Dear Fletcher your video is excellent. Your video is by far the best out on You Tube. Thank you for the ultra clear instructions. I will be replacing all of my pads and roters on my XF SC next week. I know how to change roters and pads but not on a Jaguar XF hence your video takes the guess work out of the job and that give everyone who watched this video a bit of confidence in doing this job correctly, thanks to you!! Regards CJ Pinajian
Excellent tutorial, thank you. Im just about to do this on mine, rear and front. Also thanks for mentioning the parking brake reset procudure by disconnecting the batteru.
Again excellent video, replaced pads and discs following your tutorial without a problem taking note of the amended torque setting. I did find that I had to purchase a piston calliper rewind tool to reset the piston because I was in fear that the bleed nipple would shear as it was very tight. A job well done and the hand brake seemed to work ok without resetting by disconnecting connecting the battery. Thanks.
Wanted to add that I replaced my brakes and calipers all round at the weekend. My model is a 2013 (x250) and the rear calipers are not push in they have to be wound in. Also both sides are wound in a clockwise direction. Fronts are push by the way.
Thanks for this. I'm surprised by your saying that the XF gets through rear pads - mine had been on for 90,000 miles, which seems more than reasonable!
Before taking of caliper, did you use diag etc..(Bosch kts) to wind back electric parking brake? If I am not mistaken, all XF's x250 models have electric parking brakes.
Me again, just been doing rear brakes, takes some getting off!!,broke sensor so bought a new one, Pagid £20. Question,did you have any problems replacing yours?,as I couldn't get mine on it was so tight, ended up braking the new one!! Phoned EBC and told them about the problem and they said there guys fitted one to an xf and also had a problem, just wondering if you struggled, if not I'm wondering if it's to do with pad thickness in the slot on EBC pads!!.
Leon, nice posting but as I looked where to locate my trolley jack on rear point on my XF 2.2, I realised a problem, I read on the various forum that some people have used a type of puck to stop damage to the plastic trim, could you tell me or any photo of what you used on the pinch weld to raise the car also where was the axle stand located. I am sure that many other people would find it very useful as the question does seem to have been raised in the jaguar forums. Thank you.
the electric hand brake is connect to this calipers? i want change front and rear caliper to brembo caliper from jaguar but i dont no how it works the hande brake electric
Hi, my car has no wear sensors on the front but I’ve got no wear warning, and the pads are totalled, metal on metal grinding… baffled me why no sensor, I’ll find out if there is any on the rear today, also I thought the slider bolts were 9mm hex or is that just for the front? I had to take the full caliper off to change my pads as didn’t have the right hex Don’t suppose you got a good video on the brake booster seal have you on the throttle body, mines giving me vacuum leak codes, I did a smoke test and definitely coming from there, car is a 2008 xf sv8
I personally clean them with a wire brush so they are spotless then smear with a thin layer of copper grease. There are sealing plugs to keep out some of the crud that might stick to the lube. I can understand both points of view. As long as you clean the brake assembly and look after it, it shouldn't start to stick. If you're really worried, graphite powder might be something to consider.
Doing my brakes this weekend hopefully, just wondering if you greased the calliper slide pins, if so what brand of grease did you use? Does it have to be silicone based?, thanks in advance.
I used copperslip (anti-sieze) in a thin layer on the pins, after I cleaned all the crud off with a wire brush, and WD40 and cleaned the holes they go into. The calipers get pretty hot if you're caning it.
I was just wondering about the rear brakes do you have to do any electronic work regarding the handbrake do you have to disconnect it electronically before winding the piston back into it's position? Thanks
No you just need to have the brake released when you shut off the car before starting work, then proceed as per video, not forgetting to reset the EPB afterwards.
Excellent video but with one exception. I wanted to see how to put the spring clip back on. You skipped that entirely. Getting the old one off was a piece of cake but it seems very fiddly to get the new one on and I feel sure there's a knack to it.
this will be my 1st time doing this so i am a bit nervous. when you disconnect the battery, do you have to reprogram everything in the car? such as seat setting, radio, gps, Bluetooth, etc?
