I wanted to go with H&R spacers, as I've used these before on previous cars and they're very good. The smallest I could find were 15mm. I would have prefered 10, but H&R don't offer them for the XK8/R.

They are hubcentric and high quality (H&R are a German company). Took about 1 hour to fit both sides, including cleaning the inside of each wheel and applying copper grease to the hubs and spacers. Just a simple bolt-on job really.

I think the wheels fill the arches better now and give the rear a slightly more modern look, almost like a DB9

I don't really want to put spacers on the front. They would probably look nice, but I don't want to mess too much with the steering geometry.

A few quick pictures:







For comparison, a shot of the car I posted yesterday before the spacers were put on:

 

That is a very nice mod. Works very well. May I ask your total cost?

 

H&R are in Germany, but it actually worked out cheaper for me to 'reimport' them from California. Cost was $118 + shipping from eBay.

 

Wow, I think I might have to do this as well. Looks great with your sepangs!

 

I absolutely adore the colour of your car. I used to have an XJ40 that was diamond blue metallic. Very similar colour. Have a very boring silver XKR by comparison.

 

Thanks for your positive comments Having taken the car out for a 1/2 hour drive, I can report that there are no obvious changes in the handling, but I never really drive my XKR hard in the bends anyway. IMHO, it wasn't really designed for that.

 

Yes... I think it was. And it was also tuned quite extensively over it's production range... as it was introduced it handled quite well and could do anything you would need to with a GT car. Sure, it's not a pure sports car. The newer XKRs are very racy. The newest are more sports cars than GTs.

When you're on the move it can hold it's own with anything except a few crazy machines out there... only 'elite' cars are going to smoke you.

 

Here in France, the average hp of all vehicles on the road is about 90. I can therefore blitz everything I encounter, but I think this is more down the the 400+ hp I have than the car's handling (or my driving skills). I used to have a Mazda MX5/Miata which was way more chuckable and 'sporty' than my XKR.

 

Sure, My XKR will never accelerate like a true sports car, but it handles like a dream for a 4k lb. car. Twisty roads are a lot of fun and the car is designed to handle them well.

 

My last car was a Miata (NA) as well. Great fun car, but I am really getting into this XK8.

 

I'd love to have an MX5 with the engine from an XKR. My next winter project?

 

Apologies for bumping an old thread, but below is a picture I took this afternoon which shows how the rear spacers fill the wheel arches much better. I am still undecided about doing the same on the front, however: the wheels look 'pushed in' compared to the rear, but I'm slightly nervous about messing up the steering.

 

I think that you've done great and should stop where you are. I think that the look of the spacers up front will make the vehicle look odd.

 

I agree, Frog. I think you've got it right where it should be.

I've also got spacers on the rear only (also lowered 1.25" in the rear). The fronts are pushed out a little more from the factory, and fill the wheel well more completely, so they look fine with my rears.


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Ah go on frog, go for it!
Mine has been widened, the front end too. My problem was I needed adapter plates to fit the new 2012 vortex jaguar wheels I bought.
I do love the new look. the car really hunkers down, low and wide. It looks every bit a super car. The handling, I feel, hasn't changed at all.
But I do find the look is sooo addictive.

Best wishes with your choice,
Colin.

 

Your car looks so sexy with those Sepangs nobody cares or notices. If I can look past my lust for it, I too think the spacing is OK generally just because of the offset on the Sepangs anyway. It may be more pronounced with smaller wheels.

FWIW, I've been running 20mm in the front (and back) for about a month now almost daily (up to 100mph once) and haven't had any reverberations or undesired effects.

 

Thanks for your input, guys. I suppose what I could do is temporarily fit my rears spacers on the front just to see what they look like??