Howdy, I bought an '06 XK8 in December. It's been a garage queen for 2 months now (and probably will continue to be for a few more weeks) but I'm starting to think about "playing" with it a bit.

I was wondering if you folks could give me some guidance on wheels and tires for a bit of Autocrossing and maybe a day or two for an HPDE at a track.

I was wondering what offset ranges work?

Will the rear width wheel/tire work on the front?

If not how detrimental is running the smaller width wheel on the back to match? Rotating tires at the track usually proves beneficial for tire life, and, obviously, all the same size extends the rotation options.

Now tires?

Was thinking Toyo Proxes, or Falken 452, but then I read about these
Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta's..
Thoughts? Others?

Any notions on alternate sizes of tires?
I'm planning on sticking with stock size wheels.

Thanks

 

Should be interesting to take it to autocross!

My rear tires are different than the front and that is the spec.

Unfortunately, it prevents me from doing anything other than left/right rotations. Also, if only one tire is damaged, you may need to replace two at a time.

 

I know there are people who run 4 rear (wider) wheels and tires so they can rotate. I'm not sure how wide you can go on the front. I think Rev. Sam fit a 275 width on the rear wheels of his car. I'm not completely sure if that will fit up front, but if it does, that would probably be the best to run for all four.

 

So, you think the 9.5" wide wheels fit OK in the front with 255/40/19's?

I'm Keith too.

 

Yes they will.

 

Does anybody have notions on tires?
The Hankooks were another brand that came to mind. The RS-3 looks to be their most competitive available in a 19" size.
But the largest available for a 19" wheel is 245/40, kind of makes an 8.5" width on the wheel acceptable if one goes with these tires.
So, does anybody have experience with these (Hankook RS-3's) versus say a Vredestein or Toyo Proxes R1? or anything else?.
Alternately, what thoughts might someone have on a using a larger less "sticky" tire versus the smaller more grip tire?

 

I have 285's on the rear and 275's on the front with stock rims. I just took some measurements on my car and it looks like 285's would fit on the front, but just barely. So, if you wanted to get 4 rear rims and run 285's on all 4 corners it should probably work. If you want to play it safe, though, you could run 275's. I know for a fact that 275's fit the front with no problems.

Oh, by the way, my sidewalls are 30's, not the stock 35's. That's on 19 inch rims.