Last weekend I replaced the front rotors and pads on my '06 XKR. First of all, I'd like to thank all of those who responded to my threads on brake pads advice and bleeding the brakes. It was all very helpful.

As to the job itself, it was all very simple and straight forward. Pull the wheels and you can pretty much see what you need to do. Except....!!! There are two 19mm bolts that attach each caliper to the hub. These bolts are a BITCH to get off. First of all, they are torqued to 155ft/lbs. But once you break them loose, they fight you every step of the way. I was using a breaker bar with an extension and even then I had to put some grunt into it. Furthermore, I was doing this in my garage with jack stands so I could only get about 1/8th of a turn with each go because of clearances. All told, I spent about 3 1/2 hours just on these four bolts. An impact wrench would definitely be the best tool for this job.

I've worked on a lot of cars and other things and I've never had bolts that fought back like these did...every thread, all the way out!!! Jag must use some sort of industrial strength Loc Tite on these bolts. There was no evidence of rust or corrosion to make them so difficult. Interestingly, once I had them out, they went back in with no problem.

I'm curious to hear if anyone else has done this job and had the same problem.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing how the Hawk pads treat you. I still have some time left until I need to do mine, but I'd like to be prepared.

I've done quite a few other cars where they bolts that hold the calipers on are a real bitch like you said. Breaker bars and the whole works. Up here in the North and winter salt I'm lucky if I don't have to kill myself to get them out. I haven't had to on this jag yet, but it came from NJ coast originally and I'm assuming due to salt water in the air even the wheels had to be broken off from the disks, so I'm not looking forward to any repairs.

 

So far I'm pleased with the Hawkes. They appear to throw off very little dust. I'm going on a trip this weekend and I'll report back how they did after that.

 

First time I did my brakes, they refused to come off. I used a BFH on my spanner. Since then, its a breeze getting them off.

 

I'm convinced that Jag uses some kind of industrial strength thread lock on the entire bolt because they never eased up until the last couple of threads. I resorted to a BFH a couple of times and for one bolt I had to stand on the breaker bar....and I weigh 200lbs! I was really concerned that I was going to shear the bolt. An impact wrench is definitely the right tool for this job. Good to hear that it will be easier next time.