Well as it turns out I had two XKR Portfolio's at my disposal last year, so I had the chance to swap between them driving the same roads.



Mine being quite modified, the other being all original (at the time), similar mileage on both cars, same tyres even; Michelin PS4S.
Mine with the XKR-S springs and shocks (the OEM Bilsteins from the 2009MY UK/EU 4.2L XKR-S, not the 5.0L XKR-S), the other with the original XKR springs and shocks.

The stock one had a much nicer ride, absorbed the bumps of bad roads more effectively and was generally more comfortable to drive, at first it made me wish I hadn't put the XKR-S gear in mine.

What hasn't been tested is the XKR-S springs with XKR shocks. I don't know how much of the firmness in the ride is from the springs, or from the yellow B6 Bilsteins...

Probably not going to find out any time soon either...

 

I have taller tires off an XJ on mine and love how they ride and honestly, look. A fully profile tire fills the wheel well nicely.

 

Is there such a thing as full-figured tires?
Sign me up.

 

Yes. If you look at Sean W's car, the tires that are on it in the dealer ship picture are too skinny for the rim. IMHO the tread should stick out a little and the tire bulge some as well. One benefit of the 19" rim and tire package is you get more sidewall height and bulge. They look more reminiscent to the E type versus the super skinny 20" rim packages.

 

I would never downgrade from my 20", more height and bulge is old school!:-)

 

In your picture, your rear tire tread looks narrower than the wheel width. That's what makes the wheel well opening look so large.

 

Sorry but could you explain that better, I don't understand what you mean?

 

He forgets to have his coffee on some mornings.
I am sure he did not mean to disrespect your bitch.

He may not know that you have moved the front wheels out with spacers pretty aggressively, which reduces the staggered effect, to the eye.

Your car looks fantastic. And overall I agree with the spacers. However I wish it were possible to widen the rear wheel instead of using spacers and get the best of both worlds, small gaps and full staggered effect.

 

My English is not up to your standards so sometimes difficult to understand what you guys mean.
Thanks for the comment, I'm pretty pleased with the car myself except it lacks the R.

 

Your English is much better than my Swedish!

 

Scrolling back to your picture, I think I see what Ranchero50 is talking about.
What brand and size tire do you have on the rear wheels?
You can probably go with a wider tire, and that will have the effect of filling the gap, at least as seen from the angle of that picture.

 

On the hard corner where the tread meets the sidewall it looks like that corner is narrower than the wheel width. It is a common "problem" because the tire width to height standards aren't very strict. One brand of a 275mm wide tire will have a wider tread measurement versus another manufacturer. Add in that many tires have thick ribs at the wheel flange to protect them from curb rubs and it looks like the rim is wider than the tread. Also, at a given outside diameter a 19" tire will have a taller side wall which will allow it to bulge out some more. The bulge isn't ideal for performance but it looks good and allows the tire to ride nicer.

In spite of Q+C, I think everyone's cars look nice. Even some of the wrecked ones look better than mine right now since the paint is failing.

 

Can't remember the brand but it is a 285-30/20.

 

How wide does the tread width measure with a tape?

 

Interesting point about the tread width vs tyre size, years ago I had a set of 255/35R20 Falkens on my XJR, they only measured 210mm at the contact patch.

The PS4S in the same size are much wider.

 

The tread width is 255.

 

So your tires are 255's and not the labelled 285. 30mm of width is equivalent to a 15mm spacer behind the wheel as far as wheel gap is concerned.

 

As it is, I can barely keep from scraping the front lip every time I go down a driveway from a parking lot. I used to not be able to get my car out of my own driveway without nicking it, but when they repaved my street for the first time in over 50 years, it raised the level enough to my driveway so that I don't have the problem any longer. I can even get my Pantera up the driveway without too much issue now, which is something I could not do before without scraping the front valance. Above is my XKR, at the stock height.

 

The taller the grass, the lower the look! Nice!