There seems to be two possible types brake pads and rotors used on the 2005 S Type, standard 3.0 vehicles. I have a build date of 04/2004 - I'm smelling 'early'...
- Any way to tell which I have? What do you guys think??

 

buy both sets and take back the wrong ones

 

Thanks, Brutal, good point, were I shopping locally that would work. But I had planned to shop on the net and return shipping a set of brake rotors, well... that'd be pricy. I'd been looking at those webstores that had cross-drilled and slotted rotor packages. You have any thoughts on those? -b44

 

You can't resurface slotted or drilled rotors and the breaking performance is *barely* improved.. If you just want them for the look, then go for them, but practically speaking the regular rotors are better in my opinion. For the pads I would definitely go with EBC's though.

I think to know which rotors are correct before you order them, you'll have to get under there and measure the diameter of the disc in millimeters.. there's 2 different choices right?

Eric

 

I use crossdrilled ebc rotors, and red stuff pads(from green stuff) and the braking difference is night and day. Surfacing...whats that, never do dont recommend....youll never see a race car, hi po car surfacing rotors. You either replace or throw a new set of pads on after you chew up one set. rotors are useally good for 2 sets of pads. Then buy new ones, cause most factory rotors will be too thin if theyre cut. And after my own experience with Red Stuff EBC I only recommend those for an enthusiast

 

So, Brutal, you'd recommend the EBC Red stuff as opposed to their other colors? I'm a 200 miles per day, cut and slash, back and forth to Miami kind of driver. But at the end of the day, I just want it to stop better than it does now. My '97 Explorer grabs better than this sled...
Twice now, the dealer has said there is nothing wrong with the system.

 

absolutly run the red stuff then, ive used all the other pads, factory(which where always better than any ive gotten from auto parts stores) the green stuff are same to, maybe slightly better than factory, but the red are night and day different.yellow stuff are race only

 

The only time I saw a difference in rotors for the S is when a vendor carried the rotors for a "sport pkg." car. The 300mm rotors are what fits the 3.0 base car. The listed 320mm rotors are for the sport pkg. cars. The rears are the same.

If you like, search for an earlier post where I talk about 4 wheel brake job on a 05 S.

 

Thanks for all the advice, Guys; I ordered a set of Red Stuff last night. As it turns out I got the best price from Amazon.com via one of those shoping comparison sites. It's still a hundred for a set of pads which seem like a lot. (I still think they should cost $25-$40 a mindset from my old days at NAPA.) b44 !!

 

Installed a set of front 'Red Stuff' pads this weekend and boy what a difference. The change is quite noticable. The old pads were about 70% worn and they looked glazed. The new ones are remarkable in the improvement in stopping power and pedal feel. They are just what I was missing in this Jag. I just ordered a set for the rear - boy am I sold. Thanks for the advice guys!! --b44

 

I have an 05 model and not sure about the rotors, but I do know that the Red Stuff pads are a pain in the ***. I bought front and rear sets after several recomendation and the claim for "less brake dust." I do see less dust, but what is there acts like it's attached to the wheel surfaces like superglue. It caked in areas and it almost takes a chisel and hammer to get the crap off the wheels. Even though there was three times as much dust, at least with the factory pads, it would come off with a little bit of wheel cleaner and light elbow grease. With the Red Stuff, I've used everything from scouring pads and fingernails with wheel cleaner and I still can't get it all off of the factory painted wheels. It may be a completely different story with chrome or polished wheels.

Don't get me wrong, I love the improved stopping power, but I believe this will be the only set of red stuff I will order unless chrome or polished wheels are a better story (good excuse for wheel upgrades!!) The 10 minutes of light cleaning per wheel each weekend was a lot better than the 20 minutes per wheel for a partially clean wheel that I'm enduring now with Red Stuff.

Just my take on what I've experienced with Red Stuff pads, again, the increased stopping power is very noticable, but cleaning the wheels is a pain.

 

Per my dealer's inspection when our S-Type was in the shop for the "limp mode" issue last week, at 26,300 miles the car had about 30% of brake pad life left in the front and about 70% of brake pad life left in the rear. These are the original factory pads and yes, the front pads make the biggest mess of any car I've ever owned. I have to wipe the front rims down every weekend whether I wash the car or not.

When it's time to do the front pads, I think I'll go with a set of Wagner ThermoQuiet organic pads. I have them on my wife's Lexus RX330 (approaching 90,000 miles) and along with being silent like the name indicates, the tiny amount of brake dust they create is almost microscopic. Stopping power is fine in the Lexus and I expect it to be the same in the Jaguar. Our car is a highway cruiser, not a track rocket, so these Wagner brake pads should do just fine.

If and when I put them on the car, I'll report back on their performance as well as whether or not my nasty brake dust problem is solved once and for all....

 

Well, we installed the rear pads today (and used the trick to keep the parking brake from engaging - thank you gents!).
I could not get the drivers side caliper piston to rotate back into the housing. I ended up using a C-clamp to apply moderate inward pressure while I used channel locks to rotate the piston clockwise. Needle-nose pliers and special tool from the parts store did not have enough leverage to rotate the piston. The pliers pulled up the rubber dust boot (but didn't tear it) and fluid seeped out, so I'm guessing that piston was hard to turn because the inner seal has been leaking. It was a real pain, I opened the bleeder valve to relieve pressure on the back side, and then of course had to bleed the brakes when I was done. Passenger side was much easier, the piston turned, not easily but without complaint and I was done on that side in 20 minutes - no leaking there.
Q: anybody had problems with leaking or balking rear caliper pistons?
(And as DeathWind notes - the red stuff dust is mui-sticky!)
Comments? thanks --b44

 

Are the red stuff pads as noisy as I heard they are?

 

Mike, mine make a little chirp when you first step on them but it fades as they warm and you slow. Not objectionable to my tastes at least.

 

That is the complaint from the wife. She didn't like the fact that they squealed when I first put them on. I believe it was the break-in coating, because the fronts stopped squealing and the rears did it for a longer period, which is why I believe it was the coating. Rears take little longer to wear so coating stayed longer than fronts. Now the rears are quiet, except the occasional squeal from either when cold as BONGOS44 stated.

 

I was looking 2 get a good pair of rotors and I see you recommend the Red Stuff I saw those on Eurotoys website, but what cross drilled rotors do you suggest for an 2003 STR that are reasonable and P>S> can you lead me in the right direction of someone that might have CATS shocks or where I can purchase them reasonably?

 

I picked up brakes for my V6 really cheap. I write because I took a chance on a brand of rotors that I hadn't heard of before. They are called Royalty Rotors. I had them for a few months now and they are holding up real well despite me hammering on the brakes. I got them from brakewarehouse.com, they were very helpful as well.