As I said over in my new member intro post, I'm inheriting an 96 XJ6 from the original owner. (That post says 97 - typo). While waiting for it to arrive from the other corner of the country, I've been going over the maintenance records to see what I might need to do once I get my hands on it.

The rear pads and rotors were replaced at 69,000 miles, and the front pads and rotors at 60,000. It's at just over 80,000 miles now. That seems reasonable for pads, but early for rotors. What sort of life do you get out of your rotors? I know that's an "it depends" question, but I'd be interested to know life span vs. driving style. Example, "I drive it like I stole it on twisty mountain roads and had to put in new rotors at XX,000 mi" or "Mostly long motorway/freeway cruises and I'm on the original rotors after YY,000 km".

The previous owner just used it for getting around town, especially in later years. Maybe she rode the brakes? Or is this typical?

Thanks in advance for any opinions and data you might have.
-Thos/MA

EDIT: After posting I dug further into the stack of receipts and discovered that the front pads - and rotors - were replaced at 35,558 miles, 60,603 miles, and 78,839 miles. WTF? PO was a bad driver? Mechanic installed cheap rotors? Now I'm really curious to hear what sort of brake life people are getting.

 

Hi Thos,

Welcome to the Jaguar Forums! It's great to have you with us.

Many shops tell customers the rotors need to be changed when the pads are worn, and most customers don't know any better. On the other hand, most DIY owners will only replace the rotors if they are warped, badly scored, or so worn that a tall lip has developed.

Many drivers in our hilly area ride their brakes all the way down high hills, and I have replaced many warped rotors when the pads still had more than half of their friction material remaining. Sometimes they look nearly new. I try to teach folks to downshift to use engine braking to save their rotors, but most never learn.

Another factor is pad material. Some of the auto parts stores offer pads with a Lifetime Warranty. My assumption is that the pads are so full of metal particles that they wear out the rotors first. Organic friction material and the modern ceramic compounds seem to be much kinder to rotors than the semi-metallic types. Many automakers have transitioned to ceramic pads as OE.

Many of us are using the Akebono ceramic pads that produce very little dust and keep your wheels cleaner.

Cheers,

Don

 

I agree with Don.

Creature of habit I am, and I always replace rotors and pads at takeover from the PO, no exceptions. That said, if they look and measure fine, then clearly, NO. I worked for a distributor, and rotors were $20 each, so not a financial issue at all, just common sense.

On the X300 cars,

The 3.2ltr XJ6, the OE lasted 172000kms, front and rear.

The R, 210000kms front, and rears still OE at 240000kms.

BUT

I learnt to drive a looooong time ago, drum brakes were all the rage, and reading the traffic was paramount to survival. I still drive the same, and brakes are NOT a hard wear item on any of
the Jags.

Sold the XJS @ 245000kms, and still running factory rotors.

Shops will always upsell them as a "safety factor" and although they are not wrong, mostly they are just fine for a long time to come.

Pad compound, and driving style is the key here I reckon.

 

I generally work on the basis of 2 to 1, ie I will wear out two sets of pads on each set of rotors. Pads will comfortably last 20000+ miles on the front and 30000+ on the rears, albeit I dont live up a mountain and my most excessive hooning around days are behind me. I avoid engine braking simply on the basis that everything and anything to do with the engine and drivetrain are much more difficult and expensive to fix than the brakes ( note earlier caveat about not living up a mountain!). Rotors and pads are not expensive, and are easily sourced.