Today I replaced the 20mm H&R wheel spacers on the back wheels of my '08 XK with 15mm ones. The 20mm is perfect for the front wheels but, puts the rears just a little too far out. Now they look perfect.

BUT...

With my stock factory wheels the factory wheel studs touched the inside of the wheel indents. I had enough room between the spokes to insert a feeler gauge to see if there was any clearance left between the factory wheel studs and the wheel; there was none left. The back of the wheel indents were touching the wheel studs, instead of mating up with the hub surface, as they should. I also put chalk powder on to the wheel indents to see if they touch and they did. It is so close that some people may think that the wheel mounted up OK, when, in effect it is riding on the very ends of the bolts.

My solution was to use a high speed compressed air cutter to cut about 3mm off the lead shoulder of the factory bolts, shortening them. That part of the bolt is a "guide pin" with no threads on them so, it really makes no difference if they are there or not.

Now, the wheels are installed correctly and the spacing is perfect for the back. So, 20mm front, 15mm rear for the XK with the standard wheels.

I know that a number of people here used the 15mm spacers recently for the back and/or the front. If you are one of them, please check to make sure that there is space between the ends of the bolts and the inside of the wheel indents. If not, it could cause a number of issues...

These are kind of spacers I'm talking about:

H&R Wheel Spacers For Jaguar Cabrio 2007-up 20mm (4035633)

Albert

 

On another note ... the whole concept of wheel spacers just sounds like a bad idea from the get go.

 

The H&Rs are very high quality, hub-centric spacers that deserve a chance over the old one-fit-for-all spacers that gathered all that bad reputation. They do improve handling by widening the track and improve the looks, as well. I'm rather particular about aftermarket parts that I'm willing to install on the XK but, this, IMO, is OK, if done right.

Albert

 

I'd rather buy new wheels that match the specs I like than use spacers. That's just me.

 

I chose a car that didn't need spacers, springs or wheels...but that's just me But when I needed to change wheels on another car to fit wider tires I did use H&R spacers and they are a quality product.

 

Let's put it this way ... would wheel spacers pass tech inspection?

 

Interesting! We must have different wheel types as I recently installed the H&R spacers as well. Mine are on an 07' XK w/ the 19" wheels, 245s up front and 285s in the rear. I found that the 20mm worked fairly well for the rear (although I probably would go with 25mm if I could do it over again) and 30mm for the front. Definitely had to take a bit off of the studs to get good contact with the hub though.

As spacers go, I am not really a huge fan (especially such drastic widths) but the H&R spacers are really solid quality and given how they bolt to hubs, I don't see how it could really degrade performance on the street.

 

The MR2T with hubcentric spacers passed many PCA and BMW HPDE techs. They are very common on track cars.

 

Ok then

 

This is very true. I added them to my Alfa Romeo time-trialer to increase camber and add Hoosier slicks with Speedline wheels.

 

H&R are the best in the World, all their products are aimed for the race track and past all strict tests in all territories. Many of the products often end up on production cars, same in F1 world etc.

You have to completely erase the spacer days of old in your mind where wheels would fall off cars! These where simply a spacer put over the original hub giving each wheel nut 12- 20 mm less thread to hold the wheel on, hence why they fell off!

Also there is no more stress on the bearings or any of the suspension components than with using wheels with different offset. I expect aftermarket wheels actually add more stress due to the extra weight of the wider wheels and tyres.

 

Indeed, very interesting. What you are saying goes against all the H&R/XK/R experiences on this forum. First, my tires are also the optional for 2008, 245 fronts and 275 rears. Besides that everyone so far reported that 20mm on the rear was as far as anyone could go. Even that would touch the fender if lowered, as per Pacio's XKR. If we'd go 25mm the tire would stick out beyond the fender. Same with trying 30mm up front.

I wonder if you really have factory OEM wheels on your car?

Albert

 

Generally wheel spacers (Extending the track by using spacers between the wheel and drum or disc plate) substantially increases wheel bearing load due to increased levelage. This may result in premature wheel bearing failure. It may well look nice, but as usual, there is a trade off, mechanical failure. Not a great idea.

 

Widening the track this way (or changing ride height) also changes the suspension geometry in some ways, and I'd be curious what that effect is if anyone is up on their suspension design. I don't imagine many will worry too much about it either way, but it's always good to know what the effects are.

 

I expected a very slightly measurable amount of lowering due to the longer control arm distances but, can not really prove that. Car sits pretty much where it did before the spacers. As far as camber and toe changes; no reason for any of that unless the ride height changes.

I do not like to claim subjective "feelings" about car performance but, if anything, the ride quality has improved, as well as the handling improved. The ride could make sense, again, as the result of a longer arm acting on the springs. Handling, of course, tends to improve with wider track.

As to the loading of the bearings, I've heard that theory decades ago but, never really witnessed any bearing problems for those using spacers. I did too use spacers on my race cars with HUGE amounts of cornering loads on those bearings (from slick tires) and never had a single bearing problem.

Albert

 

Probably one of the most common mods you see to cars are changing the wheels. This will be doing exactly the same, probably adding a little more stress to components due to the extra weight of bigger rims and tyres.

We're in the 21st century now, components are made well, unlike 20 years ago when it was common place to have wheel bearings etc changed upon a 50,000 mile service. There's plenty of modern cars, vans and trucks out there with 150,000 miles plus that have never had a wheel bearing replaced.
Ignore the old stigma of wheel spacers, that was in the 80's.

 

the people who really can explain these questions are Spires

Spires :: Specialist Jaguar tuning, XF and XK

Their coil over set-up makes the XK-RS a more driver focused car....

 

Hey Guys! I just picked up a 2007 Jag XK Convertable. San Diego, CA. Jag dealer certified, black/black, totally mint w/only 48k miles.

I want to throw on some wheel spacers. I've read here that 25mm (front) and 20mm (rear) is the max that should be applied.

1st: Does anyone have pics of these spacers with OEM 19" wheels?
2nd: How do I choose the specific spacer? Seems like everyone agrees on H&R, Hub-Centric .. but when I look online, there are other questions like "Trak"?

Also, I was thinking about picking up some brake caliper covers. Any suggestions? Are the MGP covers any good?

MGP 41004SJALRD - MGP Brake Caliper Covers - FREE SHIPPING!

Can't wait to dig in! Thanks for your help guys!

Vince

 

Welcome aboard, pics are mandatory or nobody believes you. MGP caliper covers can be bought for less money on either Amazon or particularly on EBay. I'm very curious is your 07 vert a CPO vehicle? I thought Jaguar only CPO'd cars when they were less than 5 years old and had less than 40k miles,

 

Yep, I think just a mis-type as no one CPO's a car older than 5 years, certainly not Jaguar. Dealerships can certify cars but they're usually independent dealers and the cert means little.

I bought these off a forum member. Very happy with them.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/p...s-x150-170146/

I know a lot of guys paint the calipers but you still have to clean them. The covers are easy to get at and never have to remove the wheels. I like the smooth, simply for the cleaning aspect, but these are custom.

Someone else can jump in on the spacers.

As Ralph says, no pics, the sale never happened