this week I had new tires mounted and used a set of Turbo wheels I had sourced many years ago and that had been lying about over the same time. They are clearly not immaculate - but after all it is a driver’s car and with some spots and pickles the chromed wheels are lining up with the rest of the car.
First point: initially, it looked like the Turbo wheels had a larger inset than the stock wheels. However, the Turbo wheels carry the same data as the original stock steel wheels: 6JK x 15 x 35. The original wheels sport the Dunlop logo and “921A”. The Turbo wheels likewise say “LP921A”.
Second point: I had the tire shop check the “new” wheels prior to installation. They found considerable flaws both lateral run out and concentric run out. However they tested two of the original Dunlop wheels which were found to be just as flawed. So we installed the chrome wheels. No ill effect so far.
Now, the one thing that got me curious was that on the Dunlop steel wheels there were codes hit into the wheels after production, namely “J4E”, “K4E”, “K4E” and “K4D”. Could it be that Dunlop checked their own wheels post-production and bundled them in pairs of four that were found to be matching somehow? What else would be the purpose of these codes?
One of my Turbo wheels doesn’t have any though - no idea why … maybe a spare wheel?
My other Turbo wheels carry “B0B”, “K4I” and “A5B” which is much more erratic than the combinations of characters on my Dunlop wheels.
David, maybe the US distribution policy was different, but in Europe plain Jane XJs came on painted steel wheels that the parts catalogue refers to as “silver grey”. They are made by Dunlop. All specimen had chrome center caps, only the non-eco versions had “rimbellishers”. The chrome Turbo wheel was used as an upgrade in Europe. It was stock on SIII E types, on 12 cylinder and Daimler XJ cars, but certainly not stock on European XJs. During the run of SII it was kind of superseded by the Kent alloy wheel. The SII parts catalogue lists both as alternatives to the silver grey wheel.
Not so public today, but Sir William always tried to keep his Jaguars in the range of fleet buyers. Even the SI was sold as a 2.8 litre car with a base 4 sp transmission, cloth interior, manual windows, no cold air and no armrests.
Getting back to the Turbo wheels - you’re lucky if you’ve got them and a dry climate has been good to them. Once rusty I reckon it’s hard to get them back in shape, not only because it has become difficult to get parts rechromed, but also because chroming seems to stress the metal that is 40+ years old anyhow …
Turbos were standard for the S2 E as well but entry level may have been silver painted. My UK V12 E had silver paint with chrome hub caps and rimbellishers
In the US perhaps, but elsewhere (like Europe) painted steel wheels were standard. I guess it’s the same wheel, but no chrome and no black nor dark grey details. Silver painted (non chrome) wheels always came with chrome rimbellishers, already XK120, MKV, MKVII etc all the way to Ser 2 XJ.
Even my XJ6C sold new in Milan came with painted wheels. As the car is Silver, the painted wheels suit it very well IMO.
I just had new Aquajets fitted to it. Baked in 49/2018 and 205 ER70 just like originally. I like them a lot. Cheers!
At least it would make more sense than finding sets of “matching irregularity” …