With the bleed nipple open, the piston should slide back pretty easily with a G clamp. If it doesn't it may be siezed. I'd take the caliper off completely and investigate. May need new seals or reconditioning.
Looking @ doing my rear brakes on my 2011 xfr using EBC yellow stuff, I Was told by them to replace all round as it would upset the balance of the breaks, any thoughts on this one!!, close up picture of where you've got those axle stands back and front would be great.
If you have standard front pads (especially if you're hammering it and they start to fade) and put super grippy fade-free rear pads on, then it's possible you'll have a brake balance problem, with the rear locking up. The fronts should be better than the rears. You'll get much more benefit from upgrading the fronts too. The axle stands are a pain to place - I ended up putting them where the weight of the car is taken onto the chassis but I agree with all the plastic around under there, its hard to find a place. An alternative might be to (carefully) jack up on an appropriate suspension point and put the jack stand at the jacking location (as the car is going to stand with weight on that point for longer). Pick a big beefy area that's used to taking the weight of the car in normal use for the jack.
Leon, replacing the pads on my 2012 XF, on the rear when I whine back the calibers they push themselves back out and can not add the new pads. Can you or anyone help?
i suspect this has to do with the park brake question as above. If park brakes are on, the calipers will be prevented from screwing back therefore not allowing enough room to insert new pads. The pistons are not linearly pushed back - they need to be "wound" back with a brake tool.
Just reading xf forums, someone commented that the rear caliper piston need winding back in opposite directions!!, near side anti-clockwise/off-side clockwise, can you confirm that!!, also did you loosen bleed nipples on your job?. Sorry about questions, don't want to cause any damage lol. Thanks Malcolm
The pistons aren't threaded so shouldn't need twisting clock or antilock to get them back. The Jaguar workshop manual also makes no mention of this, but does use a 'special tool' 303-588, 206-080 and 206-081 to rewind the piston. It looks like a standard re-wind tool. I did find the rears awkward to wind back though, which was super-easy after slackening the bleed nipple. You will need to bleed the brakes afterwards if you do this though.
Hi Leon, I know this post is a few years old now and yes, I have read "all" the comments in an effort to find an answer to my query which is regarding the pistons.. There appears to be a lot of confusion and I for one am confused by the opposite comments given by different people. A lot of this confusion is borne from the different terminology that people use to mean the same thing. For me, to say "wind" means applying a rotational force to something and is usually clockwise as if winding a clock. Others seem to say "wind back" just to mean "reverse" the process, as if winding back the years. Now I've checked many forums and you tube videos to try to be certain about the procedure and I am still not convinced I know the answer. Some people say the pistons can be pushed straight back in, but others say that doing this will damage them and they have to be rotated. The logic dictates that if they rotate then how is that rotational force applied by the EPB or footbrake unless there is a Helix involved so they would naturally twist as they are pushed, and if there is a helix, then when straightforward "pushing" the pistons back they will naturally follow the helix grooves. I hope you can see my issue. I note that your video omitted this crucial step and would have helped me understand if I could have seen what you did to retract the pistons.
The pistons aren't threaded so they don't have to be rotated. I think the problem is that they have to be pushed back absolutely "square" or the seals in one spot will be rubbed more than in another (the cross section turns oval if off axis). Rotating I guess makes this easier/less likely to damage the rubber parts. I used a piston pusher kit that does a nice job - fit to the caliper and wind the screw - pushes the piston back in a parallel way while rotating a bit. If I remember, quite a lot of shove is needed, hence the need to keep things parallel. There may be debate about forcing fluid backwards through the ABS unit, but that's another story. For the rears, the handbrake mech may necessitate the rotating action - as I say, I used a proper retract kit (available cheap on ebay) so didn't have an issue.
