Hella Pagid 355011731 Rear Brake Pad Set, Low-Metallic

The Hella Pagid 355011731 is a low-metallic rear disc brake pad set built by one of Europe's original-equipment brake suppliers. If you've owned a European car for any length of time, you know the difference a proper pad makes. This is that kind of pad. It's engineered to OE form and fit, so it drops into the factory caliper the way the original did, with the bite and pedal feel you'd expect from a car that came with Hella Pagid brakes from the factory.

Low-metallic is the friction compound here, and it's a good middle ground. The pad uses an organic base blended with a small amount of steel, usually somewhere in the 5 to 30 percent range. That bit of metal does two things. It helps the pad grab hard and hold a consistent bite, and it pulls heat away from the rotor so your braking stays steady through repeated stops. You'll get a little more dust and a touch more noise than a ceramic pad, but you're trading that for real stopping power. For a daily-driven European sedan or wagon, that's usually the right call.

This set is prepared for a wear sensor. What that means in plain terms is the pad is designed to work with your car's factory wear-indicator circuit, the little warning that tells you the pads are getting thin. The sensor itself isn't included in this set. If your vehicle uses one and the old sensor is worn down or damaged, order a fresh one at the same time. It's a small part and it's a lot easier to do while the caliper's already apart.

Fitment is where you want to slow down and get it right. The 355011731 is cataloged for the Jaguar rear caliper family, including the S-Type, XF, XJ and XK, along with other models built on shared Ford-era platforms that use the same rear hardware. Brake pad cross-reference feeds tend to cast a wide net, so don't take a broad application list as gospel. Match this set to your exact year, model and VIN, and check that the axle and caliper line up before you order. The set cross-references common OE numbers including 30736610 and 8683615, and it's part of the wider 5304345 front-and-rear pad kit, so if you've got your old pad or a parts catalog handy, cross-checking the OE number is the surest way to confirm you've got the right one.

Installation is straightforward if you've done brakes before, and very doable for a careful first-timer. Pull the wheel, unbolt the caliper, swap the pads, and compress the piston. While you're in there, clean the caliper slides and hardware, and put a thin film of brake grease on the pad contact points and the back of the pads. That's most of your noise prevention right there. Replace pads as a full axle set, never just one side, so braking stays even. And check your rotors while you're at it. If they're within thickness spec and the surface is smooth, you're good to reuse them. If they're near minimum or scored, do the rotors too so the new pads bed in against a clean surface.

One last thing that matters more than people think. Bed the pads in. New pads need a series of moderate stops from moderate speed to lay down an even transfer layer of friction material on the rotor. Skip that step and you can glaze the pads or set up uneven deposits that cause a shudder. Take it easy for the first couple hundred miles, avoid hard panic stops, and let everything seat. Do that, and this set will give you quiet, confident braking for a long service life.