Hi! I have a 2007 Jaguar XK and I need new rims. I would like to buy the 19" Caravela wheels. I have an offer from the local Finnish dealer but it is expensive as one wheel would cost 1317 euros and all together around 5 300 euros.
Do you guys know where I could find them cheaper but still brand new?
I live in Helsinki, Finland

 

The Caravela wheels are made for the facelift XK (see text on that site), which has a different offset. Yours is pre-facelift, just like mine. Apparently the later model wheels can still be used, but this would require 20mm spacers...

If you're looking for a brand-new set of OEM wheels, unless you luck out and find a clearance sale somewhere (probably on the internet), it'll be hard to go below that price. Refurbished sets might be cheaper. I'm not sure whether the wheels I linked are new, used, or refurbished, as it doesn't say.


In case you're looking for 19" wheels for winter use; I initially planned on getting a set of 19" Carelia wheels for winter tires. However, I found out that the only so-called "nordic winter tire" available in a size wide enough for the rear wheels is the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2, and in 20" only (specifically 285/30R20). It's not made wide enough in 18" or 19" sizes.

Annoyingly, all the other winter tires available in the required sizes (Dunlop Winter Sport 5, Michelin Pilot Alpin, Pirelli SottoZero etc) turned out to be so-called "central european winter tires", which are simply inferior in terms of grip, compared to winter tires designed for nordic use:

 

Thanks for your message! It helped a lot!
And I have the standard Venus rims on now as winter wheels. The Caravelas would be for summer. I really love the way they look so thats why i'm so keen to have those. Is it a big project to fit the right spacers and do you have any idea how much could it cost? And do you know then which are the optional rims for our pre-facelift that where available back when the car was new, so I wouldn't have to fit new spacers.

 

Thanks for the reply!
Is it hard to put new spacers on, do you have any idea how expensive it would could be? I just love the way the caravelas look. What wheels are made for our previous model? Which were available back then? The new wheels would be for summer, I have the venus wheels as winter wheels!

 

I learned something new today! Thanks

 

What winter tires do you have? Also, do you have a heater of some sort in the car?

I have no experience with spacers myself, and I believe the general consensus is that they are not recommended. Here's one thread on this forum.

I took these pictures from the JEPC (Jaguar Electronic Parts Catalogue) and added descriptions. Google the wheel names to find photos.





As I couldn't find any nordic winter tires for wheels smaller than 20", in the end I decided to just use my single set of Senta wheels all year. After all, for what a 2nd hand set of wheels would cost, I can keep swapping my summer and winter tires on and off for at least 5 or 6 years. Another benefit is that I'll always have recently-balanced tires, and there's only one set of TPMS sensors to worry about.

 

I have Pirelli sottozero 3 tyres on my 18" Venus rims! And no I don't have a heater because the car was just brought to Finland from Spain. I'm planning to get a heater from https://www.webasto.com/fi/
Now looking at those options for my car I might go with the Jupiter wheels because I don't want to have wheels bigger than 19" as it might damage the ride quality.

 

Those Jupiter wheels look a lot like the wheels I had on my old XK8. I think mine were 18" though.

 

I had 19" Caravelas on both my 08 and 12 XKs.

 

https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-C2P12613

 

How are the SottoZeros working for you? I know that generally people frown upon those central european winter tires in Finland, but opinions I've heard from actual tire guys have ranged from "they're ok in the south if you drive carefully" to "they're dangerous".

Having had a Webasto heater (with the Remuc controller) on my previous car, I really wanted one on the XK as well. However, I found out that the shops fitting these heaters are completely dependent on model-specific installation instructions from the heater manufacturers, and those do not exist for the XK. Because of this, most shops I asked just said "not possible for this car".

I also heard a horror story where a shop tried fitting a Webasto on one of these (specifically a X150 XK), but after several thousands of euros spent on a very complicated installation (apparently due to lack of space in the engine bay, the heater was in the REAR of the car, with coolant lines running to and from the engine!), it ended in failure as they couldn't get the car running properly when warmed up prior to starting...

Not interested in shelling out a lot of money on something uncertain, I decided to go for electric heaters instead. A spec sheet request from Jaguar revealed that my car came from the factory with a Temro-made block heater. I wanted an interior heater added, however, and as Temro no longer produces the parts necessary, the only option was to remove the Temro heater and fit a Defa block heater, along with cabling for an interior heater. The cabling had to be done without any pre-existing instructions (even the Jag importing company in Finland dealership said it'll probably be the first XK with an interior heater), and took a lot of time and dismantling.

