On my way back home from a pleasant morning's drive and came to a straight in the lovely lane I was on. I could see for a mile or so and pushed along to about 100 kph.
The World's biggest John Deere with a huge hay trailer pulled out of a field - I don't know, a lot less than 100 M away so I hit the brakes hard.
I could feel something take over the brake pedal and the car stopped as if it had hit a brick wall. No drama but Good God ! it was impressive.
Anyone else had this happen?

 

Steve: I've dropped my brakes @ 80 mph, just to test the brakes, and yes they bring 2 tons to a halt very impressively.

 

I had an stype for 4 years and was happy with the brakes but was shocked at the power of my xk brakes..they are brilliant..and with 20" wide wheels they stop on a tanner

 

Hope you didn't spill the RM?

Graham

 

The soft pedal can be deceiving, there is a lot of stop hidden in there.

Glad your cat kept you safely out of the hay.

 

I never use my brakes spend enough time cleaning wheels as it is

 

Do you by chance have ceramic brake pads? This sounds like they came "into the zone" with heat build up.

 

You have unleashed another part of the 4.2's updates/improvements.

Panic brake assist.

 

+1

 

Wow!
Do you think the stock 07 XKs have this feature? Or is it limited to XKRs?

Opps, just did a search. It looks like it's on my car too. Who knew?

 

Nice one Stumpy

 

A small amount of RM was unspillably in my tummy - but for a JFOF + 2 glasses of wine I reckon my reactions were pretty good.
I think the bright mental picture of the likely repair bill that flashes up whenever the bodywork is threatened helps considerably!
As Charlie said the pedal feel is a bit wimpy normally.
Tarheal - normal pads and certainly no sign of fade.

 

Steve,

I posted about 'soft pedal' as soon as I got my 2005. Definitely softer than the earlier 2001. A brake fluid change improved things but I'd still describe it as 'soft'

The stopping ability is, as you found, impressive. I can only think the servo assistance is much greater on the later cars?

Graham

 

Graham,
I agree. There seems a lot of travel before anything much happens almost as if the brakes need bleeding.
Anyway it's another thing I know works.
Centre console grille produced one drop of green today so I'll be posting on how to rebuild the latch cylinder shortly. Hot Damn!

 

That's an interesting braking assist and makes sense for a street vehicle.

My XKR is a M.Y. 2000 and I've only needed max braking once when a truck pulled out in front of me. My 'Panic Braking Assist' is me... all of my 275 pounds of American male being slammed against the brake pedal, via my foot, as the car decelerates.