So I've been searching the forum to see what experiences fellow jag owners were having when changing their front brake pads and it seems I'm not the only one having this issue but I haven't found any Concrete solutions. I have a 2004 xj8 with 135000 miles and felt it was time to change the front pads as they were starting to sound like they were getting low and I wanted to be proactive with my new toy. I've always used the duralast cmax ceramic lifetime warranty brake pads from autozone in all of my cars for years including my previous car, a 96 xj6, without any issue. I took the jag to an Indy shop and had them put the pads in due to all this horrible weather and now it sounds worse then it did before! It sounds like pads with no meat on them were installed! Any ideas? Could it really be the pads or did the mechanic do something wrong here? The pads can be seen here- Brake Pads - Front | 2004 Jaguar XJ8 8 Cylinders 4.2L SFI DOHC | AutoZone.com

 

What condition were the discs ? If these were grotty, the noise will be generated by them, not your new pads.

 

Brake discs: Have they been "turned" (resurfaced), replaced or none of the above? I never put new pads on discs that have not been resurfaced. Your pads will not last very long and it could be the source of the noise you are hearing (grooves on disc do not match groves on the new pads since the new pads have no grooves to match to)

 

The concrete solution is: I would go back to the garage that did the work. They should have road tested the car after the work or you should have turned around after you noticed it. It sounds like one of the pads was installed inside out or it wasn't bad brakes. The new pad backing plate is contacting the rotor instead of the pad or it could be a wheel bearing all the long . You would have to see the pads getting low, hearing would be the backing plate against the rotor, which would cause serious damage. All things considered the rotors should be replaced with the pads at this age.

There shouldn't be any noise after a proper brake job. Follow this link in the How To Section. https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ice-how-61323/ Don't keep driving the car in this condition.

 

Thanks for the tips guys! The discs looked good from what I could tell. They weren't resurfaced at the time of installation, perhaps the grooves are off but I have never had this happen in all the years I've worked on cars. I'm going back to the shop today so they can take it apart in front of me so I can have a look in addition to them looking at it. Rotors would be great but if I can avoid that expense it'd be better for my pocket! I'll let you guys know what happens.

 

Ok so I had the mechanic put the car up on the lift and I checked everything along side him and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary that could be wrong. Rotors looked good, pads looked fine.lagonia brings up a good point in that the pads grooves don't match that of the rotors so I'm thinking of getting new knew rotors for all 4 wheels along with new pads. Any idea which rotors I should get ? Less noisy and durable as oem?

 

I have used the Akebono padsAkebono Brake Corporation on a few cars now really happy with them

I did the pads and rotors on my wife's Jeep I used stoptech drilled and slotted rotors and akebono pads

The vehicle has since done 100,000 k,s and the rotors look like new no grooves and most of all no lip which is what I would have expected also the Jeep being very heavy you would think the rotors would have some sign of wear they look as good as the day they where fitted

I did get the powder coated rotor hats and edges as I live near the ocean and hot subtropical climate where everything rusts these have stood the test

My XJ8 is due for pads and rotors soon I will be using the same combo

On my XJR6 I just replaced the pads because the mechanic said the rotors looked fine didn't even machine them no noise quiet while breaking good pedal feel and best of all no dirty wheels

 

Thanks for the info! I was wondering, should i just get the rotors machined? would that be cheaper?

 

here we go for the third time lost my reply three time so far

If your discs don't get undersized by machining do it if the do get undersized don't the insurance wont pay if you have an accident with undersized rotors and they do check any excuse not to pay

You might be lucky although I have noticed from experience the older style pads where very hard on rotors

The pads from the last couple years are light years ahead of the old style

I haven't used OEM pads in any of my vehicles ever especially jaguars they always seem to squeal when using the brakes lightly my wife would always say she could here me coming home and my current X350 is the same

 

I second the use of Akebono pads. You will not have to wash your wheels as often to get the brake dust off, and the stopping power is great.

If you are getting a grinding noise, you may want to check your front wheel bearings as well. I was chasing a front end rattle for over a year, and finally replaced the front wheel bearings and the rattle is gone. The other thing that was happening in parallel, that I didn't attribute to the wheel bearing was a grinding noise as the car slowed down with brakes applied. I have dimpled and slotted brake discs and was attributing the grinding noise to the rotors. The grinding noise is now gone, so it was the wheel bearing.

Mark
2004 XJR w/125K miles

 

Thanks guys! I'm going to swap all the rotors and change the pads to the akenebos! Hopefully this will resolve the issue!

 

Did this problem end up being your wheel bearing?

 

Sorry for not updating this thread! No it turned out to be the rotors. So i changed the rotors and brake pads and the car has since had any issues!