How to Diagnose Failing Brake Pads

Having the correct type of brake pads on your Jaguar is important to its braking performance. Not only that, but it's also important that the brake pads are in good working order to keep your car’s braking performance optimal.

Brake pads OEM Jaguar

When used in normal driving conditions, brake pads last between 30K and 70K miles. Some people wait until they experience the symptoms of worn brake pads to inspect them. However, we recommend checking your brake pads on a regular basis to catch thinned-out pads before they cause major damage. A good rule of thumb is to check your pads every 15K miles.

Signs of Worn Brake Pads

Even if you check your brake pads on a regular basis, we still recommend being aware of worn pad symptoms in case they crop up unexpectedly. If you let your brake pads get too worn down, the metal backing plates can scrape the rotor. If this happens, you will need to replace the rotors along with the brake pads.

Here is a list of the most common signs to look for:

  • Persistent squeaking or squealing noise coming from the brakes
  • Deep grinding metal sound coming from the brakes
  • Vibrating brake pedal
  • Brake light turning on
  • Soft and spongy brake pedal

The best way to check your brake pads is to visually inspect them.

How to Access Your Brake Pads for a Visual Inspection

Image Credit: Jag TV

Here’s a general overview of how to access your brake pads:

  1. Loosen the lug nuts on all the wheels by only a quarter turn.
  2. Lift or jack up your car. Be sure to do it safely.
  3. Remove the lug nuts on one of the wheels.
  4. Pull the wheel off.
  5. View the brake pads. It is important to look at the pad on each side of the rotor. Sometimes they wear unevenly.
  6. After examining this set of brake pads, repeat the process with the next wheel.

Checking the Condition of the Brake Pads

What you want to look at is how much friction material is left on the brake pad. To do this, measure the thickness of the brake pads with a caliper or ruler.

  • If the brake pad material is over ¼” thick, it still has some life left and you don’t have to worry yet.
  • If the brake pad friction material is less than ¼” thick, the pad is still okay but you will need to replace it soon.
  • If the brake pad material is less than 1/8” thick, the pad is very worn and you need to replace it as soon as possible.

Also check to see that the pad is wearing evenly from side to side. If it is not, there may be a caliper problem that needs repair.

Replacing Your Brake Pads

Like inspecting your brake pads, replacing your pads is something you can do at home. Getting the wheels off is actually the hardest part. Once you have the old brake pads in your hands, you can just put in the new pads.

Of course, before you can replace your pads, you have to buy replacement pads. It's best to use OEM brake pads rather than aftermarket pads to guarantee factory fitment and function.

You don’t have to visit a Jaguar dealership to pick up a set of OEM brake pads. You can order genuine OEM brake pads from a reputable shop online. As an authorized online seller of genuine OEM Jaguar parts, we offer great prices for OEM brake pads. To check out the prices, check out our catalog and do a search on your Jaguar model.

Please contact us if you need assistance finding the right replacement brake pads for your Jaguar.