I have a complete set of extra wheels and tires and tried the wider tire on the 8 inch wheel specified for the front. If one is sensitive to how this car corners and tracks, this setup is going to annoy you. It also does not look right.

Tried the 8 inch front wheels with proper tires on the rear and everything felt just fine, including pushing the car around in the turns. Yes, it is tempting to have all four the same size and a full size spare for any position. Ah, vanity.

Hate to admit it, but the proper staggered setup does look better. It is a perceptual illusion where the rear wheels look smaller on many cars, especially this one, when the sidewall profile is lower. My friend's XK8 with the standard 17 inch wheels looks fine, if you like those wheels.

As for handling, many performance cars do need this, probably an XKR, but with this one ... vanity wins.

And, maybe one day it will save my skin on a twisty road. She is beautiful, but that rump could cause a pendulum effect if one gets stupid.

 

That's good to know. I had no idea 9" rims won't fit the front. Are you sure about that? I am lucky, we don't have car inspections in Florida.

 

I have an 05 with 19” staggered rims and I put 245s all around. No issues whatsoever. 10mm difference in width is negligible.

 

just curious, why ?

Z

 

Well I bought a non functional car and decided to do it on low budget. It had flat crispy tires and sat for a couple of years. AZ car so otherwise not too bad. Didn’t run and not sure what it would cost to get it running. First thing it needed was tires so I could move the car around. I found a brand new set of Roadhugger 245s for $400 mounted and balanced cash out the door. A little Hispanic tire shop on the west side of Phoenix. Couldn’t resist. The car runs now and the tires are great. Perfect for me. I believe Roadhugger is an in-house brand from Discount Tire and made by Khumo or Toyo. Not positive on this so take it with a grain of salt.

 

The 4.0 XKR as fitted from the factory.

18" wheels
245/45 front on 8"
255/45 rear on 9"

19" wheels
245/40 front on 8"
255/40 rear on 9"

20" wheels
255/35 front on 9"
285/30 rear on 10"

The regular 4.0 XK8 with standard 'sport' suspension had 17 x 8" all around.
245/50 R 17 all around.

 

9" rims are actually specified for front in 20" diameter so width alone is not determining factor.
l played around with my detroits some time back due to barrel damage, fitting front wheel centre to rear wheel 10 inch barrel and it fitted up front without any problem. In the end l repaired damage and left stock setup.

 

New memeber here ,I have a 1999 4.0 XK8 with the stock 17" wheels .My Question , how much difference or improved handling would I experience
Going to 18" wheel , And as a caveat I would likley think about using spacers with a 10 ml diff front to rear

 

No difference at all on the road. The spacers will load up the wheel bearings and upset the steering geometry. Adjusting tyre pressures my give you a better ride.
You would be much better spending your time changing the transmission fluid . bleeding the brakes and checking all the pads and discs.

 

I wouldn't put spacers on any car of mine, for the reasons PB has stated.

Check out 'scrub radius' re front geometry.

 

I went from stock 17's on my 2000 to 18's no spacer required

 

thanks pistnbroke .. just checkin out options .
was is funny ,is that all of the things you said I would be better off doing . is exacxly what Im doing at the moment .
putting on EBC red stuff pads ect..
i would like your opion on just switching up to staggerd 18" s from stock 17 S
in handling and ride quality .. and also i think my bolt pattern for the 99 model year limits me to 1.26 so i might need an adapter .
What is odd it seems Tire prices are a bit lower on the 18" wheels then 17S

 

Going to an 18 inch wheel will broaden tire choices. Even at a lower price point, one can purchase better grip in the 18 simply due to more choices. My friend with the 17s has problems finding what he wants. The staggered does allow for better control of over steer with a wider tire. Do not use spacers unless the geometry of the wheel allows for the exact same bearing loading as OEM. Even then as previously stated there might be scrub issues.

 

I agree with previous postings. The difference in handling and road feel will be negligible 17” vs. 18”.

Those qualities can be adjusted with tire pressure and be evaluated easily. Be advised that using the owners manual standard recommended tire pressure was too high in my ‘02 XKR coupe, resulting in greater tire wear on the center of the tread, that being a typical indicator of excessive air pressure.

I felt the “comfort” factory spec, for speeds under 100 mph, was a tad too low. Besides, I might venture over 100 mph occasionally. Completely inadvertently of course.



So I settled for a midpoint, which is giving me even tire wear .

Z

PS let us know how you like those ebc red stuff pads, after they are broken in of course via the ebc instructions. Follow the instructions and you will have a substantial improvement over the OEM pads, if my ebc red stuff experiences are any indication.

 

if you're looking for factory wheels 18" staggered - check out this ad in the forum market place - price dropped to $500 obo - double 5's are some of the best looking Jag rims on the XK8/R's. May need a bit of refurb but kwicksilver wheel repair should be able to fix them at minimal cost
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/m...40#post2542984

 

Z - LOL am so "surprised" to hear you mention driving at extra legal speeds Did some research on ebc red stuff. Sounds like a great product. Also claims low dust which is of course an issue for me.

 

I was just setting pressures on my tires when I realised I have 245s on front and back and its supposed to have 255s on the back, and it led me to this thread

DOES anyone know if there is a marking/size on the wheel itself indicating which are the 9s and which are the 8s? Obvs I could measure it but that's easier said than done with the tire on there, and I am wondering if theyve been rotated before.

Well the DOT codes on them are 2016 so i guess its pilot sports for me...

Tire geometry is flexible enough that its generally not a problem to fit similar but not quite the right size tires on wheels (miata scene has been doing this to an outrageous extent for years) but I wouldnt want the wheels the wrong way around and the only reason to do this would be to make it easier to rotate tires, which would be dumb with the different width wheels.

 

Got ruler? Yes, it is that easy. Measure through the interior of the wheel.

 

There should be marking/writing on the back of the wheel somewhere indicating size/part number.

 

Thank you!