I知 buying an 2001 XK8 5 years after I sold my previous one. 5 yrs later, I知 asking what is a good tire for this car
Thanks,
Mainecoast

 

Need a little more info of what you're looking for

1. Do you drive the car year round?
2. Are you looking for an all-season tire?
3. How much are you looking to spend?

 

Summer driving only. Maybe 2k miles a year. I don’t mind spending a bit more for a good handling, quiet tire.
Thanks

 

Got it.

The cream of the crop would be the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S. It's almost universally considered the best summer performance tire you can buy. It's also the most expensive. That said, it may almost be too much tire for the car--I assume you are not taking it to tracks and the like. But, if I had the money, I'd have bought it. Just because.

Continental Extreme Contact is also generally a solid option.

I drove a Porsche Cayman S with Hankook Ventus V12s on it, and that handled well and was pretty comfortable. Road noise was not the best, if I recall.

I'm currently running Firestone Firehawk Indy 500s on my car after about 6-7 months of deliberating and researching. It's a very grippy tire, and has done well in both wet and dry for me. They're like a junior version of the Michelins, which is honestly as much as cars like ours are ever going to use. They'll also be probably $200 less for you for a set of four. For me, they were $500 less. One warning is that if you let the car sit for many days, they may flat spot. But that goes away after 5 mins of driving. It has not been an issue for me since I drive the car daily.

 

Hi Enjoy,
Thanks for the information. Your experience will help me to narrow down the tire choices.
Regards,
Mainecoast

 

Another good tire is the BF Goodrich GForce Comp 2. This is a very grippy tire both in the wet and in the dry. Some people complain about road noise. I have the all season version and haven稚 noticed the road noise. I love this tire. It cost me about $826 total to buy, have them shipped to Puerto Rico, have balanced and installed.

 

Thanks for another choice. I’ve noticed that there are limited choices of tire brands
in the P245/50R17 tire size.
Mainecoast

 

I have been running Yokohama YK580 tires on my wife's 2006 XK8 since we purchased the vehicle in February 2012. A reasonably-priced all-season tire that is quiet, never hydroplanes, handles well and delivers a great ride, and comes with a decent treadwear warranty. She typically gets about 48,000 miles out of the fronts at 32 to 33 psi and about 33,000 miles out of the rears at 28 to 29 psi (which I consider to be quite good for 19-inch tires). Tread life for a 17-inch tire should be even better if you care for them properly. Available only at Discount Tire / America's Tire depending upon where you live....

 

I run Pirelli P-Zeros in the desert heat of Bahrain (extremely hot (122degF) with relentless sunshine. Grippy and soft, with little road noise. Expensive as per the top tier group ie Michelins Pilot Sports recommended by others. Doesn't wear very well (probably due to the intense desert heat) but irrelevant here in Bahrain, due to rubber going bad in approx. 3 years due to the extreme heat and sunshine.

My father always had Dunlops on his Mercs, but after I had a near fatal blow out on a free way (360 spin across the road) I've tended away from Dunlops probably irrationally I know, but never again.

As you're a low mileage summer user, in Maine, I would go for a budget set ie the Firestones recommended above, or the South Korean Hankook brands. They're good value, and with R17s you probably won't notice any performance differences. The bigger the rim, the more sensitive it is to what tyre you're running.

 

Thanks for more good information!

 

I have been running General G Max AS 03 for the past 4 years with no complaints. Only put about 1k miles/year April thru October.

 

I have had problems with belt separation of Michelin Pilots and poor response from Michelin warranty claims. Two front Michelins on another vehicle, a Cadillac, had separated belts in under 20k miles and the car was used only for city/highway driving on well-paved roads with easy driving. If the service manager at a local Cadillac dealer hadn't gone to bat for me, I would have gotten no joy from Michelin.
Note that Michelin states, in the warranty fine print, that staggered size tires result in the warranty mileage cut in half, so if your Jaguar is running staggered sizes, expect half the warranty.

 

After 40,000 km on the Continental Contact Pro's I put on when I got the car 5 years ago, I am going to replace them with another set of the same on my trip to Myrtle Beach this year. They are nice quiet touring tires that have served me well. I might get another year out of them but don't want to push them to the edge and will save me about $300.00 buying g them in the US instead of Canada.

 

I will second this post.
I had Continental Contisports for years. They were OK but price helped me decide to try the Firestones that I have now. I notice that the Firestones are stickier which I like for driving fun, and I'm not concerned about wear because I don't put as many miles on the car as I used to.

 

I recently purchased the Firestone Firehawk Indy500 tires to replace the 12 year old Michelins on my car which only had about 5K miles on them. I bought them at a Tires Plus store in Florida with a rebate and surprisingly the P255x18" rear tires were cheaper than the P245x18 front tires, every other source I checked online the rear tires were at least $15 higher than the front. So far they have been very good although if the car sets for several days they do flat spot but the Michelins did too. I usually only drive this car on dry days so I don't need the all weather tires.

 

I was on short notice here in Texas having to put new tires before the 600 mile trip hoome with the 'new' purchase.... I got Pirelli Cinturato Strada (235's) as the stores where I was were all out of 245's.... Quiet on the road at high speeds and grip nicely.....

 

The position that I was in a few months back is that I bought a 1997 XK8 convertible at RM Auction which came with all mismatched tires and no previous owner(s) car history. Had to change the tires and did my homework. My car is a cruiser, not a performer; however the auto deserves decent tires. Bought Continental Extreme Contacts DWS06 (245/50ZR17) for a set price of about $800 USD. Have had Zero issues with these tires. Good luck with your decision

 

I知 going with the Michelins Pilot Sports with Road Force balancing. This should be one and done for a long time, given the relative few miles I put on in a year.
Side note: I removed the wheels yesterday and removed and cleaned the speed sensors. The periodic Trac Control and ABS messages have gone away

 

Please provide more info about the "speed sensors." Like you had, I am currently having issues with intermittent amber light and info center showing Trac Control fail and the ABS light illuminates. Maybe your solution will work on my car since most likely has not been done for some time (if ever). Is there a thread that discusses or video that explains fixing this situation?

 

Essentially you remove the wheels, then remove the four wheel speed sensors from behind each wheel hub assembly (one 8mm bolt) and scrub them clean with a toothbrush using a small amount of dish soap dissolved in warm water. Hold your thumb over the electrical plug connection area on each sensor so it does not get wet. Allow them to dry for a few minutes, then reinstall. I do this every time I do an oil & filter change / tire rotation (6,000-mile intervals) and neither my wife (it is her car) nor I have seen an ABS/DSC dashboard warning light since I begin doing this task more than six years ago....

You also want to check the condition of your speed sensor wiring harnesses while you have your wheels off the vehicle. They can be under stress and sometimes tend to stretch and break as the years pass....