Needed to get new front brakes done for my 2000 S-Type 3.0
Car has done 130k miles and is the family daily driver. I've had my fair share of issues with the car, and we're tired of pouring money into it. But I still need new brakes, so I went and got a set of Wearever rotors and pads (Silver semi-metallic) from Advance Auto Parts for $60. Had a family friend install them $50.

The way I thought of it was, I replace rotors every time I do brakes (Jaguar recommends not to cut rotors), so why overspend on rotors that I'm not going to resurface? I was thinking about ceramics too, but a decent set cost $100. No matter what brakes I get, I'm sure it's the last set I will ever get.

Almost 1000 miles in, and I have to say the brakes are pretty good. For daily use, they do the job. Very smooth. Not as much stopping power as I'm used to and I have to push the pedal a little harder than before to get the same stop, but overall they work well. For $110 total, I'm happy.

I will admit however that they create a monumental amount of brake dust. At 1000 miles, my front wheels are covered in dust. I'm kinda digging the "I'm too busy and important to care about washing my expensive European sports sedan" look though...

 

Most people won't notice the difference between cheap and quality parts until they need it most and it isn't there. I don't understand why you wouldn't want good stopping power; safety items like brakes and tires aren't things I would want to cheap out and take a chance on.

 

I don't see why you replace the rotors every time. You'd only do that if at or below minimum thickness.

I'm finding pads last at least 40,000 miles (*) and rotors much longer. I'd be surprised if an STR has brakes that last longer than your car!

(*) they were on the car, part worn, when I got it and still don't need replacing

 

+1 on JagV8's comments above?

Albeit an Audi, but my A6 has had a set of pads and just around 4 months or so ago a set of pads and discs all round....thats ALL on the car from new and she's now at 109k miles

 

Indeed - if the discs (rotors) are straight, true and above the minimum thickness then there is no need to replace them.

 

I'll chime in. My pads got bad and I needed new ones asap and installed the only pads available. The wherever advanced auto parts brand. There actually decent and produce less brake dust than what was on my car before. Plus I have chrome rims.

 

Never said I wanted crap brakes, just cheap ones. Cheap doesn't always mean bad, nor expensive is always good.

Wearever is Advance Auto's house brand. It generally has favorable reviews across many different forums of cars. They are listed as OE replacements, and the pads even come with a lifetime warranty. I would hardly call that bad.

 

You probably got the Golds, which have been known to produce less dust

 

My dealer told me to never resurface them. Always replace, because of how heavy the car is, you wouldn't want to compromise stopping power with thinner discs. My mechanic also told me the resurfaced discs are also more prone to warping and cracking. Considering it's $30 to resurface, might as well buy the new rotors ($40) and have a peace of mind...

 

That's not bad advice- but I think the point was that rotors don't need to be replaced at each and every pad change.

One of my others cars (non-Jag) has ~130,000 miles on the rotors and is on set #4 of pads.

 

What I said was I don't resurface or replace until below min thickness. Doing it is cheap and all that's needed.

 

You mentioned in your original post that you have to push them harder and they have less stopping power. Expensive or cheap, I wouldn't call that a good thing.

 

the difference is about 10% from what it used to be, if i had to put a number on it. a small difference, but a difference nonetheless. nothing that would make the car unsafe to drive. however, you're missing the point. I'm not an ambassador for Wearever. These brakes are not supposed to be high performance. They are however more than adequate for daily driving, and I simply made a thread in case someone was thinking about saving some money, to give this brand a try. I would advise against pairing these rotors with ceramic pads however, because they eat up the rotors quickly from my research.
4/13/2014
Quick update. Brakes are still holding up well. Smooth as glass. No problems to note. In fact the amount of brake dust has decreased considerably. I'm guessing after the initial break in period there's less dust. Overall still very satisfied with the purchase.