Just to prove how useless the 911 is here's a stupid magazine praising it. Doh!

http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsAr...llCars/253307/

 

I guess I have to agree to differ on most of your points, but I agree it is time to end the debate as we are not really getting anywhere and would prefer not to get into a "flaming" war. You seem very happy with the XF and its brakes and that is fine by me. I have some reservations but believe they are more than up to the job and Le Chef believes they are not up to the job or not as good as you think they are (BTW you two do seem to argue a lot in these forums!!). Three different points of view, all equally valid. Food for thought!!

 

Sid, Where are you? I know you must think your problem has taken a back seat when this thread got "hijacked" but a lot of us are still interested in how things are sorting out.

Have you got any satisfaction from the dealer?

Have you decided, as some have suggested, it's all errornious perception on your part or incorrect nationality. Can you believe that last one?

Has the problem solved itself with break in driving? No pun entended.

Speak up mate. You've got friends out here and this may be an important issue.

 

Thanks for giving Sid encouragement Tarheal, now to get the thread back to Sid's worries about the Jaguar that he is driving.

Please note guys, that both Le Chef and jagular have been suspended from the forum. Despite a previous warning about their behaviour they chose to continue their personal feud.

This type of behaviour is just not tolerated on this forum.

Sid, how are you getting on with it.

Please let us know.

 

When test driving the XF, I drove the XF, XF Premium and XF Portfolio edition. All exhibited the same braking qualities, i.e they did not let me bring the car to a smooth stop without careful thought. I assumed this was because my 5 series BMW was "different" and I just needed to adapt. I have also noticed that all the XF loaners I have had were the same.

The question here is whether Sid's XF is worse than normal. That is a little difficult to tell, but I can confirm that I thought the brakes were a little "Touchy" when I first drove the XF but have now adapted reasonably well.

Hope this helps.

 

WOW! All I asked was a simple question! When the car was 2 weeks old I contacted the dealership. I brought the car in and the service tech told me there was nothing wrong with the brakes and they were within the correct specs. I am slowly getting used to, or should I say compensating for the quick grab of the brakes. Otherwise, I love the car. It is super fast, great acceleration, and the overall feel of the car is excellent. This is my first Jaguar and I hope the braking isn't the same in all of them.

 

It looks as if things are OK then which is good to know. I am also glad to know that you found them a little "touchy" too and it was not just me. As for the other models, I have no idea....

 

When i first got the car the brakes to me were a little bit grabby but after a few days I go use to it. When my girlfriend drove it she commented on the brakes as well (but she won't be driving it that much ).

 

My squeaking brakes were a problem so I took the XF in for service (6k miles) and the dealer replaced the front rotors and put on new pads. Now the brakes are quiet and seem less grippy after some miles on them. They seem quite normal to my prior driving experiences with Mercedes, etc. No perceivable grabbing issue for me. Andrew in LA

 

Interesting.....I just acquired a 2011 XJ SC and find the brakes to be a little too sensitive and I guess "grabby". So today while my car is in for a software update I have a loaner 2011 XK Premium and find the brakes to be fine....easier to modulate than my XJ. Go figure!

BTW, like Le Chef, I also have a 911 as my other car and the brakes are the polar opposite. They are awesome but you have to get used to pushing the pedal harder than you are used to in most other cars. The rationale for this (so I understand) is so Porsches have a consistent feel between inputs for steering, brakes, clutch etc when driving on the track (which many Porsche drivers do...including me for a 3 day driving course last year, and at track speeds the brakes feel perfect).....anyway...the main point was to remark that I find the XF's brakes to be fine (and quite similar in feel to BMW 5 series' that I have owned....and to the 535xi that my wife currently owns)

 

Both XF's I have are quite difficult to stop smoothly in the last inch. Even when I back off on the pressure as the car is about stopped there is a minor lurch. I chalk it up to very powerful brakes and lots of power trying to roll it forward.

A minor annoyance and the braking on the XF is excellent.

