My F-Type V6S went in to the dealer for an oil change today and they told me I need new rotors and pads all round. They quoted $2279 all in which sounds pretty expensive to me. What do you guys normally do when it's time to replace brakes? Do you order online and do it yourself, or use a local shop or do you just have the dealer do it and pay inflated prices? Also, any recommendations on decent brakes that can be purchased online?

On a side note, I mentioned to them that I have not had a low brake warning light come on and they said that only comes on when it gets down to metal on metal. Is this accurate or is he just trying to convince me to get the work done right now?

Thanks!

 

I would start with a second opinion, all round pads and rotors is highly unusual as they are not used up at the same rate. Also, rotors, unless warped or too thin can be reused when you change pads. Do you feel any vibrations when pressing brake pedal? If not, your rotors are likely fine.

Here is what I suggest:

1. Get a quote, with reason for brake swap, in writing. Tell them you registered car in your business name and need this to properly generate invoice to transfer funds.

2. Take your car to a qualified brake shop. Pay them to assess brakes, ask for pad and rotor thickness measures typed up on the invoice.

3a. Take #1 and #2 and forward it to JLR so they come hard down on the slimy dealer. They will likely hate you for this.

3b. Take #1 and #2 and forward it to dealer's general manager. They may come down hard on the slimy service adviser. If he isn't fired, he will hate you for this.

 

JLR mandate pads and rotors at the same time. Been through it with them on both F Type and Range Rover.

How many miles on the car?

 

Got 45k miles on it.

 

I put new tires on this summer, just shy of 40k miles. At that point, they estimated the rears had 80% of the brake pads left. Didn't measure the fronts, but visually, they have a lot of life yet. I've done two track days, but generally don't drive like a hooligan.

Definitely get a 2nd opinion, and if the dealer is full of ****, definitely call them on it.

 

45k miles sounds reasonable for the pads to be getting a bit thin, so the dealer is maybe correct here. Strange that you haven't had the "low brake pad" warning yet though, it is meant to trigger when the respective pad (inner left front or inner right rear) gets down to around 4 mm thick. Maybe the wear sensor is defective, maybe those two monitored pads still have plenty of meat on them but some other pad(s) are more worn. It is standard practice for JLR dealers to insist on new brake rotors at the same time as new pads, but in 99% of cases the rotors will last for two full sets of pads before they reach minimum thickness. That said, specified minimum thickness is only 2 mm less than new thickness so it doesn't take a lot to reach minimum, although IMHO 2 mm is way too conservative and the rotors are probably perfectly OK at 3 mm wear.
Also, consider getting non-OEM pads such as Porterfield R4S, they are much lower dust than the extremely dusty OEM pads, and they will probably last longer and chew up the rotors a bit slower. I say "probably" because I don't think anyone here has had the Porterfield pads on long enough to know for sure.

 

You can get a set of high carbon discs (4X) for $714 + Porterfields Pads for $210 for an R. So if you do it yourself its less that $1000. Or take to a local indy shop add 2 hrs labor.

Dics

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Centric-Fro...paC7Je&vxp=mtr

Pads

Porterfield Brake Pad, R4S / R4 S / R4 / R4E

 

The issue with only doing pads is that the labor is the same to change the rotors. So generally if they're close, it may make money sense to just do them as well. $2279 is in line with other MFGs sport/performance cars. M4 is about $2800 (dealer quoted, as I had one on order and asked) and my RS5 was $3900, again quoted on paper.

 

Who told you that?
Changing brake pads is a fairly quick and easy process, especially for a dealer or independent shop that has done it many times before.
Changing rotors in my experience takes about the same amount of time again, and I've done it four times now across 3 Jags.
If you are even remotely handy with the spanners both jobs are a fairly easy DIY saving you heaps in labour costs, and there are plenty of write-ups on this site detailing how to do it.
If not, then your best bet as mentioned before is to buy the parts yourself then get a specialist brake shop to fit them. You will get better brakes than the OEM ones at less than half the dealer cost, and it won't effect the warranty at all.

 

My post could have been more clear, my mistake. You have to take the pads off to take off the rotors. So my point is that if you replace the pads, and then later want to replaced the rotors, you effectively have to replace the pads again (with themselves, assuming the pads are fine). So the labor on changing rotors vs changing pads and rotors is the same.

 

where are the cheap cross drilled slotted rotors?

