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The 4.7L was so quiet and definitely didn't have the bark or savageness of the XKR-S, even with my aftermarket Quiksilver exhaust. There's really no comparison between the two cars exhaust wise.
Went with Pennzoil Ultra Platinum 5w30 which meets WSS-M2C925-A along with a Mahle filter.
This is the easiest car I've ever changed the oil in given that the Mityvac hose fits snuggly on the built-in oil tube under the oil fill cap.
I've decided that I'm going to install the 20MM spacers up front and do a bit of testing on what I'd like to do for the rear. I don't think there's enough room back there for a 15MM spacer since we have a pretty large factory lip that would either have to be rolled or shaved, neither of which I'm interested in at this point. Will post some pics for others to reference since I really could not find much info on XKR-S spacer fitment.
Messed with some spacers over the weekend and did some testing on what will fit and what won't.
20MM Spacers fit perfectly fine on the XKR-S. In fact, I might have some custom 23mm spacers made from the folks at Motorsport tech just to get a few more millimeters out of this. TBD on how the Michelin PS4S fit.
For the rear, however, I installed a 5MM spacer, and it looks like our hub lip on the rear is just about 5MM tall. I had a custom 7MM spacer that I had made years ago for my F-Type that fit on the rear hub like a glove. I had about a 2MM clearance between the hub-centric lip on the spacer and the actual hub on the car. A 7MM spacer also leaves me with 7 turns of engagement on the stock stud.
I want just a bit more engagement, so I'm going to get some billet lug nuts custom-made with an extended thread that actually protrudes into the lug opening on the wheel. This will give me enough engagement to run just about any sized hub-centric spacer that I want.
A few specs of the factory lug nuts compared to the new billet lug nuts. OE Lug Nut
Just so you know, XKR rear wheels (and tires) fit wonderfully on the front, especially with a 5mm spacer. That also keeps the proper scrub radius instead of messing it up with just a spacer.
Just so you know, XKR rear wheels (and tires) fit wonderfully on the front, especially with a 5mm spacer. That also keeps the proper scrub radius instead of messing it up with just a spacer.
I really want to keep the factory XKR-S wheels though and finding another set of rears is going to be quite the challenge.
They sound even better with the secondary cats removed and the exhaust valves permanently open
Pretty much perfect for me and my '10 XKR (with XKR-S x pipe) now sounds SO quiet in comparison.
I find the XKR-S far too quiet. I'll definitely need to liven it up at some point.
On another note, STEK paint protection film was installed on the hood, bumper, headlights, fenders, carbon lip, side skirts, partial rear quarter panel, mirrors, and carbon wing. It's the first car I've installed PPF on and really love the added peace of mind. Not to mention, the gloss on the STEK film is unreal and will make maintaining the black paint such a breeze.
The finished product looks fantastic. You'd never know there's a film applied.
Mounted the new tires, Michelin Pilot Sport 4S 255/35/20 and 305/30/20 to replace the factory Pirelli P-Zero's from 2012. To replace the factory lugs which are known to strip over time, I went with McGard 60129 lug nuts.
Without the black lug nut center caps:
With black center caps installed:
Michelins mounted with a 20mm spacer at the front and no rear spacer. The rear fitment looks much better with 305's although a slightly wide tire for a 10.5" wheel.
Side Note: You can find wheels in the strangest places... a few years ago, a really cheap buddy, who was building out his mancave basement, was browsing through a Salvation Army store and came across some 20" Kalimnos. They were in boxes which didn't match the wheels (the boxes were for some kind of gaudy chrome multi-piece nightmares which would fit an XKR), so I guess somebody bought some hideous new wheels and donated the Kalimnos as a tax write-off. Because of the mismatched boxes, Salvation Army didn't know what they had (or didn't care), and they were selling the entire set of four staggered wheels for $300. My buddy wasn't sure what was going on with them, but thought I might be interested, so he called me, and I sprinted up there. I took the wheels out of the boxes and saw that they were authentic from the undersides. I was ecstatic. Then, to make it even better, Wednesdays are apparently "1/2 price" days at Salvation Army stores, so I picked up all four wheels for a total of $175 (+ tax), out the door. They had a little curb rash in a few places, but they were all completely solid and fit my XFR perfectly, with the only difference being the 20mm different rear wheel offset than my original 20" Nevis wheels (so I just removed my 20mm H&R rear spacers). Anyway, I had them cleaned up and powder coated gloss black for $150, so I was all in for $325 on a set of brand-new-looking 20" Kalimnos. I threw some Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S tires on them and couldn't have been any happier.
Side Note: You can find wheels in the strangest places... a few years ago, a really cheap buddy, who was building out his mancave basement, was browsing through a Salvation Army store and came across some 20" Kalimnos. They were in boxes which didn't match the wheels (the boxes were for some kind of gaudy chrome multi-piece nightmares which would fit an XKR), so I guess somebody bought some hideous new wheels and donated the Kalimnos as a tax write-off. Because of the mismatched boxes, Salvation Army didn't know what they had (or didn't care), and they were selling the entire set of four staggered wheels for $300. My buddy wasn't sure what was going on with them, but thought I might be interested, so he called me, and I sprinted up there. I took the wheels out of the boxes and saw that they were authentic from the undersides. I was ecstatic. Then, to make it even better, Wednesdays are apparently "1/2 price" days at Salvation Army stores, so I picked up all four wheels for a total of $175 (+ tax), out the door. They had a little curb rash in a few places, but they were all completely solid and fit my XFR perfectly, with the only difference being the 20mm different rear wheel offset than my original 20" Nevis wheels (so I just removed my 20mm H&R rear spacers). Anyway, I had them cleaned up and powder coated gloss black for $150, so I was all in for $325 on a set of brand-new-looking 20" Kalimnos. I threw some Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S tires on them and couldn't have been any happier.
Wheels at Salvation Army
Powder Coated Gloss Black
Installed (Before My Spires Springs)
Woah -- very interesting way to come up on some Jaguar wheels. They look great after that powder coat.
I'm a bit unhappy with my wheel gap at the moment so I'm going to be installing some H&R lowering springs over the next two weeks. The problem is, I think the H&R springs are going to be a bit too low. I'd like to go with a 1 inch drop (I think) but no one seems to make a lowering spring in that spec.
To combat this, I'm going to dial in my suspension height by creating a set of custom spacers that can be placed on the shock body right under the spring seat. Take a look at the diagram below (part #3) is the factory spring "packer".
The part on an assembled strut:
The actual part (MJA2162AA) which I'll use to measure for the custom spacer:
And the custom part I mocked up in very basic CAD software that I can have made in either ABS plastic or 6061 aluminum. I'm thinking I'll make a few different sizes to really dial in my ride height.
If anyone would like a set of these as well, I'm happy to get a few extras made so shoot me a PM.
H&R Springs Installed with three OE spring packers installed in the front, two installed in the rear. I might remove a spring packer from each corner to drop a few more MM.
