Hi all, just had my car at the dealership for its annual inspection and service and it seems that my rear rotors are close to needing replacement.

My dealer said that I should replace the rotors, pads and sensors on the rear and gave me a price, which while high was not unexpected. My question though is this, on other vehicles I have replaced rotors and pads myself without too much effort. Is there something that requires special tools or calibration for the F Type?

 

It's dead easy, I replaced my 325 mm rear brakes with new 376 mm rears (calipers, rotors, pads and splash shields) a few years ago and if I can do it anyone can!
Only one "trick" and one potential problem replacing just the rotors and pads.
Trick - you need to put the rear brakes in "maintenance mode" to disable the EPBs and retract the brake pistons, it requires some specific button and pedal presses, the details are around here somewhere in a couple of places. Odds on to be in DJS's Dropbox.
Potential problem - getting the pads into the calipers. I had a helluva job last time (was chasing a rattle), one of them was an extremely tight fit and just would not go in, one or both of the little metal tangs (anti-rattle/securing clips) on each end of the pad kept on catching and bending up. In hindsight I reckon a dab of brake grease on those ends/clips would have helped a lot and it's a good idea to apply break grease there anyway.
One other thing - the rotors are held in position by small "nuts", flat washers with tangs, two on each side on two of the five lugs, sometimes new players don't notice them and struggle to get the rotors off. Just bend the tangs up and "knock"/turn them around with needle nosed pliers and/or a small screwdriver until you can screw them off.
No special tools required just ordinary wrenches and sockets.

 

Hi Vindi,
I know the search function on the forum is not great but try searching the forum and Youtube are a great place to start. Yes, the rear rotors wear quicker than the fronts. However, the difference between the new OEM rotor and min thickness for replacement is crazy, 1mm wear off each side. The cost I was quoted at the dealer for rear rotors and pads at the was around $900. I replaced all 4 rotors (slotted and dimpled-- brakeperformance.com) and Porterfield 4S pads all around I think for $750. You can get the sensor at various places, possibly even Rock Auto. Just search. You only need one for the front and one for the back.

There are no special tools but the tricky parts are the retaining clip and you need to release the EPB- emergency parking brake (procedure) before you start. Good lucky, tackle it yourself, you have all the past experience you need.


https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/f...y-tips-246472/

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/f...16-how-188946/

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/f...thread-242078/

 

Hah, you beat me to it. Those little star washer holding on the rotors are a pain. I cut them off and didn't replace them. I think they are mainly for rotor retention at the factory, I have been told mechanics don't replace these.

 

Vindi - when SS4PK says "the retaining clip is tricky" I am fairly sure he is talking about the anti-rattle clip/spring on the FRONT brake caliper which yes is a right royal PITA to refit, but there are no such clips/springs on the rear brakes (if you discount the tangs on the ends of the brake pads I mentioned before).

 

Hey thanks all for the instant responses. Great info. Will take the task on myself.

 

I realize that I didn't share my curiosity. SS4PK mentioned that the rear rotors wear faster, isn't that a bit strange? After all the fronts do all the work I would have expected those to wear faster, unless of course there are material differences.

 

It has been well established across pretty much all modern Jags, not just the F-Type, that the rear rotors and pads wear around twice as fast as the fronts.
No definitive answers as to why but three causes/reasons have been suggested:
1. The anti-dive system that all modern Jags have, which under medium to heavy braking applies the rear brakes fractionally earlier and harder than the fronts.
2. The handbrake/parking brake/emergency brake operates only on the rear brakes and can wear them a little.
3. The rear rotors and pads are significantly thinner than the fronts when new so they will reach minimum specified thickness earlier.
The front brakes still do around 80% of the work though.

 

While the above causes absolutely contribute, early rear rotor/pad wear is common across many makes today and has been mostly attributed to the proliferation of ADAS options such as traction control and lane keep assist. Both rely heavily on the gentle application of braking on either the left-rear or right-rear to counteract undesirable behavior (both driver-induced and environment-induced). Traction control is ubiquitous on most makes now and one-sided rear braking is the number one approach to correcting vehicle track (before more aggressive countermeasures such as front-braking, steering inputs, or throttle/fuel retardation are employed).

 

yup, thanks for the correction.

 

Yup, forgot about that one!

 

torque vectoring is why our rear pads wear out quicker.

 

Not many F-Types have torque vectoring (mine doesn't) and very few other Jags have it yet they nearly all wear the rears about twice as fast as the fronts so something(s) else must be the main cause(s).

 

Thought it was anti-dive that used more rear brakes.

This EPB doc includes the procedure for putting it in maintenance mode.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/uajlxghl1a...brake.pdf?dl=0

I think there’s a thread mostly dedicated to how to get the anti-rattle clips back on. Happily, I’ve never done it myself.

 

C'mon, you haven't lived until you have tried (and failed numerous times) to refit those anti-rattle clips!