This is convoluted so bear with me. Put a set of new tyres on the XJS 4 years ago - 5 of them .... the wheels are standard 15" Starfish. Then I found some corrosion and ... the tyres don't even have 100 miles on them but are 4 years old, getting close to being ready to roll so decides perhasp time for more rubber, start looking, and looking, and looking - 15" tyres with an appropriate rating for the XJS are to say the least scarce - I found one set of no names, some indications from Pirelli 'notify me when available' with what I anticipate would be a premium price - yeh no thanks.

Looked for 17", nothing ticked the boxes, new stuff wasn't the correct 120.65mm that the Jag requires and the bores were also a challenge, gave up on that, the later Jaguar PCD seems to have changed so they're off the table too.

Got myself a lovely mint set of 5 16" Jaguar lattice, by the part numbers off an XJ12 (MMB6115AA), 33mm offset, when I say mint I do mean mint, with almost brand new Uniroyals on them, the only issue - they're all 8J.

I don't anticipate any issues at the back but I'm fairly sure that much more than a 7J on the front will be fouling on full lock.

I have found a few threads here that discuss wheels but the obsess with diameter and fail to discuss width, even Kirby Palm really doesn't cover the width challenge at the front. I believe that the XJR-S had 8J's but the wheels were either staggered front to back with a 7J at the front or they were 'specials' - depends where you read.

Anyone here have experience of 16" 8J Lattice rims on the front of a V12 H.E Coupe ....

I will get my starfish rims properly refurbed by somewhere that can do the correct two colour job on them, they will stay with the car but now I don't care overmuch about running on unobtainium as 16" seems fairly straightforward at the minute for tyres.

 

I don't consider 4 years old as toss out time. You aren't exactly in a hot dry climate there.

8 years, perhaps, depending on your driving speeds, 10 definitely..

Doug

 

Ben
I do not think it worthwhile spending money on the 15 inchers. A set of 16 inch five spokers (if you want another set on top of your lattices) from facelifts is a far better idea; plenty of tyre choice instead of overpriced/none.
As for the 8Js, why not just put them on and see?

 

I'm going to put them on, so far indications are that a 5mm or so spacer would be enough to stop rubbing challenges and in the short term I can live with not using full steering lock.

I never planned to stay on the 15" simply because the tyres I found even 4 years ago weren't easy to find. I was provoked to finally taking some action by two of the wheels that are now losing pressure, they really needed refurb before I put the tyres on, but now I need to put air in them almost every other day so they're done and I'm tired of checking them every five minutes. I was on a list 4 years back to get a set of 15" Pirelli and those in 15" are only made in batches and not that often, I have not to this day received an email to say that a batch of tyres is ready, when they are produced they're an obscene price as a result, if I recall the price would have been near £400 a tyre four years ago - for 15" - the Pilot sport 4 I run on the Audi don't cost half that, the Cross Climate on the VW less than that .I suppose there's an element of self justification here too

It is further complicated by the car and how the suspension is set up and floating on subframes - you really don't want different 'manufacturer' tyres front to rear or side to side you would be surprised how much tyres can impact the XJS, my last set of decent tyres were Dunlops - and one reason I stayed and will remain at 16", the XJS is nose heavy and very hard on the front suspension even in standard form, lots of reasons for my choices - again self justifying probably - but I've spent four years and a mountain of money that would make any sane person cry rebuilding this stuff, it was fun some days, it was hell some days, but I have no desire to repeat those days good or bad.

Scary part is that I'm not a real fan of the lattice style - they are an absolute bear to clean, I have a similar style on one of my other cars and cleaning wheels takes forever.

I am keeping my eye open for a later set of Starfish in 16" which are more 'original' to how the car left the factory but they aren't a common style in 16", I am also not obsessing over '100% factory standard' (changed cooling, fuel and, ignition systems), I could go to the celebration or similar models but I have no plans for 'non-Jaguar' rims.

 

ben
Often there are "modern starfish" on ebay, and they come up pretty regularly, but you MUST get the wheelnuts with them, the longer nuts that they require are NLA. eg:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/277113894...Bk9SR4TW_e_0ZQ

Good decision, I fitted them 25 years ago. Also speedlines too regularly appear, eg
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/396568078...Bk9SR4TW_e_0ZQ

 

Yeh I spoke with Simply P and they indicated that those nuts are unobtanium, I like the more modern 'Starfish' though. The speedlines I considered, I looked at the very ones you linked, both links, the speedlines I preferred because there were 5, the modern starfish from a keeping clean perspective but only 4 and I had seen a couple of posts about challenging nuts for a number of wheel styles - seems I also need the shorter nuts for the lattice and not the long black ones from my starfish. Both sets I factored against the lattice and by the time I had put tyres on and had them refurbed they would have cost more than the lattice - so I went with the lattice.

You would think that over the years that a good solid discussion of each style, width and fitting challenges would have occured but it didn't come up in my searches. The Kirby Palm doc was rather lacking in this too and that's one of my go to places.

I lack the enthusiasm to be buying lots of rims and exploring the pro's and con's so will leave that to another enthusiast I'm afraid. I will report on the challenges the 8J presents though - I suspect the big one is the rubbing on full lock and the abiility of the steering rack tie rod end to remove inappropriately placed balance weights.

