Hi all,

I've just purchased some of the XJR slotted wheels for my R-S (those on the mid nighties Supercharged 6), as the 15 or 20 yr old tyres that came on the car are cracked beyond saving.
I've been trying to find the correct info for these wheels by searching the forum, it looks like they are 33 offset - is that correct?

I have seen some pics of these on XJS' so wondered if someone can advise on tyre size and whether or not I will need a spacer for the fronts?

Thanks

Rich

 

The wheels have just arrived, and looking at the rear confirms that they are indeed a 33 offset.






It looks like the rears will fit fine with 255 45 17's on, and the fronts are likely to be 235 45 17's - but I assume I'll need a 10mm spacer (ie the difference between my 19 offset wheels and these)?

Can anyone comment that has these wheels or 17's on their xjs?

Cheers

Rich

 

Have you tried these on the front hubs and do they fit and clear the hub bearing?

 

I have a set of 16x8 33et from an XJ40 and with a 13mm insert the fronts fit with no rubbing with 245 50 16. I did not change the studs so the fronts have longer mag style nuts, while the rears have acorn. As I have the original Starfish spare my spare nuts are the original, so in all I have 3 different types of nuts.

 

Thanks Warren, really appreciate that. I've just purchased the tyres - I've gone for 235 45 17 on the front (also with 13mm spacers - scotch that, actually, I've just purchased some 15mm hubcentric spacers) but I'm assuming I may need to buy some of the longer nuts for the fronts. The rears are 255 45 17.

 

Hey Warren, quick question - did you have any problem with the stud length?

Cheers

Rich

 

The studs are too short on the front this is why I have 3 different nuts
front nuts are long shank mag nuts that go down inside the wheel similar to the stock starfish nut but longer. Front wheels were machined to remove the tapered seat
.rear nuts are tapered and rear wheels unmodified
Spare nuts are stock so spare can go on front or back

 

Well that was highly frustrating. The visit to the garage confirmed what a PITA changing wheels and tyre sizes is!
We fitted the rears on, XJR wheels 8" with ET33 and 255 45's on.... everything I have read lead me to believe that theoretically these would fit perfectly. The reality however was something rather different. Yes, they fitted except that they more or less rubbed the inside edge (probably more to do with the tyre shape\profile) but nonetheless I will need spacers on the back. Also, compounding the problem was the existing nuts will not quite fit the new wheels, the whole is ever so slightly too small and will need some adjustment.
So i'll buy some more nuts, see if they work while I try and work out what to do with the fronts.

 

I wonder if some of the problems you are having are caused by the lower ride height of the XJR-S ?

For well over a year I had exactly the same XJR alloys & 255/45/17 tyres on my 93 XJS 6.0ltr 2+2 convertible - there were no "rubbing or catching" issues at the rear & I had no spacers on the front end.

Rgds.

A.

 

Good point, my car is standard ride height and I have plenty of clearance, albeit with 245 50 16. Different tyres of the same width can have different total width depending on side walls

 

At the rear, an R-S should originally have 245/55 R16 tyres on ET 33 8J16 wheels.
Going to 255 width with the same 33 mm offset and respecting the overall outside perimeter of the rubber (or going a bit smalller), be it 16", 17" or 18" wheel, should be no problem: a 255 will only have 5 mm additional width on each side (inner and outer) of the fender, which was certainly provided for by Jaguar in terms of tolerance.

On the front however, the original offset should be 19 mm to clear the XJR-S inner suspension components, with 225/50 R16 tyres on the same 8J16 wheels.
XJR wheels with 33 mm offset will not fit unless with a spacer of minimum 5 mm (if the tyre width remains 225).
Going to 235 or 245 width will worsen the differential, so that you may e.g. need a spacer of 15 mm with a 245 mm width of the tyre.
Also studs would preferably need to be longer accordingly.

 

Thanks gents for your help. You've confirmed what I had also read and understood about fitment. Whats odd is that I've now heard from two people that have been able to fit the exact same size on the rear without issues and the same people also didn't have problems with the front. I wonder perhaps if my 92 car has earlier wheel arch inners, before (again I read somewhere) that the later cars had more space in the arches. I'll continue to investigate as the new bits arrive. :-)