Did an oil & filter change / tire rotation / wheel speed sensors scrubbing this morning on my wife's 2006 XK8, then tackled the front brake pads thinking it was time for new ones. Turns out the pads still have at least 15,000 miles of life left in them. But the pad backs and calipers were covered in grease and grime, making the pads appear to be getting close to done when viewing them through the wheel spokes as i do each weekend as part of my normal checklist....

I pulled them off, cleaned everything up using nearly a full can of brake parts spray cleaner, greased up the caliper slides, and reinstalled everything. What a freakin' mess, but at least my new pads can wait until sometime in 2014....

I wonder if the shop that did a front brake pad job at 36,000 miles just before we purchased the car in early February 2012 used a full tube of caliper slide grease and caused this mess. The car now has 72,400 miles and today was the first time I've taken the front calipers and pads off....

The rear calipers and pads were clean as a whistle. No grease or grimy build-up anywhere, and they probably have at least 20,000 miles left in them....

Glad I cleaned this mess up but still wondering what caused it. No brake fluid leaks anywhere I could see, and the reservoir remains full....

 

Jon,

My front Brembo calipers were filthy when I got the car which had been supplied and serviced by the same Jaguar dealer from new.

After cleaning them up and fitting new pads, I didn't use any grease. My reasoning for this was the calipers have steel 'slippers' at the top and bottom for the pad backplates to slide on and I thought there was little possibility of sticking. If anything, they would stick on the very thin and hugely expensive pins used on Brembo.

Almost two years on, no sticking or squeaking and the calipers are never anything more than covered in a film of brake dust which is easily washed off.

What I have noticed is the caliper body is starting to corrode where it's in contact with the steel 'slippers'. This could turn into a serious issue as time goes by.

Graham

 

Thanks for your feedback, Graham. Good luck with those Brembos. I have to admit that I'm very happy my wife's car does not have them. Far too expensive to maintain....

I used an extremely thin coating of synthetic caliper slide grease on all four front slides yesterday. We'll see if that fixes the greasy mess issue. I hope it was caused by the previous shop just slopping on the grease while in the process of trying to get the car in and out as fast as possible....

 

I'd have to agree there. An expensive option at an additional £1850 ($2981) on my 'S' model and costly to maintain.

Graham