I'd first like to point out that I'm a little disappointed with this forum. I've been an active member of forums for all the last cars I've owned (Maserati, 300c, Porsche, Benz, ect.) and thought this forum would be very helpful into making some decisions about the XLR I'm about to buy. To my dismay, my first 3 threads in the General section have all gone UNANSWERED! Thats a little disappointing to see, especially considering the demographic here seems to be more mature and helpful people. Hopefully I'll have better luck this time.

...ANYWAYS, back to my original post. So I'm buying a black XLR. I want to put black rims on it. Not sure if I want to go with 20's or 22's.

-Can someone please tell me the pros and cons of 20's vs. 22's?

-What is the offset/bolt pattern I should be looking for? Should I go staggered?

-Are there any good recommendations? I'm not trying to spend a fortune on some 3 piece wheels, but then again I don't want junk. Where should I look to get a nice set of wheels and tires (either new or used) for around $2000?

-Are our wheels interchangable with any other wheels used on any other cars? This might make it easier to find the rims I'm looking for, if for example they can fit on other more popular cars.

-If anyone has any black wheels on a black XLR I'd love to see pics.


Anyways hopefully you all can be more receptive than towards my first posts. I know I'm a newbie, but I'd hate to leave a forum on account of not having any of my questions answered. I know its hard to ask and not recieve, but once I own the car and get to play around with it a bit more I'm sure I'll answer more questions in threads. Thanks.

I think your problem is that there are no experiences that the members can share for questions you are asking. So please don't be offended.

If you go ahead with your plans you can be the "shared source" for your experiences with the rest of us.

As I am sure you already noticed, there are some members who put 20's on the car and know something about that. To my knowledge though I haven't heard of anyone who has used 22's...yet.

You may want to check:

D3 http://www.d3cadillac.com/vehicles-XLR-and-XLRV.php for all of the performance items you are looking for along with the 20's and 22's

and possibly Chip Foose for good quality Black wheels.

I am sure there are others but.....

Regards

After reading your threads it seems we have the same ideas and questions. I just bought a black on black '06 in Sept. and have been debating on wheels for a year befor I even bought it. My last car was an '04 G35 coupe and the forum I belonged to had all kinds of information about parts and mods. However I just turned 36 and decided it was time for something a bit more mature. What would a young Sinatra drive I asked and a Cadillac XLR is what I came up with. By the way I was also looking for an '04 but found out I could get the '06 at the GM employee rate and it came certified. The one thing I like is how rare the car is on the road. However less owners means less information I gather.
I also am what they say "murdering" out the car. I painted my calipers and front grill black and will soon have it debadged with headlights and tailights smoked. I have also ordered black rims and debated on 20s or 22s. The really high positive offset is the biggest deterent in wheel choice and a lack of room for turning radius. I also do not like lips or chrome of anykind making my search even more difficult. The rims I oredered are the Giovanna Dalar matte black size 20x 8.5 all around. There is a machined edge but I will probably powder coat it black. They come in 21 and 22 but then widen to 9 and my guy said the 35 offset already puts them flush with the fender which is the look i was going for. I have seen a couple of Xs around town with 22s and on cardomain.com. They just look a bit toylike and must ride pretty ruff.
I also would like to lower it a bit and maybe add a little nosier exhaust. I can send you some pics in a week or two when Im further along. Check out wheelsnext.com for a decent selection of rims or google giovanna to see mine.
Happy hunting and stay in touch as you have also been gathering usefull information for me.

Regards,
Corey

In order not to mess up your speedometer accuracy, the outside diameter of the replacement tire must remain the same as the outside diameter of the stock set-up. Therefore, if you go to 22 inch rims, the tire sidewall will have to be extremely low profile. This would make it easy for rim damage if you hit a pothole or other road defect; the low profile sidewalls will not afford enough section height to easily absorb the impact. Personally, I would not go over 20 inch rims. You can mount 20 inch rims on all four corners and run 255/35 tires without any interference problems and retain proper outside diameter for speedometer accuracy. I think the proper offset is about 40 mm.

Thanks for the advice guys. Well I finally found my '04- black on tan, one owner, clean throughout, with 53k miles for $24,400. Now all I have to do is sell my Maserati!

Anyways, I'm leaning towards 20's I think. When I went to the dealer, the salemans said his buddy has 22's and it rides no problem. In fact he encouraged me to go with 22's. Now this is with an 07-08 I believe, which correct me if I'm wrong, has the magnetic suspension.

I'm really worried about the unsprung weight on the car if I go with 22's. I had some 22's on my 300c a couple years ago and believe it or not I thought it handled waaay better than the stock 18's on the car; but I know we're comparing apples to oranges.

I too am planning on blacking the entire car out and really want an all black rim with no chrome lip. Maybe a 21" rear and 20" front staggered setup will work best. Since I'm in Hawaii I'm hard strapped to find (affordable) options out here. Hopefully I can get some put on before the car is shipped out from Cali in the next couple weeks.

don't get the foose wheels... I've had to replace them 2x they kept piiting.

xlrjunkie:

Did you happen to see the Miami car night scheduled for this week in the car Show Section???

Regards

You guys need to look over the new Sponsoring Vendor. They seem to have a line on alot of the stuff you are looking for on thier web site.


Regards

xlrjunkie:

Did you happen to see the Miami car night scheduled for this week in the car Show Section???

Regards

No, sorry I missed it! by the time I noticed it was too late. Maybe next time?