My 5.0 XKR

First thing I had done was getting decent tyres on the car. I had a pair of nearly-new Vredestein Ultrac Vortis on the summer wheels from the old car so I had them swapped on to the 5.0. It needed new tyres for the MOT before sale so I asked the dealer to put Ultrac Vortis on there, so I have a full set of decent rubber from the outset. The rears on the new car were Dunlop SP SportMaxx things, no idea why Jaguar fitted those as standard as they can't cope with the torque the car can produce even on a dry day.

After the tyres were fitted the wheels and tyres were covered in that white grease they use so I took them all off, gave them a good clean up and inspected the condition of the brake parts and whatnot in the arches then refitted the wheels with a fresh set of nuts and lockers...

Took the new car out on Sunday morning past there and chucked my camera gear in the boot...

DSC_7730 by Niall Porter Photography, on Flickr

DSC_7732 by Niall Porter Photography, on Flickr

DSC_7741 by Niall Porter Photography, on Flickr

DSC_7745 by Niall Porter Photography, on Flickr

DSC_7756 by Niall Porter Photography, on Flickr

DSC_7757 by Niall Porter Photography, on Flickr

DSC_7755 by Niall Porter Photography, on Flickr

DSC_7761 by Niall Porter Photography, on Flickr

DSC_7783-Pano by Niall Porter Photography, on Flickr

DSC_7792 by Niall Porter Photography, on Flickr

DSC_7771-Pano by Niall Porter Photography, on Flickr

DSC_7797 by Niall Porter Photography, on Flickr

DSC_7801 by Niall Porter Photography, on Flickr

Some winter progress has been made. Got the wheel alignment and geometry all sorted, the steering angle was slightly out due to toe angles incorrect at the front and some camber was out of spec so that's all sorted. Surprising how much better the car feels with everything pointing in the right direction. The little Skoda Fabia I had to cut around in for a while when the car was in the garage served as a reminder of how fortunate I am to own the XKR.

Managed to get the black pack grilles fitted over a couple of days either side of new year. Started looking like this:



Got part way through changing the grilles and realised I needed a low profile wrench and torx set to get at the side grilles so it went to bed for a few days looking like this:



After a good rummage around the garage, a New Year party, a hangover the likes of which I've not known since becoming a father and another day to recover I got it all sorted and stitched back together and now it looks like this:





Have to say, I'm not quite 100% sold on it yet! I'm not sure if it's because of the bonnet vents with grey mesh and chrome strakes, and/or the silver wheels but it sort of looks a bit unfinished or something. Or maybe I just need to see it like that a bit and get used to it. I think it's better than the silver grilles with chrome surrounds on the side grilles though. I'm not half-considering black wheels as per the real "black pack" spec, but that wouldn't have been the Nevis design I have now, would have been Kalimnos or Kasuga so half looking out for some black Kalimnos wheels.

I also changed out *all* the headlamp bulbs. I'd ordered the H1S xenons as the previous ones looked a bit dull and also ordered chrome/silvervision side marker and indicator lamps to get rid of the "fried egg" look as I did on my old car. I later decided to change the sidelights and cornering lamps as the lit up very much "warm" white/orange which looked odd in amongst the cool white of the Xenons and didn't really shine bright enough to be effective anyway. I've not been for a drive after dark since fitting them so can't attest to the efficacy of all of this yet but cosmetically it's all much more appealing. Before:



After:



The side marker and cornering lamp bulbs actually have a blue tint to the glass but they do shine white. You can't see the blue unless you actually get down low and look at them up close. Little things I know but I'd have felt like I'd done half a job if I hadn't gone the whole hog.

Next on the list, get round to installing the CTek charger and I've also ordered some LED interior bulbs. I may even wash the car tomorrow as it's now even grubbier than shown above...

This is a wonderful car, as are all XK's, gradually being tastefully modded to your exacting standards.

It'll have to be, as a professional photographer, anything not just right will be highlighted and it'll play havoc with any OCD.

The Nevis wheels, I love them, no idea why other than they have SUPERCHARGED etched within them.

I've considered the same for my Super, still am.

I appreciate and concur, a set of black wheels to match what you've already changed, would suit it better.

Have the Nevis wheels powder coated black, it'd be my choice. There is a set for sale on the web already refurbished in black for you to have a look at.

Rich

Cheers Chris! I've modified all my cars in some way, always gone for the "less is more" approach. The last thing I'd want to do is turn something like an XKR into a boy race car...

I was looking on another forum last night and found a shot of a silver 5.0 car with the black pack grilles and black Nevis wheels:



I don't think I'd do the wing louvres in black and I definitely won't be doing what they've done with the splitter under the front lower grille but the wheels look better in black than I thought they would. Ordinarily I'm not a fan of black wheels either except maybe on a red car as you have to keep applying tyre dressing or the tyres look lighter than the wheels and that just looks silly. Salsa red with black pack looks amazing, I almost wish I'd held out for that.

Incidentally it's hard to tell from the angle of that shot but it looks like that car has the same bonnet vents as mine has:



I've been wondering what to do with these now I have the black grilles, I think from that other car photo that they've maybe done the outer part and the mesh in gloss black and left the chrome section as is, that might work...

Fitted (most of) the interior LED lamp bulbs I bought last week. Got the cabin ones done - one in each footwell, the two map lights and the courtesy light in the overhead console. I went for Osram cool white bulbs, I just like their look better. This was shot with only the offside footwell bulb changed, for comparison's sake:



And this is after fitting the whole lot, with them all switched on:



Please excuse the glare on the left of the photo, I managed to lean heavily on my phone while using it as a torch last week when changing the front grilles and now the outer lens on the camera is cracked...

I did also get a couple of bulbs to fit in the lamps in the boot but it turns out they're too big so will have to have a think on that one. I know another member (joc64) just adapted the fittings to take the longer bulbs but I'll see if I can do it without having to.