Hi All,

Been on the forums for a while, but in the classics section (Have a 94 XJ12 project car). I recently traded my 08 XJ VDP for a 2010 Vapour Gray XK Portfolio.

At 60,000 miles I need to do do a brake job as the pads are shot, and the rotors have enough of a lip to worry me. Problem is, all of the part numbers and info I can find are for the XKR. Are the parts different between them, or did they use the same standard brake system? I know that the Alcon package was an option for the R, but I can't tell what to get for a standard NA 5.0 car.

I hate to pay the dealer up-charge on parts when I can get the same or better quality aftermarket for a third the price, but will if I need to. I was looking at the EBC red-stuff pads as many here have had good luck with them, but again can't tell if they are different for the NA versus the R.

I promise I did search the forum, but wasn't really sure what to look for. So if this has been answered please just direct me and I'll read from there.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

I would go with OEM rotors and the pads of your choice. Thought there was a difference to between xk and xkr (non-alcon) brakes.

Rock Auto has several aftermarket rotors at the same prices you'd pay for any marque with similar size brakes. I think the calipers are Atev, so they should be same for whomever uses them...

 

What is the difference between the brakes on the XK and XKR? Any difference between the 4.2 and 5.0 variants, or are all XK and all XKR brakes the same throughout the run with the exception of the Alcon brakes?

 

Different from I see in pictures of xk and xkr for same years. Extra 100 hp warrants different brakes.

 

The brakes, both front and rear, are different on the 5.0L NA and SC cars. The NA cars have 355mm rotors (P/N C2C25337) and the SC cars have 380mm rotors (P/N C2P12622) on the front. (Alcon brakes are another animal all together.)

To determine if you need new rotors you need to measure them. If they are less than 30mm thick you need new ones.

There was a thread here awhile ago on rotors. ALL the blank castings come from Taiwan or China. (Alcons come from China) Most of the castings are machined in China. Some of them are machined in the US or elsewhere. For simple CNC machine work like a brake rotor I don't see any advantage to domestic over Chinese. I spent a LOT of time in machine shops in China. Most of their machine shops are as good as you will find anywhere in the US. A few are better.

Centric P/N 125.20024 should fit your car. You can find them on ebay for ~ $87. They are machined in the US, if that matters to you.

Brake pads - I am not going to touch that one. Ask three people and you will get at least four different opinions.

 

Thank you all so much for the info. That's exactly what I needed.

Though I have my own thoughts on brands and type of pads (I do track from time to time); I would imagine that in addition to the diameter of the disk being different, that the pads are also a different configuration (size/shape)?

I'll likely go ahead and invest in a set of R spec calipers and rotors, if for no other reason than I can actually get parts for them. Hell, they'll be paid for in two pad changes at dealer cost...

I find it interesting that no one seems to carry pads (or anything at all) for the NA XK... Were there that few NA models made, or are the R specs just that much more popular? Annoyingly for me, It's basically Dealer (up-charged a few dozen times) or Autozone (questionable...) and nothing in between, while the XKR gets 20 or more options from every make (Brembo, EBC, StopTech, Centric, TRW, etc...) and both have very similar driving characteristics separate of the HP boost (really only applicable to track usage).

 

If you want to aftermarket, look for brake set from a wrecked F Type SVR and go ceramic! I bet they'd part that out pretty cheap (relatively). If not that, how about some AP Racing Calipers and Rotors? Can't get any more British and high quality than that!

 

That's actually not a bad idea... I never think about the Ftype parts, but that may be a place to start (Would love to find an SVR ). I hadn't heard about AP, but will definitely give them a check. Many Thanks for the info!