orthojoe

Nice! I wish I could do all of those dates. I was planning on going to the laguna seca speed ventures date, but my wife informed me of a wedding I need to be at, so it got axed off the calendar. I've got a strong feeling you're gonna have lap times better than me by the time we meet! :-) You sure you can swallow B class with HOD? ;-)

TrackDays247.com

Good to see solutions for a system that feels like a 2002 Buick ;-)

savyboy

Ben- be sure to come over (if I don't see you first) and say hello this weekend, I will have my blue (caged) GT3RS at TH. And I 'll see you at LS (in the garage) as well

Joe- glad to hear you found some improvement. The booster really needs to be changed out as well, but as we discussed it is a monumental PITA to do so. Shame on Porsche for choosing this set up for the 987 platform.

For those who have not driven a 987, you have to sample the brake pedal to understand just how horrible it is. Just think opposite feel and travel vs GT3.

bensf

Highly unlikely that I'll have better lap times than you. I've only done three dry track days ... total. Can't beat knowledge and experience. I'll see how it goes with B group, I think whether it's a good or bad experience will be completely dependent on the other people in the group. Too bad we don't know enough other people to completely take over and fill the group.

bensf

Excellent! I'll definitely look out for you.

orthojoe

True. You never know, we may eventually get there. I've already got a group of 12-13 going on August 19th. That's about 1/2 of a run group...

Would be great to meet you and savyboy at an event sometime soon!

PhilNotHill

I am very happy with the brakes on my new 2011 Boxster S. the peddle is firm and the car stops like a champ. The car just reached the 2k mile mark so I will watch this and see if there is degradation over time.

orthojoe

^ I never really noticed the problem until I took the car to the track.

bensf

+1 I didn't notice it until my third track day. The first two were in pouring rain.

aussie jimmy

also, on the road they're just fine?
haven't heard of this issue before, why so long to out?

orthojoe

It's not noticed on the road because, hopefully, you're not mashing on the brakes at 100+mph and trying to get it down to 40mph in a short distance repeatedly. On the road, the brakes aren't getting hit as hard, so you can also heel/toe without issues. It's a different situation at the track. Savyboy is right. Just think opposite feel/travel vs GT3. Sit in a GT3 and hit the brakes. The difference is dramatic.

There are scattered reports of this problem all over the forums, but no threads dedicated to the issue, which is why I created this one.

Alan Smithee

Yes, and in all fairness, it is a street car. Unlike the GT3, it is not marketed as a car for the track.

I definitely had pedal softness once driving the Spyder very hard on a very hot day, but I've had the same happen on the same road with my M3 and S4 under less extreme circumstances. And with stock pads and fluid, on the track with my 997 as well.

Marine Blue

On the street the standard brakes are excellent. Very easy to modulate, plenty of feedback and very strong. Like anything they have their limitations and I guess they aren't designed to handle heavy braking for extended periods (track duty).


I have managed to cook brakes on every other car I've owned on the street (usually going up or down a mountain with consecutive switchbacks) and I could see something like this happening with the Spyder as well considering its handling limits and how easy it is to drive fast! Very nice to know that there's an easy fix available which alleviates the problem, thanks for posting the info Joe.

orthojoe

True enough. Obviously Porsche knows how to make good brakes with good feedback, etc. For some reason they decided to make the 987s more fluffy. I suppose they had their reasons, but I don't understand why you wouldn't make them feel solid like their other cars. I sit in my mitsubishi evo, and the difference in brake feel was night and day. Evo brake pedals feel just as good as a GT3. At first I thought it was a problem unique to PCCBs, but then I tried 987s with standard brakes and they were the same as well. Sit in the car running and step hard on the brakes. There is no solid end point. The pedal sags far below the throttle. Not the case now with the MC swap, and not the case in 997s.

bensf

No need to change anything for street use. I'm just appreciative of the fact that Savyboy found the 80% solution and Orthojoe gave us a great DIY post to address the issue for track use.