A number of us have encountered such issues on the 20" Callisto wheels that are equipping 2006 Portfolios and some XJs.

One of my wheels suffered a crack that was repaired by welding.

JimC64 has got repeated flat spots or buckles on his own wheels.

Would be interesting to know if this problem is confined to 20" Callistos or also appears on other 20" rims (e.g. Sepangs) and may be due to the low profile tyres that are used on 20" rims or to intrinsic brittleness of the Callistos.

Your feedback would be useful

 

Hi paydase,

Only slightly off your topic: I purchased a set of used 19 inch X358 Polaris wheels to fit on our 2004 XJR. When I had the tires swapped over from the original Performance wheels, the tire tech discovered that two of the Polaris wheels were bent.

On the recommendation of a friend, I took the car to a local wheel specialist, who was able to straighten the wheels for USD $100.00 each, and all has been well.

I then took the four original 19 inch Performance wheels to the same shop to see if they would be interested in buying them. They put each wheel on their machine and discovered that all four had minor bends. I was able to observe the process and confirmed this for myself. The tech considered the bends easily repairable and the shop purchased the wheels for what I considered a fair price.

So the problem of bent Jaguar wheels is not confined to 20 inch models or the Callistos specifically, but none of our 19 inch wheels were buckled, cracked or welded.

Cheers,

Don

 

I can confirm the state of my 20" Callisto's, more like 50 pence pieces!!


For me, it can only be a combination of the size of the alloys, the very low profile tyre and I guess the state of our roads.
The aluminium content or metallurgy of the wheels, I Can't comment on, but it's extremely annoying to say the least.


Now wondering if I can get mine repaired to an acceptable standard or to buy another set!!!

 

Regarding the metallurgy of the wheels, only forged wheels are made of a substantially stronger material.

But because forged wheels are also made thinner and lighter in order to gain on unsprung weight, I am not sure that they will be much stronger at the end.

Anyway, forged wheels are much more expensive to fabricate and I doubt that Callistos or the other OEM 19" or 20" rims proposed by Jaguar would be forged...

 

The answer is simple to me - fit smaller wheels and bigger profile tyres !! Today, I went on a classic car run and at the end looked at an immaculate XJS Cabriolet from the 80s. The tyres on that look like balloons in comparison to modern cars, and the owner assured me the ride was perfect !
The tyres were 215/70 VR 15. And what do we have nowadays ? Things that look like thin rubber bands with virtually NO ability to absorb road shocks. Any potholes and other now-common road faults now impact straight onto the wheels. Steel wheels can probably take it but these are no longer fitted for fashion reasons.

 

I have the 19's on my 04XJR

Over the years and 180,000km (Have had the XJR from new) I have had to repair the wheels 4 Times

Twice I have had others repair them
Twice I have repaired the crack with my Tig welder and had them machined

Three of the cracks were due to the poor roads in OZ
One was not really the roads but her indoors combined with under inflation

Going back to the 19's you will find a lot less damage as compared to the 20's. Even though the 19's still have a low profile the slightly larger profile has "just enough" side wall height to get away without incident most of the time.

I doubt the roads you have a worse than in OZ but for conditions here I would not have 20's even in the city.

Cheers
34by151

 

I had my Sepangs from the Super V8 refurbished a couple of months ago, there were no cracks but each of the 4 wheels had a slight buckle in them. The wheel place charged about £30 each wheel to straighten them out prior to separating them and refurbing them. They said that a lot of wheels of these kind of sizes will have a bit of a buckle in them. They said that the inner edge was the weakest part of the wheel.

 

Yes agreed, the inner edge is the weakest part of the wheel.


As for going to smaller wheels?
Yes, I believe we all know that smaller dia wheels with larger profile tyres will be better in some regards, however, we have what we have and personally, I like the look, so currently, will persevere and either repair or replace

 

My choice is keeping the nice 20"s but putting 255/40 R20, so a side wall equivalent to the 19"s and only 3.6% more perimeter.
Difficult to spot the difference, both in look and in ride.
I hope it will be enough for potholes...

