wice.lt

Basically I am out of ideas anymore. when I bought the car brakes were terrible, but then again suspension was shot too, so now that I fixed my suspension I started working on my brakes. Here's what I did so far:
1. New SS DOT brake lines
2. New Pagid brake pads
3. Flushed the brake system with 2 QT of ATE blue
4. Rebuilt all 4 calipers (had corrosion inside, but polished it out and they aren't sticking)
5. Changed all thin vacuum lines and tested all big ones.
6. Bled the system like 4 times by now with mity-vac and ended up buying Motive too (2 time s with that system)
7. Bled the master cylinder (just us-crewed the lines a little to let the motive bleeder push the fluid out.
8. Oh... also replaced front rotors with brembo new ones.
And they still feel kind of spongy and kind of too much effort for what I think Porsche brakes should feel (never driven another P car yet so can’t compare) . Also last weekend looked and venture gizmo and glued the black peace inside the grey one with epoxy since the o-ring was old and figured epoxy might help (it's the same as it was). Please let me know if you guys can think of anything else for me to try. Thanks in advance.

MM951

Hey, my brakes suck...BAD..but thats cause my master cylinder is shot.

If they are going to floor...you probably got air in them..

My master cylinder is sucking in air making the brakes suck completly.

Helstrm

Just give me $650 and replace your suspension and brakes with a turbo setup.

Porsche-O-Phile

N/A brakes are more than adequate. Maybe someting in the M.C.?

85944na

yeah, my brakes feel great, there's something amiss.

Spider

I stand on my 87 N/A hard & the stock setup hauls it down in a hurry. I agree that it still seems to be contaminated w/ air inline.

Serge944

A bad brake booster will do this.

Charlie

I did most of the same things you did and except I installed a new master cylinder. Mine did not feel good, a Porsche mechanic also agreed they were spongy. When I did all this the car had not been driven for a about 2 years due to a bad engine. I had bled the brakes 2 or 3 times.

As a last resort I made sure that the SS lines were good and tight, that no air was being let into the system. I also made sure the 2 caliper sections (on all 4 calipers) were sliding back and forth easily, one felt like it was binding, so I worked it back and forth and put a small amount of white lithium grease on the contact points. I then bled the system one last time starting with the rear passenger, and following the proper sequence. I then drove the car a few miles and the brakes felt great. Not sure what fixed it or what changed but the brakes are very good.

austin944

When I was having similar troubles with my brakes (see post here), I found a small plug at a hardware store which I used to help pinpoint the problem (see pic below).

I inserted the plug into the outlets of the Master Cylinder and wrapped the plug with a little teflon tape to help seal it (careful not to get the tape sucked into the braking system). Then I would depress the brakes while the car was completely stopped with the engine running and test to see if the brake pedal still felt spongy. By blocking off each part of the braking circuit, I could determine which part was at fault.

With all the outlets blocked, you can test the master cylinder without having to first replace it.

The plug is called a 1/8" pipe plug, should be available at the better hardware stores.

Matt O.

I disagree. I have an 89 944 with turbo brakes on all fours in the garage and now an 88 944 with na brakes sitting in the driveway. Drove both today. I can without a DOUBT tell you that having the larger brakes is more then outstanding, and MORE then a benefit for even daily driving. It's downright ridiculous how quickly I can stop my 89. That translates into SAFETY. Forget about the track. I'm talking daily driving. It is not even a competition.

With that said, the Rennbay na big brake upgrade kit gives you front brakes with the braking surface area of turbos. I have also been in a car with these Wilwoods up front and it's pretty violent braking (in a good way). Actually I believe the surface area with the Rennbay Wilwoods is larger then even the 951 brakes, and you can use them with stock 15" wheels.

By the way the 88 brakes were recently rebuilt, flushed, and bled by Zotz in Winter Park.

You can see more about those brakes by clicking the image below...

Serge944

Hmm, I never have trouble locking up my brakes, even at high speeds. I'll comment further once I put my R compound tires on.

Fade resistance aside, the n/a brakes stop as quick as the 951 ones (from 60 mph at least). I don't think fade is something to worry about on the street (neither is high speed braking, you law abiding citizens, you).

Mighty Shilling

I like my brakes, I can stop on a dime and give $0.09 change providing I don't lock the wheels...

Matt O.

That's signature material...

So, if that's the case, why do Turbos have bigger brakes. Nevermind. We've been down that road before. Hey, this weekend I'll go out and do some braking distances/times from 60-0 mph with both cars... I have a shiney 50 cent piece that says you're wrong.

inactiveuser92616

if your brakes can lock up the tires from any speed (the NA brakes can easily) its all the brake you need. The only time the NA brakes were inadequate was on a track notorious for tearing up brakes; where they overheated and faded.

Serge944

I think the whole logic behind having bigger brakes on quicker cars is the fact that in a given distance, you can accelerate to a higher speed and therefore need more braking force to slow yourself in time.

Yes, the 951 brakes have better high speed braking and better fade resistance. However, n/a brakes in proper working condition will do equally as well at street speeds. Also, do both 944s youre going to test have equivalent tires - they have the large effect on braking.

Finally, I dont want to argue. My 2 cents are that the n/a brakes are adequate unless youre doing very high performance or competitive driving.