This has not been entirely problem-free either, though...
Anyway, my car is right now being looked at for this very issue, so I'll let you known what they find out after I've picked it up.

I'm happy with how my car rides on the 20" wheels, but of course this is subjective and depends on what you're used to. If you have to drive on those cobble-stone streets in Helsinki every day, the taller the tire the better...

 

Without spacers & no issues? I don't really know how meaningful a 20mm difference in offset is, perhaps it's alright.

 

My dealer said that he is 99% percent sure that the caravelas fit, I'm not so sure but I might order them and if they don't fit they'll have to give my money back.
Maybe the offset difference does not matter?

 

If I've understood correctly, the rear Caravelas would be 20mm closer to the center line of the car than pre-facelift wheels. Since the rear wheels don't steer, I reckon the worst that could happen is that the tire might touch some part of the suspension or wheel well in a harsh bump?

 

[QUOTE=Aonsaithya;1845989]How are the SottoZeros working for you? I know that generally people frown upon those central european winter tires in Finland, but opinions I've heard from actual tire guys have ranged from "they're ok in the south if you drive carefully" to "they're dangerous".

Haven't had too much time to drive with them yet but the Sports car center Vantaa recommended the sottoZeros for me. I understood that they would be the best available for my car. For the time I've driven with them they've been great!

 

I can't think of many vehicles more poorly suited for winter travel than these cars. But, if you guys are doing it, then there's that. So my two questions are- how are they in the snow, and why wouldn't you consider a cheap car/truck for the winter? Honest question; I have no idea how things go in Finland.

 

I once had to drive my XKR right after a summer rain, and you (Mandrake) already know how slimy the roads around here get after a summer rain. Nearly as bad as snow, seriously. All that crap from the air and all the crap already on the road after four months of zero rain.....
ANYWAY, the SNOW MODE (or whatever it is called) on these things work FANTASTICALLY WELL! Pulling away from a stop, going around corners, even down-shifts were nice and controlled. Using that Snow Mode (whatever) pacified the Jaguar in to a pleasant little kitty cat. Sure, it can still snarl, but only when you get fully into it.
Give it a try! I personally think that when these cars are put into VALET MODE that the Snow Mode should be locked on, to keep punks from playing too much with the car.

 

It's my first winter with an RWD car, but I have yet to spin, get stuck, hear the bottom scraping on something, or even need to brake hard enough to trigger ABS. Of course one must drive an RWD car a bit more carefully than, say, the AWD X-Type I used to have, or any FWD car really. The traction control and stability control are very good, however. I can take off with minimal fishtailing, in uphills as well, and the stability control has straightened the car very well the few times I've deliberately tried turning a bit harder to test it out.
Having said that, I do live in a suburb in the capital region, where the roads are generally quite well taken care of. I don't think I've encountered snow/slush deeper than 2 inches. If I lived on the countryside, I'd probably have an SUV.

Here's a few dashcam excerpts from the conditions I've faced so far:




Unfortunately, the 2007 cars don't have snow mode. Does it affect throttle response and traction control, or mostly gearbox?

Where necessary, I have started in 2nd gear, or used the manual mode to prevent inopportune downshifts on, say, a slippery uphill.

 

I'm going to strongly disagree with your hyperbole that the roads here when rained on are anywhere close to being as slippery as snow. Slicker than a road that gets rained on weekly, yes. "Nearly as bad as snow?" No way, man. Not even close.

Snow mode changes the car drastically- more so than Dynamic, I feel- but it doesn't change the lack of clearance, inability to get chains on unless the car is in the air, put snow tires on the car, or make the tires skinnier. I don't know how it is in Finland with parking, owning more than one vehicle, taxes, the cost of an old beater and what it takes to keep it passing MOT or whatever they have, ect...- and that's why I asked- but from my perspective, I can't see any reason at all to spend any time or money on making an X150 halfway work in the snow when $2000-$2500 would get you a decent mid 90's Civic and leave you with enough to get a set of snow tires. It sounds to me like these guys in Finland get it regarding snow tires and aren't going to be idiots out there on all seasons, but you- CeeJay- know how people are here in UT. Would you risk driving your XKR in snowy conditions in traffic when most of these ****** on the road don't have snow tires and who's first and only response to an adverse situation is to stomp on the brakes? Snow mode isn't going to keep some retard from hitting you because they're too cheap for snows.

And on a personal level, I live over by the OAC on the steepest residential street in the county and quite possibly the entire valley; short of chains, my XKR has no hope of leaving my driveway let alone getting out of my neighborhood if there's more than a whiff of a dusting of snow on the ground.

 

Aonsaithya- What snow tires do you use and do many people there have second vehicles for the winter?