 

I recently acquired a 1990 Jaguar XJS V12 coupe with OEM, 15 inch, basket weave wheels and 21 year-old, Michelin tires. Knowing that the tires needed to be replaced immediately, and not wanting to live with the struggle of cleaning the basket weave wheels, I elected to install J8x17 ET33, Revolver wheels from a later model Jaguar XK8. I sourced five nice examples of these wheels from two different eBay sellers (Jaguar parts dismantlers). There are plenty of these wheels out there at very reasonable cost, so availability is not an issue.

I selected new Goodyear Eagle Sport tires in a size of 235/50R17. I went with the widest tire I could safely fit, in order to be compatible with the wider, 8 inch wheels. The 50 aspect ratio kept my overall tire diameter close to the OEM tire size and provided the maximum sidewall flex for a 17 inch tire that would not fowl the inner fender linings. Keeping the same wheel offset (ET33) meant that the increase in wheel width would be shared equally inside and out, as not to push the tire out and into the fender wheel arches. The two inch larger wheel diameter seems to help with any suspension component fowling.

As I had read on previous threads, a 1/4" (6mm) thick, wheel spacer is required to allow the Revolver wheels to fit over the XJS front wheel bearings which protrude out further than later cars. The car's front hub, bearings have a tapered shape that interferes with the new wheel hub bore unless you use a 1/4" spacer which holds the wheel just far enough off of the hub face to allow full tightening of the lug nuts (front wheels only). This also sets the new wheels just far enough out to clear the hub bearing dust caps which can now be concealed with snap on center caps. There are many center cap options available on eBay, but you will want to purchase caps that have a slight dome shape on the backside in order to fully snap into place over the bearing dust caps. I have just ordered these caps and have not fitted them to the car at the time of the attached photos. A close-up view of the front wheel reveals the dust cap lurking just inside of the wheel bore.

This set-up works great without any mods to the car or suspension. The obvious downside to a Stage Two wheel upgrade is a small loss in the cushy ride of the old 15" tires because of the lower side wall height of the 17" tires. However, a 50 tire aspect ratio is not all that dramatic compared to many new cars that run much lower profile tires. There are plenty of tire options available for 17" tires in this size range. You could opt for a 225 tire width, but that would be on the outer limits of what would be appropriate for an 8" wheel width.

17" XK8 Revolver wheels on 1990 XJS






17 inch XK8 Revolver wheels on 1990 XJS

17 inch XK8 Revolver wheels on 1990 XJS

Rear wheel without center cap

Front wheel with 6mm spacer and bearing dust cap lurking inside wheel bore

15 inch basket weave wheels in near perfect condition

Five XJS basket weave wheels thus... need a new home
In my opinion, the Revolver wheels are a good choice because they are still Jaguar wheels with the same fitment specs and will be much easier to clean. The look of the Revolver wheels might not suit everyone, but I felt they were still somewhat period correct and updated the look of the old V12 Jaguar coupe. I now have a full set of five 15" OEM basket weave wheels for sale on Springfield, Missouri, FB Marketplace. All wheels are like new finish with no curb rash (one wheel has two small areas of clearcoat loss, but barely noticeable).

 

I hear you on the cleaning for sure .... I'm a bit more relaxed about the 8J and the ETof 33. I have heard that the front 8J's were actually an ET19 rim but I have never seen one every Lattice 'basket weave' I've ever seen are 33 or 28.5. We shall see, I'll get the cart off the ground at the weekend and do a trial run.

 

I've had a couple sets of the Lattice/sport/basket weave wheels.

The trick tp cleaning 'em is to never let them get very dirty....and low-dust brake pads.

Assuming I haven't let the dirt build-up I can clean each wheel in about 2 minutes. You get to be pretty good at it! Plus, I have a custom-modified tooth brush.

If you let the dirt and brake dust build up, or the wheels have lost their smooth finish, all bets are off. Cleaning 'em is a real chore, no doubt.

Cheers
DD

 

My plans for the car do not involve it being a daily driver, I'm coasting now having passed retirement age so any trip in the car(s) is fun only so I sure won't be letting dirt build up.

I need a new badge for my profile though - "Certifiable Headcase" -

I just bought these and I'm blaming Greg in France, I still plan to fit the lattice and will report the challenges because I think it would be of interest to many, I also will now have another set, like a different pair of shoes, now looking for the NLA nuts (sorry Greg didn't get them) and number 5 to go with these 4 .....

 

Ben,

As you've realised, the Starfish alloys are only available in 15" size. The facelift 16" Five Spoke wheels that you've bought came in 2 different styles. The ones you have are the early ones which have a groove across each spoke at the tyre end. They were powder-coated / painted when new and fitted until April 94. The later ones (post-April 94) were diamond-cut on the face and do NOT have a groove on each spoke. From the time of the Celebration cars (April 95) the non-groove Five Spoke were only fitted as a chromed option. I have the diamond-cut wheels on my late See pic below. If you're looking for a fifth wheel, check the ad photo carefully to make sure you're buying the same early type as the 4 you've bought. The early ones that you've bought are more plentiful so you should be able to get a fifth wheel.

Cheers

Paul

 

That's good info, I wonder how many have tripped over that one ...

 

An update, the 8J x16" ET33 Lattice wheels arrived today, rears OK but the fronts foul the steering track rod end in a big way even before the wheel hits the hub, no amount of spacers will resolve the 8J on the front, will take a significant spacer complete with studs to mount them, I'll work out the size maybe at the weekend. It's a shame because in all other aspects they look the dogs wotsits ... I can safely state that Lattice 8J x 16" ET33 do NOT fit the front of the XJS. I am going to keep my eyes open for a pair of 16" x 7J's - though I do have the other rims arriving this week.