It may be that you (and the previous owner) are not bedding the brakes in properly when they are new. On the other hand, if the same dealer is putting the new brakes in maybe they are not putting proper pad lube on the backs of the pads.

Brake squeal is most often caused by knife edges being formed on the pads too slowly which means that pad material is not being rubbed into the faces of the discs sufficiently to maximize braking. The cure is to try a series of very hard stops from around 60 mph, well almost stops actually as you neither want to "warp" the discs which is relatively rare nor do you want to put uneven amounts of pad onto the disc faces by stopping with the brakes on (pad imaging). You are trying to clean up the disc faces and at the same time deposit a good layer of pad material evenly into the disc faces. Don't brake so aggressively you overheat the brakes before they are fully bedded in or you'll be back to square one, or worse.

Brake squeal can also result if the installer does not put a dab of brake pad lube on the backs of the pads where they bear against the caliper pistons.

The noise comes from the edges of the brake pads vibrating in response to the pad rubbing lightly across an unevenly bedded in disc face. The resulting harmonic is amplified through the caliper and becomes loud enough to hear. Bedding in the brakes minimizes this vibration and lubing the pad backs allows the pad to absorb the vibration without transmitting it to the caliper.

I forgot to bed in the rear pads on my Audi S4 and now they squeal just as the brake comes to a stop. I am working on bedding in the pads but it is harder to do when the pads have already bedded in to some degree.

You can try having the edges of the pads chamfered with emery cloth and then a dab of pad lube on the back of each before re-installing. Then go bed the brakes in again.

 

I have a 2011 XF, and also have some break squeal. When I talked to my dealer, they told me there is some clip that is being redesigned to solve the squeal. I have 12,500 miles, and when I go in for the 15,000 service, i'll re-address this issue.
Just saying what I was told!

 

I have a 2010 XF Premium and have exactly the same problem, The dealer has also told me the same story, i.e. new clips are to be provided by Jaguar. This was 3 months ago and nothing has happened, meanwhile the squealing is about the same, intermittent and amazingly irritating.

 

I too have a 2011 Jaguar XF, and within this past year I have had to take my car to the dealer more than 4 times regarding the issue of the breaks squeaking when coming to stop. Per the dealer this is a known issue. I have gone through all the required trouble shooting steps, dealt with the recall and subsequent replacement of springs etc., to no avail. The service department has stated there are many people who have had the issue, but I suspect everyone is just “dealing” with it and not reporting to NTHSA(1 report) nor the 800# at Jaguar – I have a case open with them. It should be noted from 2012 onwards Jaguar changed the brakes on their vehicles to the new Brembo breaks. I have to wonder what prompted this. My car has very low miles, and it is very embarrassing and annoying to have such a new vehicle make this noise. I am sick and tired of this vehicle. Jaguar touts themselves as a luxury car dealer, however, the service is lack luster. People, report the issue to NTHSA as well as Jaguar. Let’s get some traction around this to get it resolved once and for all.

 

No noise from the brakes on any of my cars.

Sorry folks, it's the way you drive.

You have to brake very hard periodically or your brakes will make noise.

You also have to bed the brakes in when new.

 

I had squeaky brakes on my 04 XJ8. Dealer could not get them to stop. I finally replaced the rotors and pads, using ceramic pads. Problem solved.

 

This is the cause and bedding in procedure I was taught. No squeal from maybe 20 factory pad changes on 2 different track day cars. They are Toyotas and use an anti-squeal shim clipped onto the pad backer plate. I wonder if that is the fix that Jaguar is working on?

On a possibly related note, my XKR (same brakes as XFR) has done a few track days now and the pedal started pulsing on the third day indicating warped front rotors or an uneven build-up of pad material deposited on the rotor's face. Since I do very little driving between track days I would think any deposits would burn off under extreme braking force and heat, so I suspect warped rotors. You said warping is rare, but do you think it could be likely after 3 track days?

As machining them would make them more likely to warp again from being cut thinner, I think new rotors would be the answer, and perhaps brake ducting to prevent over-heating in the future. Is brake pulsing a warranty item, and if so should I be able to receive new rotors vs machined? Still on the original pads with 18,000 km.

