the wheel rim and the resulting tyre and rim damage that results from potholes.

Two years ago I hit a pothole that resulted in two tyres on one side developing sidewall aneurysms where the rim had cut through the inside of the tyre; front tyre at that time cost me $420, rear tyre $610. The tyre fitters (never the brightest individuals) did not even pick up the damage to the rim- next time I had it on the hoist to change oils I noticed the buckle on the inside of the rear rim, took it to a wheel specialist (3hr round trip) who re-rolled and refinished it, cost around $480.
This time, servicing the car again I discovered a cut tyre and damaged rim, again two 3-hr trips to drop off and collect the rim, repair cost $660, take the rim to the tyre shop, new tyre and valve kit $465

So no, it's not about a silky-smooth ride- I just can't keep burning cash.

 

Quite agree 9 times out of ten the damage seems to occure to the iside of the rim that you can't visually see unless you clamber under the motor every time you think you've hit something hard
l have a set of 18" during the bad weather then swap them out for my 20" in tje summer months

 

Why I guess I was looking for the 18" rims. No joy. Decided to bite the bullet and have all 4 19" Carvellas refreshed.

Got the motor back today. All 4 rims straightened (all 4 were bent...but looking back through the service history...can't see where any of the POs ever did anything with the wheels other than changing tires at random times...) and the original crack repaired properly. They found another rim that had one starting when they examined them after bead blasting.and took care of that, too. Cleaned up curb rash, trued the 4 wheels. Blasted all of them, soaked to strip factory finish remnants off, baked for 4 hours to gas out, Bright silver with clear coat powder coat. Remounted tires, road force balanced. One tire/rim (I was there) didn't need any weights. Rare, but the machine doesn't lie, right? Remounted with solid chrome lug nuts and new center caps. Ran it up to 3 figures on the way home on a good smooth stretch of motorway/interstate. NO vibration, shuddering, etc. Nice work, and well pleased.

(Next up: rear brakes (disks are really thin...and sensor is about 2mm to touching) and toe control arms. Also want to get a look at the rear subframe and see if that's going to be an issue down the road....yikes!)



Refinished wheel (one of 4) by ARG Wheels in Seekonk MA. Highly recommended. no financial interest, etc. Just pleased with how they turned out!

 

My nephew just bought a brand new 2026 Toyota Camry base trim level and was showing it off last weekend. I was shocked to see that it came with 205/65r16 tires on a nice looking 16" aluminum wheel. That's down from the 17s that were on his family's previous 2022 model. He is probably never going to visit a wheel refinisher because his sidewalls not only provide plenty of protection from potholes, they're also taller than the average curb that he's likely to ever park next to. Way to go Toyota!

Great job on the Caravelas tho, Bryan. But whatever happened with the Lotus Elite! You never posted an update in the Lotus Grand Tourers forum how that story turned out.

 

I have the same wheel fitted with winter tyres
next month they will be swapped out for my 20" wheels
shame they dont make those in 20" i really like them
picture last year of my 20" wheel