I just had my rear pads replaced and was retrieving the wheel lock tool from the trunk below the spare donut. I noticed a couple of empty slots in the styrofoam tool holder and was wondering if those were just extra slots for other applications or am I missing a couple of tools. In the attached jpg you can see one of the slots below the bar (to the left of the wheel lock socket) and another empty round slot to the right of the socket. Not sure what these could have been--any ideas?

Thanks,

Doug

 

Doug
The only thing I see missing is your tow hook, When they shipped them over they had them installed for shipping one in front another in the back. The dealers remove them and are suppose to put one in the tool kit. But many never made it into the kit. It's a lot easier to toss it in a box than to remove the spare and install it. Bob Gauff, (Motorcarman) did have a few he was selling a couple of years ago, he may still have some left.

 

So what was the tow hook used for. Towing something else or having the car itself towed?

Doug

 

To tow the car itself, you will have a position at the back on the trunk floor, righthand side...... yours will be covered by a flap built into the bumper, 2 positions at the front one either side with a black plastic bung covering it

 

You are missing the Tow Hook and the black plastic tubular tool for removing the locking wheel nut covers.



XK8's leave the factory with Tow Hooks fitted front and rear. They are more for tie-down than for towing.

Part of the PDI instructions to dealers is to remove both, fit blanking plugs, stow one Tow Hook in the tool tray and discard the other. In practice, they are often missing from the toolkit.

How do you remove the locking wheel nut covers without the tool shown on the right of the pic?

Graham

 

Seems like a lot of owners are missing the tow hook based on previous threads regarding this.

As to the wheel lock tool, I do not have the type of lock shown in your photo. At each wheel 4 of the lugs are the standard 2-piece kind and the fifth is a McGard style lug with a pattern embossed on the front. The shiny socket shown in my photo is for removing the McGard lug.

By the way, I have always wondered what's with the 2-piece construction of the lug nuts used on our cars? Who came up with that? I have never seen lug nuts that are constructed in this way.

Doug

 

Many of the auto companies use the lousy two-piece, capped lug nuts. They are cheaper than solid lug nuts (and therefore a cost-saver for the companies), but they cause so many problems for owners needing to remove their wheels for tire service once they begin to break down and fall apart. Since the mid-1990s, I've proclaimed that any vehicle selling for more than $30,000 new should be required to come with solid lug nuts....

 

As written by Graham
I believe that that was a option earlier on, My car never had the locking lug nut. Although I think it was offered as a option at the time.

 

+1

The Jaguar nuts are junk. Covers eventually loosen and just spin making it extremely difficult to remove the nuts. The locking nut cover is a cheap bit of pressed metal which doesn't even fit properly.
Graham

 

I can't speak specifically to Jaguars, but on other imported cars that I have owned, I was told that various pad eyes or other such hooks were indeed for the purpose of securing the car during transport and not really intended to be used to tow it but it is probably the best thing to attach a tow rope/chain to for short distance towing.

In my state I once had to move a vehicle about 80 miles and I called the State Police and asked them if I could tow it with a rope or chain. They told me that it was illegal to do so, but that it was up to the discretion of the officer if I was doing it on smaller roads for short distances, but that I would probably get a ticket for trying to tow it 80 miles on Interstates. (I might mention that this was when I was in my twenties.)

It's not so bad on lightly traveled roads if the two people know what they are doing, but it is extremely dangerous in any sort of traffic or when you don't have a couple of experienced drivers.

 

I assume the purpose of the covers is just so that the lug looks more finished cosmetically? The way that this was taken care of on my 1995 Corvette was that there were plastic covers that screwed onto the lugs. When you need to remove the actual lug you first unscrewed the plastic cap.

Doug

 

Yes - a cheap way to make a mild steel nut look like stainless. The screw on design you've described for the Corvette sounds a much superior engineered solution although perhaps not in plastic for a Jaguar!

Graham

 

But the plastic caps pretty much looked like metal. I realize Jaguar never uses plastic except where it matters like thermostat housings and timing chain tensioners

Doug

 

I just checked my tools and found I am missing the same tools. I don't think I need the wheel tool, just the towing one. I will check with my Jag dealer to see if they have any laying around.

Bill N
03 XKR

 

Anyone thinking they might need to use the Towing Eye rather than just have it in the tool tray for completeness, should check it'll screw in easily. The thread at the rear is well protected but the front isn't.

Better to try this in the comfort of the garage rather than the side of the road on a cold, wet night in the middle of nowhere. (D****d throttle bodies!! )

Even when the plastic bungs have been fitted, the front thread picks up road dirt and rusts.

Graham

 

As written by Kevin
Jaguar never intended the tow hook for towing the vehicle any distance. It's for hooking up to be winched onto a flatbed, pulling out of a ditch, etc. It will explain it in the owners manual. Don't ever let anyone try hoisting the car up with a older hoist style wrecker.

 

Yep, that is what I meant by short distance.