Bruce

 

If you just have the standard warrenty on your XKR and the pulsing is caused by warped rotors, pads and rotors are not normally covered. They are classified as wear-out items. The argument will revolve around how many miles have elapsed since the pulsing occured. With a lot of complaining, they may go for one replacement if the pads are only partially worn. If the pads are shot as well, I assume they will consider 18K km is is "your" expected wear-out mileage for both the rotors and pads under normal driving conditions. If they suspect or know that the vehicle is being used as a track car, I think you are out of luck - period.

I have been told by several different Jag dealer techs that the rotors are too thin to be machined and still have any useful life left. The said that if the rotors are in near perfect condition. they will usually withstand one set of pad replacements before requiring replacement.

 

Sounds more like pad material stuck to the rotor face, very common on cars today and easy to fix. Takes just a rotary sanding disk and a little elbow grease.

The pad deposits don't burn off they just get worse and worse.

 

I've not had to "bed" brakes on any of my vehicles, and I've had/have several other similar vehicles.. This squeaking of the brakes occurs no matter the condition. It should also be noted this is not my primary vehicle and no matter who's driving beit my spouse or I in any type conditions the brakes squeak. We are very much car enthusiasts, and it is no fun spending the first year of your vehicle going back and forth to the dealer to hear "there's nothing wrong" or they do not know.

 

Track work increases the chance of hot spotting the rotors. Because the pad material is burned into the pores in the cast iron it doesn't "rub off". The most common cause of hot spotting rotors is holding the car stationary when the brakes are very hot. It only takes a few seconds stopped to imprint the rotors. One may be able to sand the surfaces with emery cloth and restore the uniform surface rather than machining them, I don't know. I do know we were warned by our instructors not to stop our cars when the brakes were hot but to do a cool down lap first.

 

I have a 2011 Jaguar XF. In the past two years I have had to have two sets of brakes put on this car because of the squealing. It's pretty embarrassing to be driving a car that cost as much as a Jaguar does and the brakes squeal every time you stop. You might as well have bought a Chevy. Is there anyone I can get in touch with about this problem? No offense to Chevy.

 

The stock pads and rotors can be very noisy just as you come to a stop, with a loud "graunch". For some reason they don't all do it, but plenty do. It can be very annoying in stop/go traffic and especially when doing a three point turn or reverse parking. I had this on all three Jags, 2 x XF and the F-Type. The easiest solution is to change the brake pads to ceramic pads, which not only eliminates the "graunch" but reduces the horrendous amount of brake dust to almost none. Depending on the exact model of your XF and hence the brake sizes, you can get ceramic pads from a few suppliers. I found Power Stop ceramic pads to be really good, but if you have the large 380 mm front brakes you are out of luck, they only make the 326 mm and 355 mm pads.

 

I've never had any issues with my brakes on my'09 XF Supercharged or my '11 XFR, although the dealer did proactively change out some clips a few years ago. My brakes had been included in the "free" service until about a year ago, so they were always Jag spec. However, since it was time to replace them again a few months ago, I went with StopTech slotted rotors and EBC Red (ceramic) pads for less than what Jag wanted to charge me for their parts. I did all of the work myself (to save even more money), and, while I definitely notice a difference between my new setup and my previous Jag spec, I still don't have any negative issues, squeaking or otherwise.

 

Likewise never had any noise issues with mine. Worth getting them to take another look, maybe disassemble and retighten in case vibrations in it. There is also a paste some shops use to reduce squeak although not sure how effective that is

 

A few months ago during a normal brake pad replacement, I noticed that the rotors were getting down to their minimum thickness. So I ordered new pads and rotors. I still get the squealing especially when the brakes are cold. Once they warm up, they are fine. I have slotted and drilled rotors now. They do not make any difference on the squealing. So I am suspecting that it is the caliper design that is the culprit. I can believe that the clips are the reason why they do squeak. It is not too noticeable. But it does catch attention of others from time to time. I will try a new set of organic pads on the next service to see if this helps.