 

Soft pads and relatively high servo effects are reflected in the low pedal effort required to brake the XF.

The steering is also light.

Jaguars are designed to be easy to drive fast and hard. They have light controls that respond rapidly and accurately to driver inputs.

I regularly drive four different cars and have no trouble adjusting to the different character of each.

All street cars i.e. other than those designed for very high performance driving such as the track requires, ought to have light and accurate controls for ease of operation at high speeds or in heavy traffic. The XF does.

 

I first noticed the "lurch" when coming to a full stop a couple of months ago, and actually looked in the rearview mirror to make sure I wasn't bumped from behind. Back then, it was a rare occurrence (the lurch). Now, I find I just can't come to a full stop without a lurch, no matter what I try. I'm afraid if I go to the dealer, they're going to waste my time by telling me they all do that, or that there's nothing wrong. Any suggestions?

 

Ah yes, the famous ZF transmission lurch. This is normal, according to Jaguar, ZF transmissions, Mercedes and BMW. The ZF transmission likes to shift down and seems to sometimes engage or disengage the lockup clutch just as you roll smoothly to a stop. The resulting thump from the transmission varies in intensity and the driver's perception of that intensity, apparently. Mine does this and I reported the defect to the dealer but: "no fault found".

 

I agree that the XFR's brakes are a bit touchy. Instant cold bite is normally a good thing (if the car in front of you on the freeway brakes hard, you want instant stopping power without any need for warmup) but it is harder to modulate these than most other cars I've driven (Ferraris to BMWs).

On most cars I would hesitate to switch to low dust pads (Axxis Deluxe Plus), which often have lower amounts of bite when cold compared to OEM (though the dust is all but invisible). On this car, however, I think I would go for the low dust pads in order to see if I could get rid of some of that touchiness. A bonus would be that I'd not have to clean the wheels nearly as much.

On most other cars, I've had to look hard to find pads that performed better than stock in terms of fade resistance, yet kept good cold bite. My favorite so far has been the Axxis Ultimate. Slightly better dust than OEM BMW, cold bite nearly the same as stock, and far better fade resistance when driven hard. I also like StopTech street performance pads for the same reasons.

Now, if someone would actually make aftermarket pads for this car. (Or publish the parts numbers; they pads might already exist but I can't find any listings for Axxis or StopTech pads for the XFR.) I know I'm under the maintenance program so pads are free, but I'm willing to try some other pads to see if I could improve on the brake feel. It's the only thing that even remotely bothers me about this car.

 

EBC in the UK makes pads to fit the XF.

 

Hey I just had EBC Red pads installed NOW my XF brake is so Mushy I am scared of the car. befoer it was Grabby and I liked that as I drive hard. Now I am scared - did they not calibrate the brakes correctly ?

 

Whoever did the work must have hosed the job.

My white XF has EBC Red in the front, and Akebono on the rear. It brakes so much smoother than the stock pads. It feels great.

I still have stock brakes on the gray XF, but not for long, and it's very grabby in comparison.

Try bleeding the brakes.

 

What year and engine is it? How is the brake dust? Where did you buy the pads?


I have a 2010 5.0 and will probably need to replace pads again. My current set is Porterfield carbon/kevlar front and rear.

 

2011 XF Premium (back in the days when you bought an XF, you got a real man's V8 whether you liked it or not).

The EBC Reds dust despite the bold claims by EBC that they don't. Yes, it's less than stock, but you're still cleaning your rims, so don't buy those pads just because of the dust. The feel is much better than stock, and they don't eat the rotors, so buy them for those reasons.

The Akebono's are amazing pads. Great feel and ZERO dust. Not less dust, not low dust, not almost no dust, they're ZERO dust. Sad that they are only for the rears today, but there is word that they will make them for the fronts soon. My first upgrade to a car is Akebono's if they have them for that car.

Do the XF community a favor, and everyone email Kirby at Akebono to tell them that you can't wait to get the pads for the front of the XF. kirby.pruitt@akebono-usa.com