I would like to ask the group their opinion on upgrading my stock rotors & pads.

Looking to upgrade to ceramic pads, do they really help reduce brake dust on the wheels? Will there be any significance difference going with ceramic ?

Looking to upgrade the rotors to slotted and drilled. I never take the car on the track, but I do enjoy the look. Is there any issues with doing these upgrades?

 

It would help to know which brakes you already have as they come in three flavours (excluding CCM):
Performance - 355 mm front / 326 mm rear
High Performance - 380 mm front / 326 mm rear
Super Performance- 380 mm front / 376 mm rear.
But whatever you have ceramic brake pads will be a big improvement over the stock semi-metallic pads - waaaaaay less dust, less noise and much more progressive.
The only downside to some is less immediate bite but others (like me) find this a good thing as it also means much less "grabbiness" and no "on/off" feel in stop/go traffic.
Other than the initial bite the performance/braking power is very much the same as stock.
Same thing with Porterfield R4S pads although they are supposedly carbon kevlar instead of ceramic.
Drilled and slotted rotors are perfectly OK for the street but maybe not for the track, I have been running drilled and slotted for over four years now with zero problems and so far mine have barely worn at all even though I ran them for a year before that on the old XFR.
Back to your existing brakes - as they get bigger the cost of replacement pads and rotors increases as well, especially the front 380 mm compared to front 355 mm (rear 376 mm vs rear 325 mm not so much).

 

I replaced mine with the R1 slotted/drilled rotors and porterfield pads. Rotors look nicer than stock but I am disappointed in the pads - performance is great and there aren’t any noise issues, but the dust is no better than factory pads - I don’t track or drive hard and the brake dust is bad. No regrets as they perform well and I will likely never put enough miles on it to need them changed again and always good to bed new pads with new rotors.

 

My experience with the Porterfield pads has been great. Good bite though a bit later than the OEM pads but that has been helpful. My brake dust is much much lower with the R4S pads than OEM.

 

My experience with the Porterfield R4S is very little dust, I would say less than one quarter OEM pad dust, and most others seem to agree.
My guess is the R1 Concepts don't play nice with the Porterfield pads and I have read that most brake dust comes from the rotors not the pads and if that is true then it is the R1s that are dusty.

 

Thanks for your in put on the topic. I have the Performance Brakes. I guess I’ll be putting new rotors and pads in the coming weeks

thanks again

 

Thank you

 

I’m using R1 slotted and drilled rotors with R4s. Much less dust than OEM

 

It seems you are the exception to the rule and most others with R1 slotted and drilled rotors and Porterfield pads have very low brake dust.
Do you have R4 pads or R4S pads?
My understanding is that the R4S (S = street) are low dust but the R4 (track pads) are very dusty.

 

I have the R4S pads - and really no way to measure the amount of dust, but it seems to me that take about the same time to clean the inside barrels each time. I also ceramic coated the wheels and while it does seem to help the brake dust come off easier, by no means is it just a matter of spraying them and being done. I have the wheel cleaner extensions and don't mind spending a few extra minutes to make them clean inside and out, but I thought it would make a bigger difference. Just rinsing would be fine, but if I'm going to wash the car, I like it to look like I didn't cut corners.

 

After ceramic coating our wheels, I now just clean the (dry) brake dust off with a small 'California Duster' between car washes. Sure beats dragging the garden hose out...

 

The shop that did my cermamic coating told me not to use a California Duster as they claimed it would scratch. I have used it on other cars for years and now too nervous to use it on the Jaguar.

 

Really?

When "Used as Directed" you don't apply any pressure from the Duster to the surface. Have used them for years on bodywork without regret...

 

Did you have any issues installing the pads? On the fronts I had to take a file to the area that fits in the calliper slide on the outside pads in order to get them to fit. I can’t even get calliper to fit over the rears even though the piston is fully retracted. Yes I did release the electric parking brake and the wheels turned freely. I’m thinking I may have to resort to removing some of the new pad with a belt sander in order to get them to fit which is kinda drastic

 

I removed and inspected the rear pads on the right side a few months ago (chasing a rattle but it wasn't them) and it was a bear of a job getting the pads back in again, the anti-rattle springs on the ends of the pads just would not slot in past the edges of the caliper brackets where they sit. The little metal springs just kept on catching and bending and I just kept on straightening and refitting them, must have been a dozen times at least!
I also found that the caliper was tough to slide back over the pads but what worked for me was to apply a little brake grease to the backs of the pads, maybe that will work for you.

 

It seems my parking brake is releasing but I’m unable to press the piston in fully to create enough clearance for the new pads. The piston is solid and won’t push in any further. Is there a trick I’m missing?

 

There is a "brake maintenance" setting which releases the EPB and winds the rear brake pistons fully in, it involves a series of screen/button presses.
Never used it myself but the details are around here somewhere.

 

i just installed mines, learn from my mistake front brakes very basic however backs you will have to screw piston in with a block tool, to put back on the easiest way for me was to put the brakes pad on the rotors then slide the piston holder over if that makes any sense

 

Otherwise don't you have to wind the rear pistons, not push them?
You can buy the winding tool pretty cheaply or borrow / rent from an auto parts store.

 

Nup, the F-Type rear brake pistons do not wind in like the XF (and XJ?) ones do.
I think you can squeeze/press/push them in but I'm not sure having never done it myself, failing that just invoke maintenance mode.