I know that there have been discussions on the pros and cons of spacers on this forum. Having said that, I plan on installing 20mm hub centric spacers on the rear of an 07' XK with stock 19". I see that most have placed 15mm in rear and 20mm in front. I would like to do opposite. Does anyone have or have had 20mm in rear and 15mm in front? if so, can you please advise of your thoughts……….thanks. BTW, I have no immediate plans of lowering.

 

I've moved your post from General Tech Help to XK/XKR forum as it's a model specific question.

Graham

 

Yes, I originally installed the 20mm spacers on the 19" back wheels of my '08 XK and found them to be sticking out from under the fenders just enough to bother me visually. I changed to 15mm and it was perfect. On the other hand, 15mm was not quite enough to bring the front wheels out. Minor differences but, for me the 20mm front and 15mm back was perfect.

There could be some small variations between model years and particular wheels so, you put in what you find the best for your particular application.

BTW- the same spacer sizes also look perfect on my '10 XKR with the 20" wheels.

 

Thanks for the info Albert. Can you recall aprx how far past the fender lip the rear wheels stuck out with the 20mm. If you think it was more than an 1/8 of an inch it will probably also bug me. Did you experience any issues/concerns with spacers all the way around?

Paul

 

You are welcome, Paul. I could not give you an exact value. Just that in my own views it was too far out.

The only issue I had was with the stock 19" rear wheels on my '08 XK where the stock lugnuts through the 15mm H&R spacers barely touched the insides of the wheel indents. I ended up cutting off the very leading, non-threaded, portions of the bolts to give me the clearances. With the thicker, 20mm spacers that would not be necessary. Also, when using the same combinations of spacers on my '10 XKR, the 20" wheels had slightly deeper indents where I did not have to cut any of the lug bolts.

One suggestion; assuming you are using the H&R spacers, they come with nuts for the factory lugbolts that are very thin (the nuts). As they go into the recessed holes of the spacers, regular socket sets only touch portions of the thin nuts, making it very easy to round-off the nuts where they would be hard to remove. Don't ask how I found out... :-). So, the second time around I used a grinder to grind the leading perimeter of a regular socket to make it fit deeper in the recessed holes of the spacer, giving it a larger surface to torque those nuts and to prevent rounding off the edges. Don't even think about using an air operated impact tool for removing or installing the spacer.

 

Thanks again for your response Albert. I think I will order the 20mm, place them on the rear and take a look. If I don't like them, then on the front they go and I'll order a set of 15mm for the rears…… better yet I'll go into the garage, place a level against the wheel and see what type of gap I am dealing with. As far as your suggestion to round out the socket….. your secret is safe with me.

Paul

 

Measured up rear wheels in relation to fender lip and 15mm is definitely the way to go. 20mm in front and 15 in rear.