I recently acquired a set of Dayton 60 Spoke 15 by 7's factory refurbished. I modified the brakes to fit them on my 370 HP 4200 pound 2001 XKR. Has anyone had any good experience with the 60 spoke version of the 15 by 7 on any JAG? I drive the car hard with 16 by 7 aluminum's, it ran 13.4 in the quarter, but it hasn't seen any road course stuff. Beautiful wheels, wondering if they are a bad choice...
I posted this on the XJ forum because they are XJ wheels - not likely anyone has used them elsewhere.
Thanks in advance for your experience,
Mike

 

 

Yes, I've had 60 spoke Dayton wheels on my 91 XJ-S conv for about 20 years. I bought them new. Never had any trouble. I don't drive hard but did my share of "banging gears" enough to brake up some IRS parts.They are a real PITA to clean

 

Thanks for the reply Lawrence, good to hear they worked for you. Wonder if it means the 60 Spokes will survive 13 seconds in the quarter at the drag strip... I'm guessing your XJ-S weighs in at a bit more than my XKR.

 

The Daytons you see on 80s Jags are good quality wheels. I've been daily driving my '88 XJS for 8 years and have been through two sets of tires without a problem. If you ever experience a leak in the wheel itself, it is probably time to reseal them. Older style tubed wheels and tires used a band to protect the tube from the spokes, but these Daytons are modern wheels designed to be tubeless. The ends of the spokes are sealed with silicone, which can eventually separate over time if one of the spokes becomes loose.

The Spinners have a sort of stupid way of attaching that you may want to modify. They are threaded such that, if not properly fix, could allowed them to come undone. You can fix it with some washers and thread sealer, essentially you want the spinner/fake knock-off to spin on the washer inside the wheel, you do NOT want it to spin on the screw itself, and come undone.

Best things I've found for cleaning is Meguiars Hot Wheels Chrome. It foams up nice and really cleans the chrome, just rinse thoroughly and avoid getting it on the plastic badge in the center.

 

Lawrence, how many miles did you put on your 60 spoke wheels in 20 years? By the way, the diffs failed on my XKR and XJR also. I'm hoping that filling the replacement diffs with 6.5 quarts of gear oil instead of the factory level might prevent future failures - but I can't be the first person to try this...vented reservoir in the trunk.
Back to 60 spoke 15 by 7's - they were recently re-trued, re-tightened, and resealed. May be more likely to stay together after being stressed and reworked, as opposed to virgin steel. An XKE has always been beyond my resources, so the XKR looked like it would do it for me. The 15 inch wires bring the XKR a little closer to resembling an XKE, and the 60 spoke 15 by 7 Tire wheel assembly weighs in around 54 pounds - as heavy as the factory 18 wheels/tires that came on the car.

 

I 'm guessing 25K miles on the spoke wheel's. On the centers subject, I have the three ear "fake knockoffs". The only way to remove my knockoff is to remove the wheel first. It's held on by a big stainless fender washer & nylon locking nut. The lock nut must be held with a wrench while turning the knockoff to remove it
Never heard of that diff mod. I think if I was to do anything it would be running a oil cooler.I think some BMW's have them.

 

Mike
Ultimately, wire wheels are not strong enough for a car of the weight, performance and cornering power of your car; the more so as it is driven hard. OK for show, but not for go. That is the reason they are no longer fitted by the car makers. Sad, but true.
Greg

 

Not sure what you mean. They are run on XJS, XJ12, and XJ6 which are 3900-4200lbs with a GVWR up to something like 4700 lbs and are capable of 150 mph.

They have been proven over decades of racing, good enough for the likes of Jaguar, Ferrari, Rolls-Royce, Alfa, Packard, etc and the major reason we moved away from them in motorsport was because of weight, not because they fall apart under stress. Manufacturers moved away from them because it is easier and cheaper to make other types of wheels now. So many performance cars see big aluminum wheels while the average car gets stamped steel with plastic covers.

 

SS
At the risk of this discussion going on too long, I respectfully disagree. None of the racers these days use wires, and in the era they did, cornering forces and aerodynamic loads were far lower. I am not saying a perfectly tuned wire wheel will immediately fail, but I am saying they are more prone to fail and many owners do not realise they need regular monthly care. Thus the odds of a wire wheel failure, particularly in hard cornering on the front wheels, whether for lack of expert frequent maintenance or other reasons, are I consider far higher than for a one piece ally wheel. For instance this quotation from a well known USA Jaguar specialist business:
"We've had a lot of posts from wire wheel owners stating they've never had a problem with broken spokes. [Our company] has probably had as many wire wheels through our salvage department as anyone in the US the last two decades and I can say that we see a high percentage of these wheels with broken spokes, such that it is frequently difficult to assemble a four wheel set without stripping 2-3 cars. You folks with "no problem" posts: have you "rung" the spokes on your wheels? That is, have you tapped them with a metal rod or small wrench and listened to the "musical" notes. I'm betting a number of you will find loose, dead-ringing spokes on your wheels that you didn't know were there".