I change the brakes and rotors on my wifes van and on my own motorbikes, so would like to do them on the Jag.

Is there anything to look out for? Any potential "woops, shouldn'ta done that's?"
I'm at 60K (kilometers) Should I bleed them first? If not do I need to do anythng special re the ABS?

I'm just going to go with the OEMs. Any problems with that?

Any and all advice cheerfully accepted!

P.S. whats a good source of parts in Canada?

 

I actually just ordered brakes for my 04 XJ8 which would be the same brakes as your VDP. I just ordered them yesterday but I got them from www.perfectbrakes.com, I went with aftermarket pads and rotors which I think are a much higher quality then the OEM ones and they also happen to be cheaper. Besides having better stopping power from the research i've done one of the biggest things they have over the OEM ones is that they produce little to no brake dust which made a huge difference for me. I went with EBC Red Stuff pads and their XR series OEM rotors.

Here are the part numbers for them along with prices:
--------------------------
Product ID: 017008
Product Name: UPR1411 (12.6")
Quantity: 1
Unit Price: $124.87
--------------------------
Product ID: 037189
Product Name: UPR951 (11.3")
Quantity: 1
Unit Price: $76.04
--------------------------
Product ID: 009911
Product Name: DP31220/2C
Quantity: 1
Unit Price: $88.56
--------------------------
Product ID: 031689
Product Name: DP31221/2C
Quantity: 1
Unit Price: $88.56

Hope this helps,

Mat

 

Hey thanks for the detailed reply!

 

Yes, just a couple of tips, and I give this info with reservation as I never know the technical competence of someone I've never met online, especially while working on such a critical function - the braking system. I don't mean to impugn your technical integrity, so please accept my apologies if that is the case. As in anything technically complex as the braking system, there are a hundred things that a comeptent tech will see and take appropriate action that a novice might miss and these things might fall out of the normal realm of the tpyical brake job.

DO NOT retract the rear pistons like you did on your wife's van as these pistions screw in. You need a special tool to accomplish that. If you try to push them in you'll permanently damage the rear calipers. You also have to make sure the parking brake is released. The front pistons do work like your wife's van and can be retracted probably the way that you did on the van.

This is a generic tip for all brake systems - I do not push brake fluid backwards through the system (especially ABS). Instead, I crack open the bleeder screws at each caliper right before I retract the pistons. Use a small piece of plastic tubing and let the brake fluid drain out into a container rather than pushing it back through the system.

I do flush the entire system and replace all the brake fluid if the car has more than two years on the existing fluid. Color is the best indicator. Brake fluid should be almost colorless, use new fluid color as the standard. If the fluid in the reservoir looks like the color of urine or dark honey then I flush the entire system using a power bleeder. This can also be done manually (two-person operation), but it takes some time.

On pads, I always replace OEM pads with ceramics. I'm not recommending any special brand as there are mumerous choices. You'll be much happier with their performance, cleanliness, etc. And, the prices of ceramics are in a range that is not cost prohibitive.

Best of luck to you

 

I don't have any specific advice for you on the 04, as I haven't had my X350 long enough to do anything to it. But when you said you were planning on just using stock OEM parts, I thought I'd suggest you consider otherwise.

I bought my 2000 XJ8 new, and the stock brakes were completely shot before 20,000 miles. I wasn't pleased. I went to the local discount auto parts store and bought whatever normal brand of pads they sold with lifetime warranty on them and put them on myself. I got 90,000 miles on those pads before I had to replace them again (for free, of course). I never noticed any significant difference in performance from the stock pads. Good luck,
Goose

 

Thanx for this tip, stevetech, I had not heard of such a thing before. I'll have to do some research on it before I have to do the brakes on my 2007!
Goose

 

Thanks for your hints - they are exactly what I was looking for!

 

Now about that tool.... Does it have to be jaguar specific? There are a few sets out there, but I haven;t seen a Jag one.

 

My local jag garage likes to stay with OEM pads and rotors. They were impressed with my Akebono pads and which I used with OEM rotors. The rotors are really nice looking and I can not see what improvement could be had be using something else.

 

Good on the bleed when pushing back pistons Stevetech. I've been doing this for years and am suprised at how many post I've seen on brake repair that don't mention this.
Don't want any of the old crap pushed back into the system. I've been using Superblue brake fluid which is blue in color so you can easily tell when the flush is complete.
Chad

 

Re Pad choice
I only use EBC ceramics (redstuff)....bye bye brake dust and hello fantastic braking

 

I bought the tools for the rotary rear caliper piston retraction from Harbor Freight, for about $35. They worked fine. I also use a plastic clamp that looks like a locking scissors to clamp the brake line to keep crud from going back into the system. I usually replace all the brake fluid after a brake job, I use a pressure bleeder (Motive Power) which makes it a fast one-man job.... run it at about 15 psi. If the car is over about 5-6 years old, I also replace the brake hoses in this operation. Cheap parts and you're right there.

 

Thanks for the good advice guys. The rear brakes on my 04 XJR need replacing. I am planning to take it to a high end European car mechanic, not the Jag dealer. Any reason to think he wouldn't understand the subtleties of my system?

Tallbird.