That's interesting, Jagular. I notice you are from Canada so you obviously know what it is like to drive in snow, but my wife is from southern USA and although she has ten years driving in Chicago, she had zero snow driving experience while growing up. Therefore I'm a little freaked out she will slide off the road or get stuck, which is why i was going to go overkill with new rims and the best snow tires I could find. I guess I could always see how the first snow goes. Thx for the input

 

I wouldn't wait for the first snow. The high-performance tires on the S/C are absolutely worthless on accumulated snow and ice, even with the winter mode engaged.

 

Sorry I should have mentioned that for whatever reason there were all season contis on my car when I bought it, which is why I thought I would see how it goes in the first snow. But yeah you're right. No way I would ever think of trying to drive it with summers on it.

 

We went from an XJ8L, which was worthless in any snow AT ALL without dedicated snow tires, to the XF.
The XF's traction and stability systems, plus snow mode, does pretty darn well with all season Continentals. Not deep snow, not sheet ice, but typical winter driving conditions. With snow tires, it will do just fine.

 

OK, for snow newbies read the section in the Owners Handbook about the various settings to use for snow. I have personally tested the recommendations in the Jaguar Handbook against my 40 years of winter driving in all kinds of snow, ice and very cold conditions. Jaguar is absolutely correct. Use their recommended settings and the XF is a great winter car.

Do not rely on all season tires, they are not adequate. Get good quality name brand winter tires on all four wheels (mountain snowflake symbol, not just M+S). Then enjoy the drive.

Also, replace the winter tires when the tread depth gets below 6/32 (5mm). Again, it is the experts who are correct, Tire Rack and snow tire manufacturers recommend replacement at this tread depth. They are correct. The tires don't look worn out but they absolutely are.

I recommend fitting 18 or 19 inch wheels for best winter performance.

 

Up until now, I've been driving a 2000 V6 auto Mustang in the winter and it was white knuckle driving with even a little snow and all season tires. I've recently purchased an XF and spent lots of time considering the awd version because of that. Now that I've had a chance to drive my XF with snow mode on and the stock all season tires during a 300 mile round trip to Cleveland in snow, I can't express how impressed I am with it. So far, I'm glad I saved my $ and didn't go the awd route. Not saying I wouldn't take the awd if it was free though I'll repost my thoughts again when we get deeper snow (>4"). Most roads I was on only had 2".

 

Hi Folks,

I live in Central New Jersey where we have not had that much snow for the past few years.

A few months back I bought a 2012 CPO Jaguar XF.

I have been sitting on the fence about making the investment of winter tires/wheels and TPMS since I am recently retired and really have no need to drive when the roads are covered with snow and ice.

However, I have been making various inquiries about purchasing a used set of wheels and possibly winter tires that have considerable tread left but as of yet I have not had any success.

After reading this thread I see that a few of you were considering selling your winter set up after your leases were up. Is there anyone out there who still has a set of 18 inch wheels and winter tires that they would like to sell? I have already posted in the classified section but have not received any replies. Kindly contact me by e mail at eo145@aol.com if you have anything. Thanks much.

Ed

 

I was stuck probably 10 times during the snowstorm in southern Ontario yesterday. The xf handles extremely well in light snow and the winter mode is excellent. However getting out of a foot of snow is probably asking a bit too much from this vehicle. Nonetheless, I'm happy with the xfs ability to handle winter driving.

 

Try out your local Craiglist or Ebay Classifieds, the middlemen sell off the rims when they come in trade because they'd rather sell a new set to a buyer...

 

Thanks WannaJag,

I have been doing exactly what you suggested but you don't see too many Jaguar compatible wheels for sale. Ebay has some which they are asking a premium for and you don't really know what condition or their history was. Many of them say remanufactured or refurbished. I would prefer to not go aftermarket with the exception of Coventry wheels . That company builds many wheels with Jaguar specs and they are very familiar with Jaguar fitment issues.

Tire Racks lower end wheels are for the most past junk with the exception of Enkei and American Racing which seem to be OK. I think that I will continue to look for a good set of used Coventry wheels or just do nothing. The entire set up is quite an expense for something that here in New Jersey will probably be needed less than a handful of times a year. Decisions, decisions!

Ed

 

That's too bad, up here we use Kijiji mostly, basically our version of Ebay Classifieds and you can set an alert for a search. It took a little while but I didn't have trouble finding them and XFR wheels up here are like finding an Orange Hippopotamus!


Good luck

 

Personally, I think you would be well advised to simply buy a set of snows and use your current wheels. While it is true that after a number of years, you do recoup some of the cost of additional wheels, it is still going to be more economical to just go with tires, and your installer may be able to store the tires for you at a nominal charge.

 

The cost for switching out tires on 18 inch wheels should be much less than for 20's. May be the route to go for your situation.

 

I've been searching on tire rack to find a good set of winter tires, but for some reason they are not showing them anymore (used to show the Pirelli Sottozeros).

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSe...=60100&tab=All

Anyone have any idea where I can find a set of winter tires for a 2010 XF S/C with 20" rims? Perhaps something cheaper than the Sottozeros?

Thanks

 

I am located in NY and have no problem with all season Continental tires that came with the car. Engage Winter Mode for little more safety, as the car dials the responses back a little and you will be fine.

Especially when you say you don't necessarily have to be out driving if it's bad. The snow doesn't last long around the Tri-State area anyways. Maybe a day or two.........watch we get a blizzard now that i opened my mouth.

 

Hi I have a jaguar xf 09 v8 sc and I drive it during winter !

my jaguar sit on 20 inch wheels low profile summer and winter considering I leave in the north of Québec my jag it's going just find even if I'm on winter mode or not. It's sure the tire spin when on ice but I put the best winter tire ( nokien haccapelita r )

It's start first after a night spent outside at minus 45 degree.

for a car like that I'm impress it run fin like that in a rough winter like we have in north québec.

if I had to give a note I'll put 9/10

 

I have 19" rims with four new Bridgestone Blizzak tires and will be selling them in March if anyone wants them then. They make a huge improvement in the driving and it's nice to be able to simply unbolt one set and bolt on the other set with no mounting/balancing, etc.

 

I traded my 2011 XF SC a couple of months ago for a 2012 XJL Portfolio Executive. That SC was so fast and it came with a set of snow tires. I also traded back the used snow tires that had a couple of thousand miles on them at most. They store your snow tires there and switch the on to the wheels each season. They may still have them. Mounting and balancing a tire on a wheel is usually about $15.00 each. That's a lot of changes to pay for rims.

 

Hi - I have the same setup (2010 S/C XF with 20 inch wheels) and I got the Sottozero's last winter. They also were a little hard to find in 20inch at the usual tyre places, but my local Jag dealer was able to get them within a day or so.

I pay a lot more than $15 per wheel for mounting / balancing - it typically comes to $150 to get all four switched over each season. But even then, a lot cheaper than a full set of wheels for 20inch.

I got staggered setup to match the OEM wheels and stanadard tyres (i.e. 255 at front and 285 at rear) - but apparently others on the forum have put 255 all round (they will 'stretch' over the rear wheels apparently). Benefit of that is you can rotate the tyres each year to even out wear.

The sottozero's were expensive - around $400 each I seem to remember...

 

I think the $15 is for switching the wheel and tire winter set, not for switching winter tires for the summer tires onto the same set of wheels.