Photo to give context. Jag in question is the red one.
So the jag should get new shoes. The tires have plenty of tread, but they are old and there is cracking on the sidewalls. They hold air just fine, but still I'm hesitant to go on long drives because I don't want to get stuck for lack of a good tire.
I'm now of course thinking if I need to buy new tires, should I also get new wheels? Car is 5*4.75 so it's a common bolt pattern, and I'd love a gold to offset the pinstripe. Maybe some of the xjs meshies with gold centers? Corvette c4 wheels would also be awesome with some gold accenting, but at a full 2 inches wider I'm a bit concerned I'd be trading driveabilility for looks. (Things like rubbing at full lock, or making the car even slower, etc). Maybe something aftermarket if I can find something really cool? Other ideas? Also, if I should just replace the tires any recommendations?
Budget reasonable, but I'm $2k into the car so not doubling that on wheels.
FMB42
Reader
3/31/21 3:16 p.m.
I like the OEM wheels myself. That's not only a great looking car, but a real driver's vehicle as well. My dad had a similar late '80s Jag that he absolutely loved to drive. He said driving it was almost like flying (he was a US Army pilot for 6 years back in the '50s).
I would not change the wheels. If you must upgrade to a newer set I would go and get some used from a newer Jag. As for tires I always had like Contentials on them. Pic your tire as they make a range from all weathers to some very good summer only tires. Never been let down by any of them.
I was thinking the mesh wheels from the similar era xjs.
Here's an example, but I think I'd even try to paint the mesh part gold.
Or go for Pontiac mesh wheels—they're already gold in the center.
Personally I think Continental has the best value right now for the "Best" category tires.
I base this rating on the tire display my grandpa had in his tire store.
"Good" "Better" "Best" for the increasing scale in the quality/performance spectrum we had to offer.
You are very much width limited in the rear, both inner fender and outer. If it fits the XJS it will fit. Some possible diameter upgrades as well.
There was a guy running around here with the early chrome and hubcap XJ6 wheels on his later car and it looked tremendously good.
You have a unique opportunity here.
TransAm and Camaro GTAs from the 80s had mesh wheels with a staggered offset. Rears were positive offset, fronts were zero. IIRC, Jags had a +20 ish offset?
Here's the thing... everyone (including me) loves the GTA wheels for A-bodies and G-bodies, but what we need is four fronts to get the zero offset the whole way around. That leaves a ton of rear (positive offset) wheels unloved, unpurchased, and unappreciated.
As someone who has tried to buy front/zero GTA wheels before, and tried to sell rear/positive GTA wheels, the rear wheels are the unloved orphans that no one wants. I found a guy with two complete sets of GTA wheels on CL and I offered to buy the four fronts. He actually offered me a discount if I would just take the rears along with the deal.
Edit.... factory GTA wheels are 16x8
Photo for reference, but they came in silver, gold, or black... or can be made in whatever color you want with a little effort.
This is my LeMans with four GTA fronts on it. They're painted a dark charcoal, although they look black in this photo.
Just double checked.... The GMs of that era had a 3mm smaller hub bore than your Jag. Still a workable plan, but maybe a router with a carbide flush cut bit can help.
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
Are those 5 x 4.75?
I don't know anything about gm wheels except some share bolt pattern with Jaguar for awhile until Jag switched to 5x108. And Jag hub is on the large side.
In reply to yupididit :
Yes, 5x4.75.
Jag hubs are 3-ish mm larger, so a bit of work needs to be done. 1/2" flush-cut router bit with a 3/8" bearing on it would take an hour.
Jag used the 5x4.75 pattern from 63-03 on most models, and through 06 on the XKR. Hub bore on the GMs is 70.3mm, Jag is 74mm
Ah, I figured someone would chime in with more info on the Pontiac meshes!
Truth be told, I'd love a set for my W126 (with 5x112-5x1~121 spacers, of course).
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
THIS is really good info. Wonder where to search for that... GTA boards? (do you happen to still have all the rears that you took because of discount...?)
Also, so I've got this for later. Stock Jag tire is 205/70 15. Currently on the car is 215/70 15 (probably because 205/70 is limited selection). Looks like the GTA wheels are stock with 245/50 16, which is pretty close in diameter to 205/70 15, and shorter than 215/70 15. It is also about 1 inch wider than what is currently on the car, which would probably fit based on casual looking.
Get a custom set of 17" wheels made to look like an enlarged version of the stock wheels. I can't imagine the cost would be "reasonable" but maybe you could consider them budget neutral as they would be so cool someone would definitely buy them at a later date...
And, it looks like there may have been a factory wheel offered for the xj12 (series 3, so basically the same as mine) that was a 245/60 16 on a 16x7.5 ET28 wheel.
Gold Mesh style would look great!
linky
In reply to Indy "Nub" Guy :
Wish there's some 16 or 17's in similar style.
There's lots of BMW wheels that could work nice on this with their 5 x 120 mm bolt pattern in 15" and 16" (and up) sizes with widths from 6" to 8" including plenty with a classic mesh design. The typical centre bore is 72.6 mm so a bit smaller than the Jag 73.8 so you would have to deal with that (BMW E39 wheels are 74.1 mm so those are fine). Most of these smaller diameter wheels aren't particularly loved so you should be able to find them cheap, I run 16 x 8 et23 E38 wheels on my E28 track car and for the 9 I have I paid on average $42 CAD/wheel.
Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
THIS is really good info. Wonder where to search for that... GTA boards? (do you happen to still have all the rears that you took because of discount...?)
I actually sold my rears to a guy with a BMW 5-series. They have a 5x120 pattern, and 4.75" equals 120.65mm. He had to lathe out the centerbore a bit as well by a mm or two. In his case, he wanted the wheels to be hubcentric since the pattern was a half a hair different. In your case, just use acorn nuts and you don't need the hub bore to be pretty.
I found mine on Craigslist, but that was before FB marketplace took off. It seems to have crushed the list of Craigs.
car-part.com, FBM, CL, Freecycle, F-body forums.
