bw1999

I've had my 2001 996TT for a few months and brakes are working fine. I am not tracking and am trying not to go down the rabbit hole of mods. What I am wondering is what I need to keep up with maintenance, since I just realized my brake fluid hasn't been flushed in about 3 years/20k miles. Also, I am going to refinish the calipers as per Stephen's advice.

So, what I'm wondering is:
1) Does it make sense to replace brake lines now to?
Stick with rubber or use steel?
2) If I replace the pads, do I need to replace the dampers?
3) How about the caliper pins?

I'm not sure I need rotors yet but may just do those at the same time

Thanks all!

Carlo_Carrera

You will get a million different opinions on this but here is my take.

Check your existing brake lines. If they are not dry rotten and cracked leave them alone. No need to "upgrade" to steel.

Replace dampers if they are rusted.

Caliper pins are most likely fine. Replace if seriously rusted.

autobonrun

I agree with Carlo. And do the fluid flush.

911mhawk

Inspect all the rubber hoses on your new ride and if none are cracking/bulging leave well enough alone.
​Just flush with new fluid, maybe a fresh set of Textar/OE equivalent pads and if they are low and enjoy.
​​​​​​​OR, spend a bunch on whatever cool stuff you want if you feel the car is a keeper. Lots of good information here and recently posted upgrades to brake stuff.

Warehouse33.net

Basically what everybody has said above. Inspect everything and go from there.


-Jason

Carlo_Carrera

And check out Warehouse33 for pads. Good prices and a discount for Rennlisters.

Turbodan

my advice is to start tracking the car...jk.
inspect and replace as needed, while changing out the brake fluid. I would go for hi temp ATE fluid since it is only a few dollars more. I would wait on the pads and see if the stock pads are good for your use and change when low, dampers don't require changing.

Warehouse33.net

Thank you!
-Jason

bw1999

Thanks all. May check back as I stumble my way through this the first time. Looking forward to it!

Macster

When I did the brakes on my Boxster I always checked the brake lines but they were fine so I left them alone. Had they needed replacement I would have probably gone with the factory parts which would be the (reinforced) rubber lines.

These are pretty good. The ones on my Boxster have lasted 15 years and over 308K miles. My Turbo's are 14 years old and have over 151K miles.

In some cases Porsche has dropped the brake pad dampeners from the parts list. (This is the case with my Boxster.) When I do the brakes I just replace whatever the factory parts list calls for. If dampeners are on the parts list I replace these. One of the last things one wants after doing a brake job is noisy brakes.

Also, whenever I did the brakes I replaced all the hardware. I'd buy a brake hardware "kit" which consisted of all the hardware related to keeping the pads in place, along with new screws that hold the rotor to the hub. I can't recall now if these were included in the kit or not but I'd also replace the brake caliper bolts and the wear sensors.

I'd replace all the brake hardware then: Pads, rotors, hub/rotor screws, caliper bolts, dampeners (if called for and my reference -- the factory manual -- indicates they are called for), the retainer, the retainer pin, and the expanding spring and wear sensor.

The factory manual as a highlighted caution about (re)using old brake hardware. Brakes are a safety critical item and one I'm not looking to cut corners on.

I had my Turbo's front brakes done at around 120K miles and all the above hardware was replaced as part of the job.

Afterwards be sure you properly flush/bleed the brakes.