Best Tires for the Jaguar XKR

There were 4 brand new PHI R tires fitted to my XKR when I bought it. In fairness, it's not a tire I would choose for a 510bhp RWD coupe, but you'd expect them to be at least passable in all conditions, and to give you a sense of security as long as you drive within your limits and those of the environment.

To be blunt, these tires are bl--dy dangerous in damp and cold conditions. I can barely use more than approx 25% throttle without the TCS light firing and the rear end squirming. The final straw for me, was going round a damp corner (6 degrees temp) at approx 20mph with no throttle applied, and feeling the back end starting to slide around. Consequently, all subsequent bends, corners and cambers were taken with extreme caution.

They currently have over 6.5mm of tread and are well scrubbed in.

In terms of the front end; well, it's passable in terms of comfort but turn-in is anything but sharp - and I don't trust the lateral grip whatsoever.

So if you're considering these as a good budget option on a larger wheel size, just DON'T. I wouldn't let a family member in my car (never mind let them drive) in the damp with these things on the rims. You are literally risking your life to save a few quid. I'd rather fit mid-range part worns for the same price!

Put these on the rear of my Jaguar 5.0 XKR and they have been utterly fantastic in every way, they've even worn well coming up for replacement at 18k miles.

Wear on edge Greater than the rest of the tire. Wheels are fully balanced so no offset. Generall driving not heavy footed.

Night and day improvement from the stock Pirelli P Zeros. First off no more tramlining, which was bad enough with the PIrellis that I reduced the tire pressure to the 28 comfort setting, which mitigated but didn't cure the issue.. Running the ZV7s at 34 PSI stock and no tramlining whatsoever. Secondly my XKR now feels like a Grand Tourer, much reduced road noise and noticeably more comfortable ride. Turned her from a cheap feeling harlot into a lady with a streak of flith. Lots of potholes in Wales and the access road to my house is more suited to a 4x4. Previously I'd be steering round the potholes and always having to be looking out for them on the road. Much more comfortable now and makes driving much less tiring without any twitchiness. Certainly seems to be much better and more assured in the wet, and more refined in the dry. Seem to warm up a lot faster than the PIrellis, though haven't noticed any difference in grip in the dry. One huge improvement however is a nice little squeal if you really push them. The Pirellis were grip, grip, grip ditch with no warning... The Avons you can tell when you are reaching the limits. It took me quite some time to decide which tires to buy, including scouring the reviews and videos on this site. Two things made my mind up. Firstly the XKR has staggered wheels and all the bigger brands seem to chop their warranties in half for such. So that ruled out Michelins, Hankook Ventus ( which a friend recommended for their wet abilities... useful in Wales!) and several others. Dunlops are stock on the later XKRs and lots of people switch from them, or don't rate them. What made my mind up however was talking to a friend in the plod. He says their white fleet is contracted to Goodyear but they insist upon Avons for their pursuit cars as they're specifically designed for our climate, hence give them the edge over scroats in high powered cars. I figure noone else does more fast driving in the UK than them, rather than Southern Europe where most of the tire tests seem to happen, so given a very reasonable price they were worth a shot. Seems like a good choice so far, will review again after a few thou.

On the upside lots of grip, rollover a penny and I could tell you whether it is heads or tails, it's the Jaguar specified OEM tire for the early XKR and it does a good job. That is assuming the P Zero itself is the same as 25 years back, tech moves on and OEM tires aren't necessarily the same as the same model aftermarket ones. On the downside road noise is loud enough to be distracting, it's about as comfortable as a hobnailed clog, seems to take some time to warm up and while cornering grip seems to be very good in the wet I'm less convinced about it's grip in acceleration. Wet roads result in lots of traction control under heavyish acceleration. Though no issues with braking. On the major downside... I cannot detect any advance warning that the limit of grip is approaching or reached. No squeal or feel, just grip, grip, grip, hedge. I'm currently running mine at the comfort setting of 28 psi as the XKR just doesn't feel like a GT car at normal recommended pressures. Ride is too harsh otherwise, tramlining too frequent to be an enjoyable. Though at 28psi I worry about potholes with those 20" rims on. I've just bought some 18" rims so will try something else on those, save the 20s and the Pzeros for a track day or two and put them back in when the weather warms up a bit. It is afterall a summer tire. Note however that I live in rural Wales, so dry days come about one afternoon per year, the roads are often potholed and I probably haven't got the best out of the tires in relatively cold conditions. However on motorway runs where you merely want an easy life the tramlining is an annoying issue. Reducing the pressure helps but doesn't eliminate this. You'd be hard pushed to reach the tire's limits on back roads so long as they're warm, though on the sort of twisty A roads which epitomise much of Wales finding the limits results in a trip to the body shop after being assaulted by the undergrowth. So thus far it seems like a strange fit for a Grand Tourer but will add a review in the supposed summer to see whether it's merely not mong friendly.

The best tire, but little expensive compared with FALKEN FK510.

I bought and fitted these tires to a 2013 Jaguar XKR Coupe in November 2019. Now 10,000 miles and 15 months later all tires are showing hair line cracks running along the valleys between the treads. I admit car because of COVID not used so much in last 12 months. But at £800 cost I feel these tires should be able to cope with diverse use and mileages. As I write I am not aware whether this is an MOT failure or not. Performance of tire In wet and dry conditions generally good and with out issues. I only discovered these cracking problems yesterday and have not yet taken it up with Dunlop but will be. There was nothing I could do to prevent this and through the ownership period I have maintained the the recommended pressures. VERY POOR DUNLOP!!! Roger

Must admit I am very impressed. There is not a single aspect in which I can fault these tires. Excellent dry grip and progressive at the limit, settled in the wet with good aquaplaning resistance which is important on 285 section tires. Quiet on poor roads and consideration how much I like to turn the traction control off they are only showing minimal wear. It is difficult to comprehend how much better the Michelin PS4s could be to warrant the astronomical price difference. Car is a '13 Jaguar XKR 500bhp

No wet grip.Hydroplaning occurs, no feeling of ground contact.

Excellent tire. They tamed my 500+BHP rear wheel drive car. They do dry grip and wet grip in a manner that impresses just like a top tier tire. I was expecting them to be really good, but they were better than that.