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When having to turn the steering to full lock (either direction) both tyres are scraping the inner wing and most noticable in wet weather, my current tyre size is 225/60 R16, I am thinking of going to a slightly smaller profile (225/55 R16). Is this a good idea, any thoughts?
I had 225/55/16s on the stock wheels on mine and didn’t have any issues with the exception of compression on a hard lock. Road great and handled fantastic.
When 15-inch tires became difficult to find for our '93 XJ40, I installed 16-inch wheels from an X300 and used 225/60 R16 tires, which were the stock size on the X300. I had no rubbing issues. If you switch to a tire with a smaller rolling circumference such as 225/55, your speedometer will read fast.
Jerry asked a good question - is something loose, such as a wheel arch liner?
When having to turn the steering to full lock (either direction) both tyres are scraping the inner wing and most noticable in wet weather, my current tyre size is 225/60 R16, I am thinking of going to a slightly smaller profile (225/55 R16). Is this a good idea, any thoughts?
The size 225/60 R16 was the original fitment to the late battery in boot XJ40, so they shouldn't be scraping the inner wing. I have heard that XJ40s with modern square-shouldered tyres and slightly worn suspension bushes frequently rub on full lock, particularly when reversing.
That said, the size 225/55 R16 was the standard fitment to XJ40s with 8J wheels from the factory. These were fitted to 'Sportspack' cars with the 8J BBS forged lattice wheels, then later to the XJ12 first with the forged lattice wheels, then later with an 8J finned type also used on some X300s. As far as I know, Jaguar made no changes to the speedometer's calibration whatever tyres they fitted to the cars, whether they be the 220/65 VR 390s fitted to the metric teardrops, the 225/65 ZR 15s fitted to the 15" teardrops, the 225/60 W16s fitted to XJ40s with 7J wheels or the 225/55 W16 tyres fitted to cars with 8J wheels. Some North American cars came with further sizes. Presumably, the speedo's inaccuracy was judged to be 'within acceptable limits'.
It should be remembered of course that tyre sizes are nominal and not all '225' sized tyres will be the same width in the wheel well. Some tyres have a more tapered profile and will not rub, whereas other tyres of nominally the same size will have a broader shouldered profile and foul the bodywork - yet on paper at least, they are the same size. This is the main reason why I fitted Michelin Crossclimate tyres to my car. The tyres are noticeably narrower and more tapered even that original Pirelli P4000Js my car came with, for example. Many modern tyres are very broad shouldered.
My own car has BBS forged lattice alloy wheels so should I suppose be on the 225/55 W16s, but I am not a sporting driver and value comfort above corning ability or ultimate steering response so elected to fit 225/60 W16s to my car even though it has 8J wheels - which should make them more likely to foul the wheel well. However, the tapering section of the Michelins has on my car has prevented this. It could be that my car's bushings are less worn too of course.
Is it possible that your suspension bushings are so worn that the entire steering knuckle/hub/wheel/tire assembly is shifting forward so the tire is coming into contact with the wheel arch liner?
If the car is in Park and you turn the wheel from lock to lock, do the tires contact the arch liners?
The bushings are fine if there was that much movement over the last 10 or so years im sure by now it would have been an MOT failure.
As with your 2nd comment I wanted to try in the dry and wet (hence the late reply waiting for wet weather). I painted some fine lines on the scuff marks on inner wings and turned wheel lock to lock, the result was no streak marks so tyre was NOT touching, After waiting for wet weather I repeated the expreiment and on both sides the tyres rubbed the paint off, I conclude there must be a problem with the tyres in wet waether.
Tyre Sizes
