Hello everyone,

My car has been at the body shop for about a month and she will be ready next week.

When I dropped her of I was having 2 issues with my brakes that I am trying to get sorted:

First, the car had been pulling to the side after sitting for a month at another shop. After driving the car 2 days the "pulling problem" went away on its own, but I noticed the brakes vibrated a little on stop. The car has some very cheap (20 dollar!) rotors in the front I bought from E bay and standard pads. I have now purchased EBC "stock replacement" rotors for the front and redstuff pads for the front and back.

Second problem is that the Red Brake light had been coming on for a while. The system was flushed about 3 years ago and the accumulator ball changed less than two years ago. Just a week before dropping her of at the shop the ABS light started lighting up---only on cold nights--since the car seems to be stoping correctly other than the vibration mentioned above, I have ordered a new blue pressure switch JLM 1908 that also causes the "red brake" and "Amber ABS" light to come on when faulty.

So when I pick her up I will have

1-cheap front rotors replaced with EBC standard rotors
2-front and rear pads replaced with redstuff pads
3-pressure switch jlm1908 replaced with new unit
4-brake hoses replaced.
5-entire system bled.

A few questions/ advise needed:

1-why would the ABS light only be coming on when its cold?
2-is there an essential additional item that I should also be replacing based on my symptoms?
3-are the EBC rotors and redstuff pads good choices, does anyone else use them?

Thanks for any help

 

Not necessarily a need for replacement but definitely one to check. The 'pulling' that went away could indicate a sticking caliper piston which can also contribute to vibration during braking.

While you've got everything apart, it's worth ensuring all the pistons move freely.

Graham

 

I have red stuff all round and EBC slotted and dimpled rotors on the front. Totally brilliant. The slotted rotors will 'grumble' a bit at low speeds, do not worry, quite normal. WARNING: the rotors MUST be very carefully fitted and tested for runout (ie slight wonkyness when turning). Runout must be tested with a dial gauge and be no more than 1 thou. As long as this is done they will be superb and last a very long time.

High speed stopping power with the redstuff pads is incredible and no fade. the pedal needs a slightly harder push when cold, but nothing drastic.

The hubs will be 100% true, but when the old dics are removed, there is often a build up of dust grime etc on the mating surface to the new disc. I scraped mine very carefully with a wide blade and after a couple of trial fits got the runout to spec.

Greg

 

Purchased my car with red stuff already installed on stock rotors. They stop well and are low dust. This is my daily driver and I am just now getting some brake shimmy when hot. I am looking for a good set of rotors that are not made in China to do a complete brake overhaul.

 

Thanks Graham!

Last time I had the brakes looked at (a few months ago), the calipers where pretty solid, but I think it's smart and cheap to replace the pistons anyway.

 

@Greg:

Thanks for the information. Sounds like I made a good choice.
I just wanted an improvement over the factory set up.
And these cars do not like cheap rotors, that's for sure. When the originals started shaking a while back I replaced them with the cheapest rotors I could find after someone told me all rotors where essentially the same. The cheap rotors started vibrating just after a few weeks.

@Ronald:

Yes, don't go with any cheap rotors. It's just a stopgap measure.

 

Mark,

When I've done caliper rebuilds on vehicles I've intended to keep for a while, I've used aftermarket stainless steel pistons instead of the standard chromed ones. Initial cost is higher but it eliminates subsequent corrosion issues.

Graham

 

Bringing the topic back up gentlemen........

Car is still at the body shop, custom paint takes a long time!!

Anyway, already got all my parts together for the brakes. I am now thinking that its probably a good idea to go ahead and replace the ABS wheel sensors as well, but as expensive as they are, I won't be able to buy all 4, rather I will do 2 and then two. Which ones tend to fail, front or rear?

As always input is really appreciated!!

 

FWIW I'm not aware of a failure trend one way or the other. Actually, I think the overall failure rate on wheel speed sensors is pretty low.

Cheers
DD

 

Thanks Doug.

I have heard of more than a few fail, specially now that they are getting older. I just would rather get it done now-at least one set-than later. We are pretty sure the pressure switch is what's causing the lights to come on since it just comes and goes, (both amber ABS and red brake), but the sensors are almost 20 years old too, in a high stress area. The insulation tends to disintegrate causing problems.

 

Also, the sensors for the earlier cars can be had for 1/2 of what the later ones cost. Does anyone know if its just a different connector, or are they internally different?

Thanks!

 

Good question.

I've replaced a few speed sensors on other cars and many of them look totally identical externally...except the connectors.

My gut feeling is that most of them ARE functionally same. It doesn't seem like the type of thing that many manufacturers would pay to have custom engineered in terms of actual function.

I dunno. Just speculation on my part. Hopefully others who know more chime in.

Cheers
DD

 

If anyone does know about the abs sensors please let me know. I can't imagine that there is anything different with the sensors other than the connectors either, but I have no way of knowing.

 

Hi, thought this thread might be the most appropriate place for my question. I am looking to purchase some EBC pads for my XJS.
Redstuff seem to be the most highly regarded but I've read somewhere that they 'eat rotors' and I also wonder if they are a bit hard for what is essentially lower speed use. The car would rarely see over 120kph.
Has anyone tried Greenstuff or just the Ultimax Pads? From what I've read Greenstuff is more for lighter cars but they seem to make them for the XJS?

Any opinions would be valued.

 

My experience is that you are best using the EBC rotors with the EBC pads. Standard rotors and green stuff are no better than Jaguar OEM Ferodo pads. I have the slotted dimpled EBC rotors. I started with green stuff pads but they broke up on the slots/dimples and were not that great at high speed stops. Changed to red stuff and they are brilliant. You have to push a bit harder on the pedal at low speeds if the pads are stone cold, but they are superb from any sort of speed stop.

Greg