X350 braking problem
Discussion
I've got a 2003 X350 XJR, which I had the seller replace the front discs just after I bought it, as they were clearly worn; I paid to have the pads replaced at the same time.
The tell tale wobble from the steering wheel was reduced after the new parts were fitted but not entirely eradicated. After a couple of thousand miles the problem was back just as bad as it was before. I hassled the seller and eventually he had the discs replaced under warranty from his parts supplier. These discs & pads were NOT genuine Jaguar parts. Once more the problem came back after an initial good period, to be just as bad.
In the end I bit the bullet and went to the Jaguar dealer and put £380 into genuine front pads and discs and had my local independent guy fit them. Initially the car was considerably better, with no steering wheel wobble, but after a few thousand miles the wobble is back. The car brakes well, pulls up straight, but at speeds over 60mph, when braking lightly the vibration through the wheel is just not funny.
Does anyone have any ideas, that don’t involve replacing the front discs and pads...thanks.
The tell tale wobble from the steering wheel was reduced after the new parts were fitted but not entirely eradicated. After a couple of thousand miles the problem was back just as bad as it was before. I hassled the seller and eventually he had the discs replaced under warranty from his parts supplier. These discs & pads were NOT genuine Jaguar parts. Once more the problem came back after an initial good period, to be just as bad.
In the end I bit the bullet and went to the Jaguar dealer and put £380 into genuine front pads and discs and had my local independent guy fit them. Initially the car was considerably better, with no steering wheel wobble, but after a few thousand miles the wobble is back. The car brakes well, pulls up straight, but at speeds over 60mph, when braking lightly the vibration through the wheel is just not funny.
Does anyone have any ideas, that don’t involve replacing the front discs and pads...thanks.
How hard are you driving it? Do you tend to hold the car on the brakes - as most automatic drivers do - when stopped? Can you feel any roughness or pulsating through the brake pedal at the same time you experience steering wobble? If you brake gently to a halt from low speed with consistent pressure on the pedal does the car come smoothly to a halt or does it slow down and stop in a series of subtle jerks? If you always drive really gently then try a few hard stops, you may have a build up of glaze on the discs which could possibly be causing uneven braking. If you brake gently on a quiet road surface with the window open can you hear a soft sish - sish - sish noise corresponding to the wobble?
Steering wheel wobble could also be caused by an out of balance or buckled wheel, out of round or damaged tyre, worn bushes or ball joints or failed shockabsorbers - but may only become apparent when you're barking so it might not be the time to condemm the new discs just yet. If you have genuine Jaguar ones and if they are still under warranty see if you can get your stealer to change them. If not see if you can get a competent garage to check for disc run out with a dial gauge - if they have warped then there's not much choice - either replace them or get a machine shop to skim them. I'd be tempted to go for the latter. It will almost certainly be cheaper and there's a good chance once the discs have been used, subsequently warped and then skimmed flat again they'll stay that way.
If the discs are within spec then I'd start by very carefully examining the tyres, swapping wheels around - try front to rear on the same side first to preserve the rotation direction - getting them re balanced and then going through the front suspension to see if there's anything wrong.
Not the same car obviously, but the X308 did have a problem with wear on the lower steering column giving rise to a sloppy linkage which with even slightly warped discs gave a horrendous wobble when braking. They were also a bit prone to wheel wobble, especially on larger diameter wheels and needed very careful balancing to completely erradicate wobble. If you've got any slack in the steering column chances are that'll be making the problem seem far worse.
Steering wheel wobble could also be caused by an out of balance or buckled wheel, out of round or damaged tyre, worn bushes or ball joints or failed shockabsorbers - but may only become apparent when you're barking so it might not be the time to condemm the new discs just yet. If you have genuine Jaguar ones and if they are still under warranty see if you can get your stealer to change them. If not see if you can get a competent garage to check for disc run out with a dial gauge - if they have warped then there's not much choice - either replace them or get a machine shop to skim them. I'd be tempted to go for the latter. It will almost certainly be cheaper and there's a good chance once the discs have been used, subsequently warped and then skimmed flat again they'll stay that way.
If the discs are within spec then I'd start by very carefully examining the tyres, swapping wheels around - try front to rear on the same side first to preserve the rotation direction - getting them re balanced and then going through the front suspension to see if there's anything wrong.
Not the same car obviously, but the X308 did have a problem with wear on the lower steering column giving rise to a sloppy linkage which with even slightly warped discs gave a horrendous wobble when braking. They were also a bit prone to wheel wobble, especially on larger diameter wheels and needed very careful balancing to completely erradicate wobble. If you've got any slack in the steering column chances are that'll be making the problem seem far worse.
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