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LOL that's awesome, a car for a set of brake rotors! Trouble is after you ditch the PCCBs then you can't impress your buddies by telling them how much a replacement rotor costs.
The 30 track days is highly driver and track dependent IMHO. If you are a little slower and don't run more then 20 minute sessions I think you can expect more days then that. I had 18 days on a GT4 when I switched the car over to girodiscs. When I sold the car to a dealer the PCCB rotors where down 4-5% according to the tech at the dealer. If I wear out the rotors on the GT3 I'll just switch to the ST rotors or AP Racing BBK and call it a day.
yeah that's a good point, but if you're driving style/pace will make PCCB's last longer, it will also make steel last longer so I think it's proportional
if you're wearing PCCB"s quick, you're wearing steels equally quickly
if you're not wearing PCCB's quickly, you also are not wearing the steels that quickly
at the end of the day a steel brake job is 10x less than a PCCB brake job, regardless of when you do the brake job.
for me it came down to my personal circumstance - and cash flow - given my fortunate position I can kinda sorta always write a check for about $2500 to do a steel brake job once a year or so - no worse than one set of tires, but having to write a $30,000 check is above my monthly cash flow and requires planning and adjustment of assets - I rarely have $30,000 lying around for a visit to the mechanics.
if $$$ was no object I would totally track the PCCB's and I fully believe they are effectively life time brakes on the street so the $9k factory option is a deal in IMHO for street use and no brake dust is a nice kicker!
The ST option does begin to look attractive when running costs are taken into account. Steel is likely still cheaper though, and I'm not sure how Barber concluded otherwise unless they are counting significant downtime for their cars. Irons last between 2 and 4k track miles themselves?
Was wear measured with rotors on the car or taken off? It was discovered a year or two ago that measuring rotors on car produces inaccurate results sometimes, exaggerating the wear (I cannot find the thread).
It’s a great weekend to go to Barber!
And I see they picked the fastest color for RS :-)
Surface Transforms for the win!
100+ track days... I’m at about 35 now and easily 70-100 to go.
$13,000 and $600 per corner to refurbish after 20 days front and 40 days rear, no brainer.
Bought a second set for my .2RS, I can’t go back to steel...
How are the pucks on your stock calipers holding up?
or provide some less ambiguous useful life of the rotor guidance, and possibly pro-rate replacement costs if the rotors don't make it the full expected life - it's just soooo expensive.
I went through this last year - did the math breakdown and was *almost* willing to pay the 30k refurb as necessary. I liked the fact there was nearly zero dust and it's what Porsche intended.
Then my sanity came back. After I scored a rear rotor and was looking at a 6k replacement cost
In the end I swapped the PCCBs out for a set of AP Racing Radi-cal on all 4 corners. Total cost was less than the ST rotors, including multiple sets of track pads. I don't remember exact numbers, but the setup for all 4 corners was ~10k
For me, though, it was the pedal feel that moved the needle and not the cost. The initial bite of the AP is *FAR* better than the PCCB. I can actually tell what the car is doing and modulate the pedal appropriately. The fact that replacements are so cheap is just icing on the cake. The other nice benefit is being able to swap pads without having to pull the caliper.
This is on my .1RS, which is primarily only used on the track.
It's not just a marketing ploy. They perform better. It's a cost/benefit question which is uniquely personal because only you know what you can afford and how you want to spend your money.
It think what the majority of heavy track users generally say is that the cost of Porsche OE PCCB is too expensive for their taste. And that's a fine conclusion. But there's no "right answer" to this topic IMHO.
FWIW - When I was using my RS as my primary track car I had iron brakes because I didn't want to bear the running costs of PCCB.
The $26000 replacement cost is more than most can stomach or even $12,000-$13000 for Surface Transforms. I have done in the neighborhood of 300 PCCB to steel conversions this tells alot, Have had several guys that just took delivery of RSs
and go to steel immediately. Most realize that only the absolute most talented drivers will notice much of a difference. Some do not like the PCCB feel either off or on....no modulation.
06-24-2019, 01:59 AM
