Anyone else running a V6 'S' on 20" alloys ?

[The Voices]

I have owned my 'personal' V6 'S' for almost 4 years and have only covered about 6,000 miles.

 

In that time I have had to replace 5x tyres due to 'bulges' on the sidewall,

 

Prior to that I had three of the same cars as my company vehicles, the two that had the same 20" wheel and tyre combination also had to have tyres replaced.

 

The one I ordered with the 19" alloys and Dunlop tyres was fine.

 

All of the tyres are the correct 'J' rated Pirellis, I don't drive up kerbs or hit the sidewalls against anything.

 

The tyre failures would appear to be from the usual potholes and bumps that you find on UK roads, obviously I avoid any that I can, but sometimes you have no option if you don't want to swerve onto the wrong side of the road !

 

I even sent one tyre back to Pirelli for examination, as I am convinced that these tyres are 'not fit for purpose'

 

Their response was that the sidewall bulge was due to 'damage' (the tyre had no signs of any scuffs, cuts or marks on the sidewall), rather than a defect in the manufacture of the tyre itself.

 

This seemed like a cop out on their part but I don't have the time or resources to take on a tyre manufacturer !

 

 

 

Therefore, my question is............................

 

Anyone else with this wheel and tyre set up and have you had any issues with the Pirellis ?

 

Also, has anyone tried different branded tyres and with what result ?

 

 

My current solution has been to source and fit a set of the (rarely seen) genuine factory option 18" rims and fit them with Michelin PS4's in the correct size and profile (also had the vehicle settings calibrated to tell it what wheel size it is now running)

 

They look very nice, ride quality is vastly improved and the Michelins are a far better tyre than in the Pirellis, both in the dry and the wet.

 

I do miss the look of the 20" 'Propeller' alloys however and would love to refit them if I could 'guarantee' that a different brand of tyres would not be as prone to failure.

 

At about £1,000 for a set of Michelins, it is a bit expensive to just try as an experiment ?

 

It may just be that the rear '30' profile and front '35' profile tyres simply don't have enough sidewall to absorb the bumps but it would be nice to know whether it is just the Pirellis in this size that are the root of the problem ?

[JOE-DOT-COM]

hi

there was someone else on here a few years back that had issues with pirellis that had not seen pot holes

but as with all wheels and tyres, the bigger the sidewall, the more they handle pot holes, it when the tyres gets trapped between the pot hole and wheel, it damages the rubber and cords in the tyre, usually damaging the wheel as well

also some of the Jaguar wheels are really soft, for example 20" calisto's bend and crack so easy.

so if you want the tyres to last, your better going with 19" or 18", 18" with give better protection and a more comforatable ride

also I find you can buy the tyre with XL rating, xtra load, they have a reinforced sidewalls, which give slightly better handling and support the weight better and usually are no dearer in price

cheers

Joe

[The Voices]

Hi Joe,

The 'J' rated Pirellis are XL rated and still have issues.

I asked the question previously on one of the Jaguar forums, I seem to remember a chap from Detroit had replaced something like 6 tyres in his ownership for the same reason.

20's don't seem very common on XE's, so noy many forum folk to compare notes with !

 

 

[Wrinkly]

I use 18 " Pirelli on my S-Type and fortunately (fingers crossed) have had no tyre issues.

Best Wishes and Regards, John