While on a nice sunny drive today I got the message Brake Pads Low on my display. Any way to tell front or rear without removing tires? Thanks. Brian

 

It would be helpful to know the number of kilometres/miles on the vehicle.

Since the front brakes wear at a faster rate, it would be best to start at the LH front wheel.

 

YES - just remove the wheels.

The rears can be inspected from underneath at the back with the vehicle jacked up but the fronts are still quite obscure even with the wheel off.





I have the wheels off my cars twice a year to check tyres, pads, discs and suspension. Not a lengthy job and a good way to catch potential trouble early.

Graham

 

Akshully, the rear brakes wear at a faster rate than the fronts. You probably just Typoed that, so all is forgiven.

 

This is correct - on most cars the front brakes do wear faster but on the XK the rears wear faster - and produce more brake dust!

 

I use Porterfield pads, tremendous stopping power and very little dust.

 

Why is the XK different, I'm struggling to work this one out for all the usual / obvious reasons?

 

63000 miles, purchased the car in October of 2019. Had a crimped brake line, RH Front, in July and they replaced the line and did 2 flushes, no mention of low pads. Is there any way to tell if my brakes have been upgraded, or do I need to pull the pads to measure? No mention in records if they were upgraded.
Thanks,
B

 

See the Brake Pad Wear thread https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...d-wear-200023/

In this thread, Graham (GGG) notes the OEM rear pads are a bit thinner than the fronts. Inspection of thickness remaining is pretty easy (and best done) with the wheel off and a good flashlight. As your front brakes had some recent service, I would check the rear first. Inspect your rotors while you are in there.
My other car is a 2015 Outback and other owners had noted the rear pads wear out before the fronts too. Maybe rear pads are thinner or something about vehicle stability/traction systems that emphasis rear brake usage... I don’t know.

I recently replaced my front pads with Centric posi quiet ceramic and rears with Akebono euro ceramic as Bocatrip did in the referenced thread. Plenty of pad left on the OEM originals at 30k miles. They stopped well, but very tired of brake dust on wheels and they were pretty noisy at low speeds. Happy so far in my mild driving with about 300 miles on the new ones. Progressive pedal, quiet and clean wheels!

 

I also replaced with Ceramic pads for low dust although I went with Centric front and rear. Same feedback as V7Sport.

 

I pulled all four tires off today and pads are perfect, all around. Does the Wear Sensor go bad? Is there any way to clear the message, without going to a dealer? I am up for a VA Safety Inspection, and I doubt that the warning would fail me as long as the pads are in the acceptable range.
Thanks,
B

 

Found this reference in the XJ forum which may be helpful to you. Seems to me you may be able to jumper the sensor wires to make it he light go out once you figure out which one is causing the issue.

 

Thanks for the input. I doubt I want to do a bypass instead of replacing the sensors, cost doesn’t seem that high for both. If I can replace them without removing the calipers, it would be much easier, but we’ll see.

 

They do go brittle with age and often break when replacing pads so should be replaced with each pad change. It is possible that one is damaged.
The floating part of the caliper (the easy bit) will most probably have to come off to attach the new sensor wires.

 

Thanks everyone for their input. Took off right rear and found the sensor tucked behind the control arm. Installed new sensor and all is good. I did not have to take off the caliper and there is no clip holding the sensor in place, unless it came off at some point.

Here is the comparison...



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Thanks,
Brian