Hi,

Been a while since I've posted here. Busy with life etc. My 2003 XKR has been off public roads for over a year now. Just before I put her to hibernation I had a full wheel refurbishment done on all of the 20" BBS Montreals. All was good. Or so I thought...

Due to moving house recently I had to move the car too so I took it on the road temporarily by booking and MOT where I drove it to. They almost failed the MOT as there was an issue with the wheels. Essentially when they jacked up the rear of the car from the center of the chassis the rear wheels hit the subframe assembly preventing the wheels from turning at all. Took us a while to figure out why that was happening. In the end it turned out the wheel refurbers had incorrectly installed the front center pieces on the rear rims of the wheels and rear center pieces on the front rims. Since the front and rear have different offsets due to different size tyres the end result is this.

The garage (just a middle man really) where I took it to for the refurb job has already promised to sort out the wheels but this presents another problem to me. I can't really drive the car to the garage as there is a danger to cause more damage to the wheels when driving over speed bumps or on rough roads. Even if I could drive the car I would have to tax it and insure it which would cost me hundreds. I'd have to tax and insure it if I was to drive it back from the garage after they had sorted out the issue and I'm not really planning on taking it on the roads just yet. Another option would be to have it transported to the garage and back which would also cost a couple of hundreds. The garage is not prepared to pay for this

So this leaves me with two options:
a) I could take the wheels off and put the car on axle stands and take the wheels to the garage with my other car. Not sure if I can do this on my slightly sloping and uneven drive way. Should probably seek the garage's permission for this first anyway...
b) Swap the center pieces from front to rear myself.

I'm now pondering whether this could be a DIY job or not? Any tips, encouragements or advice would be very welcome.

 

Someone more knowledgeable than me will hopefully chime in, but my understanding is the the titanium bolts are prone to shearing. which is the main pain here. Some say not to even reuse them. So, I would look into that cost and see how it compares to the cost of just having the shop do it.

PW motorsport should have the appropriate bolts, but I can't recall off the top of my head how much they are, or how many you need. They'll also have the spline adapter, which you'll need if you don't already have.

Other than that, I'm not sure of the difficulty beyond what'll happen if a bolt gets snapped off or overtorqued.

 

How would you even deal with the tires at home? I would say do one side at a time (front and back), use the spare tire on the rear (help the parking brake with the slope) and the Jaguar jack or a jack stand on the front. Use tire wedges too. Drive the pair of wheels to the shop and have them fix it. Take a bit of time to pick them up once completed to be sure they hold air pressure. Try and have a frank conversation with the shop person. This is obviously their fault, but also a zero-dollar rework. See if a pizza, sandwiches or a monetary tip would help ensure you get quality work this time around.

 

There are horror stories but l suspect most are just that, stories.
I have had mine apart on several occasions for one reason or another and they have never been a problem.
Assuming the tyres have been fitted to the correct rims and you have the correct spline bit to suit bolts there is no reason you cannot remove wheels on one side at a time and simply switch centres. Valve bolt needs to be removed with other bolts so tyres need to be reinflated but tyres do not need to be removed from rims.
Bolts should be reinstalled with a mild strength loctite.

 

In the UK there are people that will come out and do your wheels in situ (BBS alloy wheel | Stainless Steel Rims car wheel chrome trims rim protector wheel trims), but maybe that is a bit unlikely in the US!

There is a handy how to, if you want to do everything yourself:

http://www.jagwheeltrims.co.uk/TrimFittingGuide.pdf