No, you need to have the electronic park brake off, and if the caliper is still really stiff, undo the bleed nipple so you're not forcing brake fluid all the way back through the system (mind it doesn't spill on the discs/pads!). That should make it much easier (you'll need to bleed the brakes once you've completed the job). If the piston still won't budge, it may be seized.
+Leon “LordFlash” Fletcher thanks for the swift reply m8. i had to take the caliper off in the end as it just wouldn't budge. i broke 2 rewind tools and a pry bar in the process lol. tryed puting the caliper in my hydraulic log splitter with a pole but nope. in the end it was a hammer job. im guessing it was seized with rust but all done after a long afternoon lol.
Hi Fletcher, excellent video, just like to be sure, heard you said 28ft/lbs for the slider, would like you to re-confirm again, is it 28ft/lbs and not 28Nm ? Thanks in advance.
Leon, thank you for posting this vid. I replaced the back disc pads and sensor on my 2011 XF today and it went extremely smoothly thanks to watching your video several times prior to tackling the job. Have you done one for the front brakes? I have a feeling that I'll need to do those within 10,000 miles. How much different is it or is it pretty much the same? Thanks again!!
Glad you found it useful - in fact there will be a front pad and disc vid coming up - also some stuff about brake judder and checking lateral runout... Watch this space!
+PJ Will The torque settings are in the service manual, readily downloadable online (and I mention the settings in the video). If you don't use a torque wrench, you don't know how tight you've done up the bolts!
For what it's worth, the caliper slider bolts on my '11 SV8 required a 9mm hex key, which I ended up ordering from Amazon. Nobody carried one locally. I think the video said 7mm. Also, is there an easy way to get the anti-rattle spring back on? That was the hardest part of the whole job.
The SV8 model is rather rare in the UK because of its fuel consumption. My slide bolts were definitely 7mm - I wonder if they put the 'S-Type R' (also a 4.2 S/C engine) brakes on the XF SV8, as I used to have this very model and they were non-standard. Yes the springs are a fiddle - I usually seat one end, then use some locking pliers to line up the other end, tapping with a hammer/jimmying with a screwdriver alternately...
Have a look at my video for the front discs and pads - the front 'performance' brake option on the more powerful XFs (still an ATE caliper, but larger) does indeed need a 9mm hex, as you point out, a non-standard size. Crazy!
Hello, Sorry for thread jacking but I have an issue and I need some advice. I drive a 2010 xf. It's been raining lately and I noticed that my sun visors (both driver and passenger side) has been wet/damp. The side panels, air bag area, bottom of the dashboard area has been wet. There's also a puddle of water on both driver and passenger side feet area. Has anyone experienced any issues like this? Can anyone offer any insight?
Hello Leon, Thanks for replying. Yes my car has a sunroof. No the windscreen or sunroof hasn't been replaced. Any basic troubleshooting tips you can offer?
Essentially the electronic replacement for the handbrake. When you adjust the rear brakes, the car doesn't know how much pressure to put on the rear brake pads when the parking brake is activated (as the new pads are a different thickness to the old ones) so you need to 'teach' it what is "fully off" and what is "fully on". Just google "electronic park brake re-set Jaguar XF" and a procedure will pop up from one of the forums.
Sorry, after re-watching i heard you say to leave the parking brake off, how do you do that? does it not automatically apply the brake when you put the car in Park?
I've always re-used mine after cleaning the threads, using new threadlock and tightening to the correct torque. Jag recommends they be replaced though - seems to be a new trend as Audi also recommend replacement on theirs. I doubt very much if a high street independent garage would order up new bolts from Jag if they were doing the job...
you can not use a G clamp to push back the piston as it has to be ROTATED clockwise as it is forced back in, this is a CRUCIAL bit of info that cost me $90 to buy the specialist tool at VERY short notice as by then the caliper was off with no way to push back the pistin.
