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Trying to figure something out with my wheels. Senta wheels: Front: 8.5inx20in et 49mm 255/35r20 Rear: 9.5inx20in et 26mm 285/30r20
I want new wheels. I want the wheels to stick out more than they currently do. I see that the offset between the front and rear wheels is pretty vast. 23mm, which is almost an inch, in difference between the front and back seems pretty drastic for it to be blamed on the wheels. So why is that? Are the wheel hubs in the front of the XK just inherently farther inside the car than the rears - so from the factory, they made wheels (in this case, Senta) that came with said offsets so the car would have the look they desired? Or do I have this totally wrong - the hubs are placed in perfect symmetry, but the wheels just so happen to have such a wide difference of offset just to give the car their certain look? I don't know why I can't quite grasp the concept - and google isn't answering something as generic as this, as clear as I need it to be. I want the car to have a more stanced, wide look - without resorting to wheel spacers. I have tried those, and they made my steering shake at speeds above 35. I am afraid of buying wheels with, say, a 15 - 20mm offset all around for all 4. Then the wheels end up sitting way further out in the front, or super inward on the rear - or something random because I didn't do enough research to know. Or if anyone knows of any offset ranges they know of that have SUCCESSFULLY been applied to our XK. Maybe 15-20mm just rubs way too bad or something, again, random. Thank you all!
I think you have your offset thoughts back to front, the smaller the ET number the more the wheel sticks out (ie "poke") and the larger the ET number the more it is recessed in the wheel arch (ie "tucked"). For example the XFR stock 20" wheel rear offset is a mahoosive 66 mm and the wheels are (and look!) extremely tucked.
Your XK rear wheels are already ET 26 mm so you can't really go much more "poke" than that if any and your best bet if not only solution would be spacers.
I have fitted spacers to every one of my XFS, XFR and F-Type, either 15 mm or 20 mm, and never had a single problem with any of them, maybe you haven't tried the right type before - they must be hub-centric "adapters" and not just plain spacers. Either that or they weren't bolted up tight enough, the spacer mounting nuts should be done up to the same torque as the wheel lugs, 125 Nm or 92 lb/ft.
Anyway you don't really need front spacers, or maybe 10 mm will do the trick, it's just the rears that would benefit from spacers.
I think you have your offset thoughts back to front, the smaller the ET number the more the wheel sticks out (ie "poke") and the larger the ET number the more it is recessed in the wheel arch (ie "tucked"). For example the XFR stock 20" wheel rear offset is a mahoosive 66 mm and the wheels are (and look!) extremely tucked.
Your XK rear wheels are already ET 26 mm so you can't really go much more "poke" than that if any and your best bet if not only solution would be spacers.
I have fitted spacers to every one of my XFS, XFR and F-Type, either 15 mm or 20 mm, and never had a single problem with any of them, maybe you haven't tried the right type before - they must be hub-centric "adapters" and not just plain spacers. Either that or they weren't bolted up tight enough, the spacer mounting nuts should be done up to the same torque as the wheel lugs, 125 Nm or 92 lb/ft.
Anyway you don't really need front spacers, or maybe 10 mm will do the trick, it's just the rears that would benefit from spacers.
Thank you for the insight - I guess my big question from that, would be why if my rears are already 26mm, would I not be able to poke out any more? Is there something stopping me from going 20? 15? The stock Senta rims push the offset to its limits?
Would this work? Add spacers to your mag until you get the correct look and movement. If the rear offset is 26mm and a 15mm spacer then that should mean that your next mag would have an offset of 26+15= 41mm. SNAPCHAT's vibration was probably caused by a lack of center rings. For which there are only a few, if not two sizes, for automobiles.
Last edited by sony2000; May 20, 2025 at 02:57 PM.
Would this work? Add spacers to your mag until you get the correct look and movement. If the rear offset is 26mm and a 15mm spacer then that should mean that your next mag would have an offset of 26+15= 41mm. SNAPCHAT's vibration was probably caused by a lack of center rings.
I believe Oz has it right. If you need a 15mm spacer on the current wheel, a wheel without a spacer would need to have an offset of 15mm less, so in this case 26 - 15 = 11 mm. I expect the choice will be small!
Or if you want new wheels - just get wider rims with the offset that will work best for you.
Visit some shop specializing in rims and get the right fitment.
That's what I'll be doing at some point, spacers improve the looks and stability at speed (in straight line) but hurt your handling, steering wheel feedback and scrub radius.
I'll second the above ^^.
Correct offsets are always better than using spacers. Spacers should be avoided if at all possible and certainly never use a "thick" spacer, i.e. 15mm is more than 1/2 inch. It not only compromises handling, but depending on spacer width, can be a safety issue. 15 mm doesn't sound like much, but suspension geometry is affected.
