HI all,.....
Any one have any experience with fitting front and rear wheel spacer's to fill out the arches.

Im looking to fit some to my 18" flute wheels which has the standard size tyres fitted as recommended by jaguar for the staggered wheel setup.

Thinking of 20mm front and 25mm rear,..
Any pros and cons welcome..Thanks..

 

cons: any spacer over 1/4" thick is putting too much stress on the wheel studs. Wheel adaptors are a better solution, but they are generally going to be thicker than your target .

Z

 

What’s the difference between a wheel adapter and a wheel spacer? What thickness is necessary for the Hydra wheel to sit flush with the wheel archs?

 

a basic google search will show you the difference .

A tape measure should be your
answer re thickness.

Z

 

I wouldn't fit them on any car of mine.
They change the offset so the wheel centre line isn't where the suspension/steering designer expected it to be causing what zray states and possibly worse.

Only proper way IMO is wider rims that maintain the correct offset.

Now where is my asbestos suit....

 

^^^^^^ 100% right.


Z

 

I have 25mm hubcentric wheel adapters on the rear on my XK8 with no issues. I'm eventually going to widen the 8" wheels to 9.5" to make the offset close to stock. Less that 25mm, you need to worry about the studs hitting the back of the wheel, but some wheel designs make this a non issue.

I ran adapters on my recently deceased race car for over 15 years at speeds up to 170 mph and ever after a 100+ MPH crash with 5 plus rolls and the tires knocked off the rims, the adapters were undamaged. Just driving around, I wouldn't worry about them.

The one thing that is a must a must is anti-seize on the hubcentric rim and stud wells.

 

Thanks for all the comments and info....( duly noted )...need to look in to the cons more.

Im looking at the H+R hubcentric spacers that are the same as a wheel adapter but dont change the stud pattern.

I dont want to go to 20" rims as im happy with the 18" and the ride they give, but would like to fill out the arches and dont know of any 18"s that would do this.

Thanks for the tip on the anti-seize....Think i should be ok with the stud clearance as the 18" flutes have the hollowed out recess between the stud holes on the back of the rim.
Really want to do this, but still undecided so any other comments would be welcome...
Thanks....

 

Here is pictures of my Before/After in Back with 1.25" spacers and 8" Revolvers.

Before:


and After:

 

It looks so much better with it. I don't know why Lawson designed this car with such recessed wheels.

 

devils advocate here,

maybe they are a bit recessed, but spacing them out has some drawbacks. From the wheel well on to the rear of the car, the beautifully executed tapering has the consequence to exposing the rear half of a tire / wheel if it's spaced out much at all from the stock position, as shown in the previous post..

With any exposed wheel tread, besides throwing rocks to the cars behind you, you will be abrading the paint behind the wheel as well. Two outcomes that outweigh any perceived cosmetic improvement, IMHO.

Z.

 

This is a great point/caveat. But there is a solution (not cheap though). Jaguar themselves spotted this issue when they went up to the 10" wide rears, and they fitted those cars with these rubber wheel well extensions that flare out enough to block the debris. It's a subtle thing, but I imagine they work. I think you can get them from SB Wheels or DCR parts these days. I would give a part number if I had one.

 

The look is much better with the wheel filling the arch.
Thanks for the pictures Ungn...

Yes Zray you have a really good point,and one that needs consideration if this is to be done.

EnjoyEverySandwich has kindly given the solution to this issue, and yes the solution is not cheap but a must for the MOT in the uk..

Im running 8J front and 9J rear so with the 25mm rear spacer it should look similar to Ungn's car, also if he can run his race car for 15+ years at speeds of 170+ and have a 5+ roll at over 100mph with the adapters undamaged, i think as he says i should be ok just driving around with the spacers fitted.

Now fitting the Front 20mm spacers may be a different matter if it messes with the geometry, and has a detrimental effect on the steering,braking etc.

I did read some where that some one fitted a set of 9J rear rims on the front to fill out the front archers.
Thanks for all comments and help.......

EDIT-.........Wheel arch moulding kit part number HJE4590AA now superseded with part number BPK317.

 

Running the same width of rims in the front and back is an interesting solution. You would get the more aggressive stance without having to use spacers in the front. As a bonus, you could use a 9J full size spare should you need it.

 

Great find on the part number. It's actually cheaper than I remember! Probably worth it to protect the paint.

 

Running a square set up would also have the added bonus of being able to rotate your tires. I would've run 10" all around if they could've fit in the front.

 

Well the rear 25mm are fitted and make a big difference to the look ...
Not to sure what to do with the front as it looks ok as it is for now........

.....BUT....

The spec's for my 2001 xkr relating to the front and rear wheel track are as stock..
FRONT-- 1503.68mm (59,2")
REAR---- 1498.60mm (59.0")
So the front track is 5.08mm (0.2") more than the rear track which gives the stock track setting more over steer..

Now with the 25mm spacers fitted to the rear,The front and rear wheel track is..
FRONT--1503.68mm (59.2")
REAR----1548.60mm (60.9")
So now the rear track is 45.08mm (1.77") more than the front track which gives the track setting more under steer..

THE QUESTION IS---
In the real world dos'e this make that much difference to the handling of the car, or should i be looking to do something with the front wheels, to compensate for the now extra under steer.

Thanks for all opinions and advice regarding this matter..

 

Slight changes in track doesn't change understeer as much as rear tire size (height and width) or camber/caster.

If the car understeers excessively, you could shift the shims in the Front upper wishbones for more caster, add a thicker spacer in the rear axles to give less negative camber in back or use slightly lower springs in front to give more static/dynamic negative Camber in front.

With an XKR, you already have a larger rear swaybar, which helps reduce understeer.

 

Thanks Ungn for all your help and input .........
I was hoping for a reply to the question from someone knowledgeable like yourself ..

Since the fitting of the rear spacers iv not had a chance to test the handling of the car yet (weather not to good).
Hopefully this weekend i'll give it a good run out and then re check the torque on the spacers.

Haven't yet fitted the rear wheel arch moulding kit, got one from british parts and hope to fit it soon, may also fit new front anti roll bar bushings.












LOOKING MUCH BETTER .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ..................

 

clear bra that area like people do to the front ends, problem solved