 

It doesn't work that way for the front brakes if you want to change just the rotors and keep the same pads. You simply remove the entire brake assembly intact, with the calipers still bolted to the caliper holders. Remove the 15 mm caliper holder bolts instead of the 9 mm hex caliper pins and no need to touch the pads at all let alone remove them, I have done this twice now.
The only possible complication is if the old rotors are well worn with pronounced "lips" and the pads won't quite fit back over the new rotors, in which case you need to open up the gap between the pads just a bit by pressing the inner pad/brake piston in a little. This can be a little tricky because the caliper bracket gets in the way a bit, but you only need to move it back in about 2 mm in most cases. I've never had to do this because either the existing rotors were barely worn or I was renewing the pads anyway.
The rear brakes are a little different as when you remove the calipers and caliper holders (again as one item) the pads can tend to fall out anyway as they are not clipped in place anywhere near as strongly as the front pads.
After all that, if you are replacing the rotors but intend to keep the existing pads it would be a good idea while you are at it to at least inspect the pads for wear, condition, glazing etc to check they are good enough to re-use, in which case you are back to square one anyway!

 

eBay is your friend, and assuming you have the "super performance" brakes - 380 mm front and 376 mm rear - don't pay a premium for F-Type rotors, get the absolutely identical XFR rotors instead.
For example here is the very first hit I got when searching eBay Motors for "Jaguar XFR brake rotors": https://www.ebay.com/itm/Full-Kit-Dr...BaFL3F&vxp=mtr
One word of warning though, from my experience the ceramic pads advertised as part of that kit are most likely not ceramic and more likely Centric PosiQuiet semi-metallic, as very few make genuine ceramic pads for the 380 mm and 376 mm brakes.

Also, that first link is for drilled rotors, if you want drilled and slotted try here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Full-Kit-Dr...tZZBzN&vxp=mtr
Same supplier and same pads as the first link.
If you don't mind paying a bit more and you want rotors with a good reputation on the XF forum, try R1 Concepts.

Whoops, forgot one more thing!
The F-Type and XFR 380 mm front pads are identical, but not the case with the rear pads, XFR rear pads will not fit F-Type rear brakes due to the different calipers and parking brake set-ups.

 

Ran across this in my Volvo recently. I'm pretty handy with the wrenches. What a nightmare that turned out to be. Apparently modern Volvo brakes are not like brakes of the last 30 years. Computer controlled calipers can't be worked on unless hooked up to the computer. I guess I'm not doing brake jobs anymore. $2000, 2 calipers and 3 sets of pads later.

 

Thank you so much my friend! I did not know that. I got pads already from Stuar @ VelocityAP. Just looking for some decently priced cross drilled and slotted rotors.

 

You don't want to cheapen out on non-solid rotors. Good ones will be cast with slots and holes (hint: look inside the hole, it will be non-shiny from casting). Bad ones start as a solid rotor then someone drills holes in them. This GREATLY weakens rotors, and such cheapo rotors are known to crack when put through the paces.

I race on solid dual-plane (aka vented) rotors with curved vanes. With no surface holes of any kind in them whatsoever. I believe this is to be best setup for dealing with heat and stopping power.

 

I found Car and Driver's long-term report of a 2014 V8S very interesting. After 40,000 miles, they estimated the front pads would last 100,000 miles, and 90,000 for the rears. This is consistent with my wear, though I have a V6S with 'high performance' brakes. Click on the links on the right side of the page to download their various reports - the last one has the brake wear info.

https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews...rm-wrap-review

 

Sorry to jump on this thread late, but just had my brakes on my Audi A7 replaced, different make, but maybe similar issues:

1)As 355spider mentioned, you may need a special cable to get the electronic brake off or calipers to unlock. On my A7, four separate indie mechanics thought they could do the work, but after hours of fiddling, could not change the brakes. I wasted several days;
2)I bought akebono pads w/o rotors online, as they were literally 75% cheaper than dealer quote for OEM, but indie mechanics did not want to work with my supplied parts, some BS about being unwarrantable, but more likely because they mark up the parts 50-100%;
3)It's true you can just resurface and re-use the rotors and replace pads only, but many mechanics and certainly the dealer will force you to change them.

With tax, the Audi A7 brakes and rotors cost ~$2000, so the Jag quote is not crazy. If you can find an indie that can actually work on the car, the actual cost would probably be about 2-4 hours labor $250-$500 and ~$300-$500 for pads and rotors online. Most likely though is that any shop working on your brakes will upcharge you on the parts. Basically, if you can get it done for $1K, doing well, with $2.5K worst case scenario.

Cheer up, though, on my Audi the brakes and rotors only last about 20k miles, something weird with the quattro and the abnormally soft rotors. On my F-Type R, I only have 11k miles, so hearing the other folks, should be good for a few more years. I have Brembos on the R.

 

Before I'd pay $2279 to have the dealer do brakes and pads I'd pay a speed shop $1600 for the nicer rotors and Porterfields that is for sure.

 

Where did you find Brembos for the R?