If you end up going with spacers, be sure to check wheel stud length to ensure they're long enough for a secure lug nut fit - long enough so the lug nut threads go on far enough. A lug nut needs to go on the wheel stud least as far as the stud is wide for minimum secure strength (just ask a structural/mechanical engineer), i.e. if your wheel stud is 3/8th inches diameter (forgive for not using mm) a lug nut needs to go at least 3/8th" down the threads.
I learned all this crap from 20 years of racing. Granted, a racing car is more sensitive to all this than a street car, but it still applies.
Last edited by David993S; May 20, 2025 at 02:12 PM.
Would this work? Add spacers to your mag until you get the correct look and movement. If the rear offset is 26mm and a 15mm spacer then that should mean that your next mag would have an offset of 26+15= 41mm. SNAPCHAT's vibration was probably caused by a lack of center rings. For which there are only a few, if not two sizes, for automobiles.
Do hubcentric wheel spacers come with that center ring attached? Is that the ring in the center I am looking at?
I'll second the above ^^.
Correct offsets are always better than using spacers. Spacers should be avoided if at all possible and certainly never use a "thick" spacer, i.e. 15mm is more than 1/2 inch. It not only compromises handling, but depending on spacer width, can be a safety issue. 15 mm doesn't sound like much, but suspension geometry is affected.
If you end up going with spacers, be sure to check wheel stud length to ensure they're long enough for a secure lug nut fit - long enough so the lug nut threads go on far enough. A lug nut needs to go on the wheel stud least as far as the stud is wide for minimum secure strength (just ask a structural/mechanical engineer), i.e. if your wheel stud is 3/8th inches diameter (forgive for not using mm) a lug nut needs to go at least 3/8th" down the threads.
I learned all this crap from 20 years of racing. Granted, a racing car is more sensitive to all this than a street car, but it still applies.
Thank you for all of this - would the suspension geometry be remedied with an alignment? Or are you SOL once the spacers are on?
It's really too bad you don't go to the link I posted in #4, a lot of questions would be answered.
I went to the site but I just don't fully grasp what it was showing me. I entered my information - and it spat some data back out at me, but it pretty much just tells me how much further from the strut I would be, and how much more poke I will have. Which is nice - I do appreciate it, but I think a big part of my problem was that I was not thinking about how our rear tires are 1 inch bigger than the front. So, that means 1 inch of more poke. Hence the difference in offset between the front and rear Senta wheels? Do you think that is specifically the reason? Do you think IF, a big IF, that the Senta wheels were the same 8.5in width front and back - the offsets would be the same?
The debate on spacers and how they affect the car is real so I wont get into that, I have had spacers on almost all of my cars which include m3, m5 and numerous other BMW models.
I decided to put HnR spacers on my stock sentas pics below. I have 20m Fr and 15M rear. That like previously mentioned makes the stock wheels essentially front wheel offset of 29M and the rears 11M
each number is just a millimetre, each time you want to poke out more lower the offset number. the number you lower it by means essentially the wheel will stick out in millimetres that much more,
So when I ordered my custom wheels I wanted the same aggressive look as the stock senates with the spacers on.. now here's where it can get a little confusing, when you change width of the wheel that has to be taken into account. so I went from a Stock Fr Senta 20x8.5 et 49 to a custom 20x9 et 34. ( 20x8.5 et49 with 20m spacer is et 29 but then I have a 9 inch wide rim vs the stock 8.5 so need to add 5m to the offset to make it equal. My rears stock senta 20x9.5 Et26 ( w spacer 15m makes it et11 ) so new wheel is 20x10 et17 , same poke as stock( actually 1m more ) 20x9.5 et11 with the 15m spacer. hope that helps, pics show seats spacers in and my new wheels no spacers. Just an fyi you will need your tire shop to make the hole deeper or wider cant remember for the studs in the sentas to make them work.
I regret painting my sentas black. Such as life .. I prefer them in silver ...
Would this work? Add spacers to your mag until you get the correct look and movement. If the rear offset is 26mm and a 15mm spacer then that should mean that your next mag would have an offset of 26+15= 41mm. SNAPCHAT's vibration was probably caused by a lack of center rings. For which there are only a few, if not two sizes, for automobiles.
I think I am correct with this paragraph. I double checked with "GUY"s chart below.
I think I am correct with this paragraph. I double checked with "GUY"s chart below.
No it's the opposite because the Offset is Positive 49M . So in order to push the wheel out farther you need to lower the offset. Adding a spacers lowers the offset number. The key is to remember all numbers refer to millimetres. 15M spacer is 15 millimetres so it's not as much as people may think( well im guessing there to be fair ) . the lower the positive offset the more the rim edge will be pushed out. The one thing to watch for is when you make the wheel wider you may have to consider inner clearance as with the same wheel edge on the outer side between a 9.5 width and 10 width means the 10 will loose 5m inner clearance essentially. Hope that clarifies
Also we have a hub centric of 63.4m .. if the aftermarket wheel are larger hub then you can get hub centric rings to make it fit. if the new wheels are smaller they wont work.
Wheel offsets