 

And oversize tires have the added benefit of causing the speedometer to read slow at all speeds, so you can truthfully say, "But officer, I couldn't have been going a hundred and four! My speedometer said I was only going a hundred!"

 

I personally wouldn't go over 19" for the reasons mentioned above. The 20" are more susceptible to damage and are heavier than the 19" wheels to boot. I have 18" wheels on my 2006 XJ8L and they work pretty well both in performance and looks.

 

My A8 and XJR came with 255/40 19 tires. I am thinking to replace both with 275/40 19 tires next time. The Audi speedometer run a little fast, the larger tires will correct that.
This will also fill up the wheel wells a bit too. Got to look nicer.

 

Yes the"Callistos" seem to be very delicate; I have a few extra Callistos in storage that have been repaired via welding, I'm hanging on to them just in case of an emergency. For reference the 20" BBS "Perseus" wheels on my XKR have well over 100k miles on them and have had no signs of cracking, bending or flat spotting.

 

Hey all,
as some of you may know, I've been suffering with a steering wheel / brake pedal shake / judder
The front and rear suspension components have been replaced, new front pads and discs replaced, new tyres etc, not much left....
I believe the wheels are flat spotted / buckled and so visited Craig at Alloy Wheel Repairs Scotland today.

It's not high tech, more old school, checked and refurbed by a trained eye with specialist knowledge, it's NOT quite as simple as it looks.
Craig spoke at length on the different metallurgical properties involved, the heat process and powder coating ( not a favourite of his ) flat spots / buckles and dings etc

My wheels, as it turned out were as follows...
2 had approx. 3 or 4 flat spots and 1 other had 2 flat spots, nothing major in themselves but put together on a set of 20" alloys and noticeable when driving.
The worst has had a weld repair at some point and still had several flat spots, all needing attention.....
I watched as he checked, checked again as he heated and then began the rounding out process, very interesting but scary to see your wheels being treated this way, but it is what it is.......

See vids below.....
http://vid140.photobucket.com/albums...pslosewkvy.mp4

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3iczb4vav6...11655.mp4?dl=0

Certainly an interesting process and good to see a knowledgable man like Craig at his work.
Took the wheels back, refitted the tyres and balanced them properly and then fitted to the car, of course went for a test drive

The steering shake is all but gone, very very minor compared to what it was, a massive improvement to say the least.
Having said that and now having been advised of the weld repair and after repairing the flat spots and buckles, although they are significantly improved and will do the job for now, making driving much more enjoyable, I will probably be on the lookout for ether....

At least one replacement 20" Callisto OR perhaps a new set of wheels at some point.

Much happier though at the moment

 

Thank you Jim for this feedback, it is very enlightening to see how the wheels are reworked.

I thought that heating hardened aluminum alloys without following a well established thermal cycle may degrade their microstructure and strength.
But apparently it can be used up to some point to soften the metal and hammer flat spots or buckles, good to know (welding cracks would go even further...)

Certainly it's very important to have the work done by a very knowledgeable man.

 

Thanks Paydase....

Re the heat treatment, it was very minor and localised although obviously aluminium is a good conductor and it travels throughout..
Having said that and for future reference.......

Craig is NOT a fan or Powder coating wheels for this very reason and advocates the wet painting process as done by OEM's

His reasoning is that the superheated wheels as in the oven baked to around 200 degrees c DOES actually weaken the wheels and make them brittle!!
Too late for me, what's done is done

 

I have had zeus 18 in on my 03 STR and 17 in on 04 X type both Jag factory rim made in Italy. All had problems of cracks and flat spots. Live in So Cal with pot holes and poor paving in most areas. Low profile tires are the main contributor to rim damage. On my X Type changed out to 16 in rims and upsized the profile. No problems from then on.

 

I had 17"s if I remember correctly on my X type and no issues.
Peter has had his X type for 2 years now with 18"s on and no issues at all, Connor's only had his a few months, but no existing issues at all whatsoever

 

All depends on the road conditions. Properly maintained roadways no problem. That's not the case here in Los Angeles.

 

Lol....properly maintained?
Not here I can assure you, we have our own issues with road maintenance / potholes etc.