Thanks to Vettegood's posting of his Jaguar's pictures and confirmation that he has 18" wheels, I stole one of his images to create this quick study (thanks, Vettegood!).

The first photo has his original image with 18" (8.5" wide) in the front and 18" (9.5" wide) in the rear.




The next image is modified to have his rear 18" moved to the front and a 19" placed in the back.




The last image shows the same, but with a 20" wheel in the back.




In this study I did not take the time to rake the rear of the car slightly higher to reflect the slight elevation change that may occur with enlargement of the rear wheels.

It seems to me that the 18" front and 19" rear may be acceptable. I don't mind a slightly larger rear wheel as long as the difference is not obnoxious looking. Has anyone ever used different diameter wheels like this? What were the results positive/negative?

 

Hey Jeff,
my opinion (not that you asked) is maybe the 19" wheel but I think the 20" is just too much tire.

You also need to consider wheel clearance, even though it may actually fit in the well, consider bumps and cornering on the roads.

Are you planning on having different sizes for front and back?

What about the staggered sizing front and back?

What about the width?

Good luck, let us know what you end up with, I'm sure it will be great.

Happy Motoring...

 

I am thinking about the 18x9.5 front and 19x9.5 rear combo.

I don't mind trying something a bit different, but like to investigate the idea to see if someone did something similar, yielding a problem or benefit.

I am resisting going to the 20" as well. My preference is to avoid making too much of a 'wheel' statement. Here in Tucson, we've got guys running around in luxury cars with 30" wheels on them... craziest thing you've ever seen.

Thanks for not rebelling over me stealing the pic of your fine ride.



This wheel with the silver painted center is what I'm considering:

 

Great choice of wheels! I have 17" chrome on my XK8.

 

I am obviously missing something here, as all 3 pictures look the same to me!

The wheel may have changed but you have not been able to correct the tire rubber profile to achieve the correct look??

 

I described the changes that I made. This is merely a study of visual appearance, not an entry into a photoshop contest. =) This is only a sketch-grade effort and isn't worth taking to the 'enth degree'.

 

I have several questions about wheels. Why is it so difficult to find upgrades? are there special sizes or offsets? Can you use wheels that are meant for other models or brands? If so which ones?
Thanks

 

I don't think it'll work on the jag, ABS will not work properly if you have different diameters F and R. That holds true for most vehicles. I tried a 18/19 "staggered' setup on my last vehicle despite what people said, and the ABS would kick in every time I even slightly pressed the brake pedal. Due to the different diameters it sensed a different speed front and rear, which it interpreted as loosing traction. Looked great, but I sold the setup due to safety concerns.

It does work on the corvettes, 911's, and a handful of other higher end sports cars that have the ABS controller calibrated for it.

 

See... THAT is the kind of info I was looking for. I knew that this forum would yield an interesting comment. That's something that I didn't know about. Thanks!

 

..............and perhaps throw the speedometer reading due to greater circumference meaning fractionally greater distance covered per wheel revolution?

Graham