jj,

It gets more complicated. You've got the same Brembo calipers as me but with plain discs. I thought all Brembo spec cars would have cross drilled?

Had a quick search for Hawk suppliers in the UK but not turned up anything yet. My pads were changed at last service and have only done around 4K since then so plenty of life left in them.

See from the link you posted that pad choice and dust are annoying a lot of others. I'll let you know about the AutoGlym. I want to get the fluid changed a.s.a.p. so I'll do the wheels at the same time.

GGG

 

There is no significant difference between the feel of my brakes on my XK8 and my XKR, except that my XKR pedal feels a slight bit more resistance. Well, my XKR does indeed feel like it stops better, but the difference in actual feel is minimal.

 

I though Akebono was the way to go until I saw the manufacturer's response about front pads not being available. Hawk seems to be emerging as favourite for performance and low dust.

What kind of mileage are you getting out of a set?

Graham

 

Hey Hey G;

Sorry for some reason I thought you had an XKR.

There are Akebono's for the XK8's, front and rear.

http://www.placeforbrakes.com/produc...&car_year=2005


It is the oversize front rotors on the XKR that they don't do pads for though they have the rears.

But check out the ratings here:

Brakes for 2005 Jaguar XK8 Coupe

The Hawks are rated better for stopping power than the Akebono's which is doubtless your first concern.

Sorry again about the previous info.

Now I am bummed that I don't have cross drilled rotors....photos of yours please.

I hope someone hasn't changed mine out....are solid brake discs standard on '03-'04 XKR's?? Anyone know?



cheers,

jj

 

I replaced the original pads on the Brembos which were Brembo pads. They were dusty and stopping was not that great. I used the Hawk Ceramic. They are not dusty and the stopping power is excellent but they do take a second of heating to develop the full bite. Be careful if this bothers you, it takes a little getting used to ,when you apply the brakes, they come on with a rush like a turbo. I did mean to mention that the brake hoses are stainless, but with a rubber sheath, a very good idea.

 

Everyone expressing a preference here has dropped Brembo pads (as supplied by Jaguar) due to dust issues. Some favour Akebono but these aren't available for the larger front Brembo.

No one has a bad opinion on Hawk Ceramic which are favoured for low dust and better stopping power and I'll go for these.

The original spec Jaguar DOT 4 brake fluid comes in for some criticism so I'll do a flush changing to fully synthetic DOT 5 as a first step to fix this soft pedal.

Thanks,
Graham

 

My XK8 came with semi-metallic brakes that lasted 59K miles. I went back with semi-metallic Wagners on the reputation of their brakes.

Many people replace semi-metallic's with ceramic brakes, as they put out less disc dust. Ceramics perform better in hard usage--especially when they're heated up. Different kinds of brakes may have a slightly different feel.

It never hurts to change the brake fluid periodically, and have the brakes bled properly.

Then, see how your brakes feel.

 

About the same for me. My 2001 XK8 with standard brakes did 55K on the original discs, stopped effectively and pads weren't too bad on dust. Looks like we pay quite a premium for Brembo in more ways than one!

 

I got lucky and found in a shop sale 4 sets of front TEXTAR pads for the Brembo,s on my XJR 100 ,they really have a good bite and produce a low level of brake dust ,i don,t see Textar brake pads mentioned allot but they work very well.

 

FIXED

Replies all indicated soft pedal is not normal for Brembo. Checking the discs and pads showed little wear and the hoses were good so that left air in the system or contaminated brake fluid as the problem.

I flushed the system using a 'Gunson Eezibleed' automatic bleeder kit which pressure feeds the reservoir using air from a tyre making it a one man operation and removing the need for the bleed tube to be submerged in a jar of brake fluid.

On first opening each of the bleed screws, there were no air bubbles but a small volume of cloudy brake fluid emerged from each which soon ran clear. The Brembo calipers each have two bleed screws. Jaguar recommended procedure is outer bleed screw first then inner.

Couldn't find the volume required for a fluid change anywhere but it took a little over 900 ml. Brake pedal now feels normal.

Graham

 

Good work, Graham...a few questions and a few good answers can get us all a long way. Now on to the next project...