Hi folks

Can anyone help???

Here's the scenario - a new family car was required, to be driven primarily by wifey. Hubby was concerned about safety of new born mini-wifey given wifeys record of mishaps on snow so buys a car renowned for great winter handling and gets it shod with the best winter tyres money can buy. After moaning about the fact that it the vehicle was a station wagon for a significant period, Wifey comes to like the ability to store more junk in the vehicle than ever before, and after getting used to its superior handling abilities, adjusts her driving technique accordingly and loses control on a snow covered bend, driving the car up a kerb at high speed. Later the same day, hubby notices half the radiator splitter has mysteriously disappeared + steering wheel has to be held at 11 o'clock to drive in a straight line. Wifey confirms maximum extent of damage was to a demolished blue recycling bin on the kerb and that the car is "fine"

So, to cut to the chase - our local wheel specialist has advised that one of the front wheels is toast. Is there anyone out there with a spare Melbourne 18" and willing to ship to the Toronto area if not local? We thought we had sourced a single Melbourne rim and instructed the wheel shop to go ahead and recondition the other 3 on that basis - and then the promised wheel became unavailable....... As of today, I have 3 wheels on my wagon (+ the space saver which makes the car look real classy)

Thoughts on sourcing a radiator splitter part welcome too. I'll be taking the car to a Jag dealership for service and alignment once I have 4 wheels and asking them to quote to fix/replace whatever needs fixing/replacing but have heard that Jaguar generally want to replace the entire bumper for the sake of a damaged splitter so am afraid about the quote they are going to provide. As I don't want that expense, I need a plan B. (I'm assuming that the absence of half the radiator splitter - drivers side - for an extended period won't do any harm?)

thanks in advance for any advices

 

Whoa.....sorry to hear about your troubles buddy.....

All I can suggest is to put something into the wanted section of you haven't already done so, you've posted here so no doubt the Xperts will be along shortly.

In the meantime we have more than a few really good vendors that may be able to help......I'm assuming your all over Ebay / Craigslist etc or whatever other versions you have there??

BUMP>>>>>Any one help a fellow X typer out????

Good luck

 

>one of the front wheels is toast.

I had to have one of my wheels replaced, too. Found a replacement on eBay, but had the car at a full service tire store at the time (they were replacing the tires and one of the wheels, which had obviously been cracked, refused to hold air when the put the new tire on). The tire store did a search found a reconditioned wheel and had it delivered to them (from Florida, I think) and ended up charging me less than the eBay price.

Shop around that wheel was used from '04-'08 so there are probably plenty of them around. Perhaps the place you bought the tires from could help here (and make a little money, too).
================================================
Jaguar: Grace, Pace, and Space - Sir William Lyons

 

Thanks guys for those quick replys.

It seems it's a strangely rare wheel out here in Canada/N America - I've never seen another X type on the road (or for sale in autotrader and so on) with these wheels even though they are OEM, etc. Based on the price the Jag dealer quoted me to source one, maybe it was just an option too far for most buyers?

Anyway, I've got some real friendly folk at Detroit Wheel and Tyre helping out with the search but nothing doing yet + awaiting some other responses from e-bay sellers. I am finding that "in stock" on e-bay often means "will try and source item if someone tries to buy it".........

All good fun!! The local wheelshop gave up looking pretty fast - when I asked them to keep trying, they just said "...It's not like it's a Nissan Altima you know....". And so I have to conclude that despite occasional problems associated with owning this car like this one, life could be much worse!!!!! + my beloved owes me lots of free evening passes to the pub as a result of all this!!

 

We have more than a few members in the Toronto area. You could also make a request in the Regional Section.

Best of luck.

 

Daany, sorry to hear about your issues. As you are finding out, those wheels are hard to replace. They are pretty rare as they are 18" and not too many Xs came with them. I have teh same problem trying to replace Aruba wheels on my car. It will be a pain, but set up an alert on E-Bay so if anything does come up you will be notified and when you see something at the right price buy it. There are a ton of sites that sell refurbished factory wheels and even if you find one that is selling your wheel that doesn't mean they have it in stock. They will sell it at that price if they get one in whenever that might be. Short of buying a new one from the dealer you will have to keep searching. I would suggest that you get a spare to have so if this ever happens again you will be ready. With the lower profile tires and pot holed roads it will probably happen again at some point. I have had to replace two so far in teh 3 1/2 years I have owned my car. Good luck in your search.

 

Danny, you can try Welsh Enterprises. Welsh Enterprises, Inc - Jaguar Jaguar Wheels Parts - 18 X-TYPE MELBOURNE WHEELS. But, you may have to buy a set. Melbournes are rare in NA.

I think Jeremy (exexpat) has a set but not sure if he will ever part with them. Your other solution is to see if you can source one in the UK (there are always a few on ebay.UK.Co), and see if a Forum Member will help ship it to you.

Any UK members up for that?

 

Quick closeout to this one - first - many thanks to all who responsed. (Welsh Enterprises indeed have a set but didn't want to split it which is understandable - the red wheel hubs caps they sell are looking like a possible match for the Phoenix Red on the car though....... ).

I did eventually find find two e-bay sellers selling single wheels which they were in a position to sell. The wheel should be on tomorrow and then the space saver goes back under the floor of the trunk and out of sight thank goodness!!