I currently have a set of 20" Chrome Senta's on the car which have sustained a number of pothole hits, it's to the point now where they either need to be repaired or replaced as there is now a vibration and spinning the wheels off the ground shows a good flat spot on one rear and some flats on both fronts.

I really do like the look of the Sentas but not in chrome, for some reason it seems to "cheapen" the look of the car, my own personal opinion of course, so the prospect of changing them has always been there.

I am leaning towards replacing the wheels with Coventry Whitley's which i really do like, however if i go with a set of 20's again i am going to have anxiety driving the darn thing as potholes are just a way of life in this area. With that said i am seriously considering downsizing to a 19" rim to get a little more aspect ratio rubber and i have to believe a smaller wheel with a larger % of rubber between the rim and the road would give me a little more cushion to help with potholes.

I know the 20's are 9.5 at the rear and 8.5 at the front, i have tried to fine the width of the 19" rims but have drawn a blank, can someone please let me know the correct width these would have been from the factory.

By changing over to a 19" rim i realize the look of the car will change, however for peace of mind i think it's really my only choice.

 

Found it, they are the same as the 20's, 9.5 Rears and 8.5 Fronts

Has anyone else moved from the 20" wheel to a 19" for similar reasons?

 

Yes, many people have gotten smaller wheels in this forum. For many reasons, yours included.
Not me though.

 

Thanks Cee Jay
I am concerned that the 19" wheel might not fit over the brakes and am still trying to find someone that has put the 19" Coventry Whitley on an early XKR with the std "R" brakes. It all looks very tight at the front already, going to a smaller rim makes me quiver a little based on that space. i know the 20" will not fit over the Alcon brakes from the 08-09 Portfolio's as i was reading a thread from 2014 where another forum member bought them and found they were not to be.

I'd prefer to keep the 20's in a perfect world but the roads here are poor so i have to compromise somewhere, and this seems to be the best solution i can come up with apart from moving.

 

Whitley appears to be of an open barrel design, so it would easily fit the large brakes.




Course, the Sentas are also open, so the two would be sort of similar in clearances. Would the half-inch smaller wheel in diameter affect anything? Is there a way for you to measure yours?

 

I did measure the largest point at 9 to 3 and that seems fine as i think it was 15" at most, the part i'm concerned about are the spokes of the wheel where they come from the hub over the caliper onto the rim, it's very close on the Senta wheel

 

I can't help on that regard.

 

I had 19" and thought they looked great. Maybe you could be a tire/rim insurance policy? They're around $1200 for 3 years. Paid for itself many times over on my XE, but hasn't be used once on our XC60.

 

I have long thought that the Senta wheel was the best looking wheel Jaguar ever made. Why not have them fixed and refiinished to the original silver or a darker gun metal. They are beautiful wheels.

 

I agree that they are a beautiful wheel when painted.
I can certainly have them stripped and repaired but i will most likely be in the same position again in a year or 2, I don't like that thought but reality says it's going to happen again.

The 19" rim with a slightly higher profile tire will have a little more "cushion" for when the next pothole comes along and should give me a little more protection or am i blowing smoke?

I'd rather take the hit and have to get new wheels and tires now rather than pay probably close to $1000 to have 3 wheels repaired, have it happen again and then have to go for a new package down the road.

 

Repair and painting should cost you no more than about $150/wheel and there are many shops and mobile services that will do it for that in California. That means for about $600 you have essentially a new set of Sentas. I doubt you'll get one wheel in decent condition for that price, plus you'll need new 19" tires as well.

 

Vortex 20" is the best looking XK wheels pattern. Looks like it would be strong wheel compared to the other 20" XK options.

 

I agree with you that the Vortex design. But ...

The OP has a 2007 XKR and is in California. In the USA, Vortex wheels were introduced with the 5.0L models. Unfortunately, they don't fit the 4.2L models.

Because the 5.0L models have the E-Diff, the rear offset is different from the 4.2L. The rear wheels won't fit, but the fronts will.

In Europe, the Vortex design was introduced on the 4.2L 2008 Model Year XKR-S. That model was not available in the USA. Those wheels would fit, but they're rare and very expensive. I'm pretty sure they were forged, not cast.
https://www.jaguar-shop.com/epages/6...7&Locale=en_GB

 

Agreed and have a set for Summer and black Vulcans for Winter, they are both (IIRC) 10.5 at the rear and 9.5 at the front and has been stated a different offset.

I think that only Alcon brakes have a problem with clearance when downsizing and that wouldn't apply to OP's car for any 19" official Jag wheel or decent aftermarket

 

in case someone is interested- there are two sets of "old" vortex wheels in Poland (for 4.2 rear axe). They cost about 1,5k usd for alloys only. One set is silver, the other one is repainted for black + Cnc.

shipping to us would cost a fortune, but to UK - I can help arranging it for about 300usd.

 

I saw a set of 19" Jupiter's (with tires) for sale in the classified section.

 

Thank you for this!

 

Them some old tires, 13 years anyway. I'd not trust them for anything. Probably ask seller to dismount them so save a ton on shipping?

 

I totally agree, there is zero value in the tires. The tires i have on the Senta's are 6+ years old also so getting close to being end of life anyway, so keeping/repairing the Senta's might cost $600 per an estimate above, BUT i will in the very near future have to drop $1200+ on a new set of tires also. Having to buy new 19" wheels for $1400 and then another $1000+ for tires is costly, but the Senta's will cost me about $2K in the next 12 months best case anyway for repair and new shoes if i were to go that route

To be totally honest i can buy a full set of new Coventry Whitley wheels shipped to my door for about the same as the Jupiters would cost shipped to the door (assuming the seller does not budge on cost) and to me the Coventry is a much better looking wheel
I have sent Coventry/TSW a request for information on the 19" wheel package and what assurances/information they can provide to confirm this wheel will indeed fit the earlier XKR. Sleeping on this for a number of nights i really think this is the best way forward for me.
I will still have a set of Senta's that i will at some point have repaired and will either keep to sell with the car when the time comes or sell on in the near future.......

 

The Coventry is a fine enough wheel, but I am sucker for OEM wheels on any car.