Best place for new discs. (Brembo on an XKR 4.2)

[paullbuck210]

Need some new rear discs and pads, cross drilled large Brembo types for XKR 4.2l 2004.

Brembo seem very expensive, can any one suggest best place for reasonable prices for Brembo look-a-likes please?

[J44EAG]

The internet is the best place to look. Ebay and dealer sites are a good place to start.

My recent trawl for discs for my XJR also found that they appear to share the same part numbers as for the XKR so you may find my points here applicable. Please though, do check suitability yourself.

You need to start by using the standard Jaguar part numbers. I believe these to be C2C8355 for the front discs and C2C8356 for the rear. Be careful as regards the front disc sizes. You really need to measure the diameter of the front discs which typically might be 365mm on your early car. Its all to easy to order 355mm which may or may not be present. Mintex ( I believe these might be on your car from the factory, although you have Brembo callipers. I`m lead to believe though that Brembo did not make the discs or pads) market OE grade cross referenced parts which I understand are MDC2207 for the front and MDC2206 for the rear. The parts numbers given here are for standard parts only. Mike H might also be able to offer further opinion and details.

I also understand that Mintex also market drilled, drilled and grooved or dimpled discs but I`m afraid I don`t have those part numbers to hand. They do appear from time to time on listings but perhaps a call to Mintex direct might prove a quick and easy method of seeing what they might have available in their range.

I have to ask. Is there a particular reason for needing drilled discs? Uprating to EBC Yellow Stuff pad material is easier to source with, in my opinion, drilled discs being more difficult to source and being a rather more expensive option.

Mike K

[mike020150]

As Mike K says, there are plenty of non-Jaguar options. Jaguar used both drilled and non-drilled Brembos on the XK range. In practice, the holes in the drilled variety of disc soon clog up so whether they have any effect on a road car's braking performance is a moot point. It appears they are only there for appearance sake.
According to my information, for the XKR, the part number of the cross-drilled Brembo rear disc is JLM21748 and the plain Brembo disc is part number C2N2360. Unlike the standard braking system where disc diameters changed, I am not aware the disc diameters for X100 Brembo equipped cars altered. Rear Brembo pads are Jaguar part number MXD2750AA.
When I changed a set of original discs for an aftermarket set, I was surprised to see that the aftermarket discs had identical casting marks to the originals. Whilst that doesn't necessarily mean the material was the same, it was obvious all had come from the same foundry and as a reasonably sane motorist, I couldn't detect any braking differences between them! Mike.

[J44EAG]

Good points from Mike as always.

I`ve used drilled only and drilled and grooved discs. I found no difference in braking ability using drilled discs and as Mike said, the drillings do block with pad dust which has to regularly be poked out to keep clear. The use of Yellow Stuff which is advertised to have a long life and produce less dust, might help towards keeping dust blockage in drilled discs at lower levels than that of OE pad material.

After some experimentation myself over several years, I have to say I now do not see any real advantage in fitting drilled discs for road going applications and that any apparent advantage in fitting drilled discs is lost on completely me.

Drilled and grooved discs appeared to have a little more bite when compared to plain discs. They make a prominent "werring" sound like a turbine in use, but the serious down side was that pad and disc wear increased dramatically. I could also watch disc wear occur over as little as 5k miles which when measured with a vernier amounted to around half a millimetre of wear on each side of the disc over that 5k mile period. Those discs were below the wear limit indicators after just 21k miles of use. Normally, I expect discs to last at least 30k miles. It is worth noting that I am not hard on brakes and attempt to keep use of them down through sensible road speed planning. That being how I use brakes, I was then left rather shocked at the rate that wear occurred.

I think most members know of my own passion for adding performance goodies to my 350R. I can never resist the temptation to buy "go-go" bits for the car. I`ve been considering new disc options for the XJR which has included drilled only, drilled and grooved and dimpled options. As I have no issues with braking performance on the car presently, I see no point in even fitting Yellow Stuff pad material or perhaps trying dimpled discs as an option. Yellow Stuff is seriously expensive compared to OE pad material and disc prices rise to eye watering levels once drilling, grooved or dimples are mentioned. So for the future, I`ll just stick with standard OE Mintex pads and discs and keep my braking replacement costs a low levels commensurate with more than sufficient performance levels.

That`s my take on it.

Mike K

[paullbuck210]

Great, thanks guys. I only wanted cross drilled as they look good through my wheels which show up the discs well. also they are cross drilled at the moment, but the fronts are new so didn't want cross drilled on the front and plain on the rear.

I agree that there isn't much difference re stopping power etc, just cosmetic in my situation.

Will have a ring around but check the diameters first.

Many thanks.
Paul.