Gentlemen, I could use a little help.

First post here and I have done my homework by cruising the "frequently asked section" but couldn't find the answers to a few questions.

A few years back I purchase my wife a '05 XKR and she loved it. A few years later we sold our So Cal business and moved to N Idaho but not before selling the car. Big mistake we both miss driving it and so I'm back in the market trying to replace it. I have located a very low mile car that is almost perfect except that in less than 7000 miles the current owner has managed to scuff all four wheels. The damage is very minor so I'm not concerned about alignment issues but do want to fix them. My first question is are the stainless steel appearing 3/4 wide trim rings on the factory wheels replaceable? Besides the rings the wheels are perfect. My second question is about the super charger. Has anyone replace the stock pulley with a smaller diameter one? I have a Ford GT and on that Ford product () the pulley swap and computer re-flash is a safe, inexpensive and simple way to add some additional HP. I have a buddy with a Z8 that was about a length quicker than my old XKR and I'd like to correct that issue right from the start with this replacement XKR.
Thanks in advance, and nice forum!

Steve

 

Yes on both counts

Most remove the trims and get the rim polished or painted as the trims cost about $200 each plus fitting

Pulley conversions are very common, top pulleys cost $250ish (I'm in the UK so guessing a bit here, I can give our prices easy enough)
Bottom pulleys cost more and better to do IMO, however I do have both done on my XKR

 

Thanks for the quick reply.

I'm guessing the rings are a factory OEM replacement part? And what kind of HP and TQ increases did you achieve. Any stories of people hurting their motors doing this?
I'll go do better job of searching the forums for pulley swap discussions.

Thanks again!

 

Ok, found a few threads and got my questions answered.

Thanks again!

 

Glad you found your answers..... If you get pulleys done, drive steady for about 500 miles, your ECU needs to recalibrate itself to the extra air coming in otherwise you will run lean and damage pistons, a bit like these...



This is what can happen if you do a load of mods and just go out and give it the biggun

 

Ugly to say the least. So, you don't reflash the computer on these cars with an SCT or Diablo but instead let the car reprogram its self? My first thought is the 15 to 45 added HP may not be worth the hassle, I had no idea the supercharger was so maxed out.

 

Correct, these ECUs can self-adjust over a wide range, as has been well proven by our esteemed member Avos and his 100-200 HP Twin Screw KB supercharger upgrade.

The swap still provide some pretty good bang for the buck for light use where a cooldown period for the supercharger is possible. Improving the supercharger cooling can help further.

 

Welcome, Steve. I-90 should be great fun in an XKR. 12, especially over Lolo should be terrific, too. Enjoy!