mooty

the ceramic caps also crack on 997
at least on my.
they crack in 996 too

orthojoe

What did you do when they cracked?

bensf

?!? I though Mooty does not keep a car long enough for that to happen

GrantG

If you are referring to the dust boots being damaged and your mechanic had you buy a new caliper, you should find a new mechanic. Not only is it safe to drive without the dust boots, but you can replace them cheaply and easily.

I usually buy new dust boots and seals from the Brembo distributor: http://www.racetechnologies.com/

Rick Sine is great rep there:
Senior Account Manager / Product Specialist
T: 714.438.1118 x120
rick@racetechnologies.com

They also work closely with this place that often has discounts on the same parts:
http://www.buybrakes.com/

orthojoe

If anyone is interested in knowing the differences between the Porsche Nspec MPSC2 tires vs the Ferrari Kspec MPSC2 tires, I installed a takeoff set of K spec tires on the car today. The tread pattern looks the same. The load rating on the K spec is higher. The biggest difference I see is in the sidewall design. It appears the K spec has a ridge (circled) to make the sidewall bulge more to protect the wheels from curbing while the N spec doesn't have this ridge/bulge. No idea if there is any performance difference, but I doubt it.

N spec


Kspec

Alan C.

All else equal I'd go for the curb protection as I do drive my car on the street.

MayorAdamWest

Perhaps you're right, thanks for the contact!

orthojoe

Just an update on alignment. With the new set of K spec MPSC2 tires installed, we adjusted the alignment and settings a bit.

1) Front Camber left at -2.7. NO change Wear looks fairly even.

2) Front toe zero. No change.
3) Rear camber bumped up from -2.4 to -2.9. We needed to add rear shims at this point to get the needed camber. The rear tires were worn only on the outer shoulders, so it was felt that adding 1/2 degree would really help.

4) Rear total toe in 4mm. No change
5) Adjusted the front sway bar from middle to one notch soft. Maybe this will help with the understeer and front push.

Let's see what this does with handling and wear.

Mech33

Thanks Joe. Where are you getting all of your alignments and mounting / balancing done if you don't mind me asking?

SamFromTX

It'll make a noticeable difference. You are slowly inching towards my setup

orthojoe

Emailed you!

No kidding! You can tell me 'I told you so!' After I do one more final readjust to match you exactly! Lol!

the_vetman

+1. No reason to get a new caliper due to torn dust boots. Torn dust boots happen all the time on track. I replaced mine last year. Twice (tore some during install). Centric makes dust boots that are supposed to be higher temp rubber.

There is one scenario where you MAY have to replace the caliper. If the dust boots have been torn for a while, all the crap and gunk got onto caliper pistons down to the seals, there is much damage on the pistons, brake fluid is leaking, etc. However, even in that scenario you can rebuild the caliper most of the time.

doba_s

Hard to say but it looks like the tire is separating

mooty

i ignore them.
no degradation in brk performance

meh. i crack them in 2 days. sometimes just one day.
i dont like to cool down on the last lap. i want every lap to count.
if it breaks, so be it.

so joe,
why do u run more rear camber than front?
even if you softend the front bar. the incrase in rear camber (more negative), will cause more push.

keep us posted.

if those tires had 4+ days, you are doing well.

orthojoe

Tires have been removed and replaced.

got it.

My first priority is even tire wear. Once I get that figured out, I will do more adjusting for handling characteristics. I'm ok with a bit of understeer for now. Agree that the increased rear camber will likely cause more push, but it's only a .2 degree difference front to rear, so I'm hoping it's not a significant difference. I'm going off of what my mechanic recommends this time instead of telling him to do stupid things like setting rear toe at zero.
Also, I believe Sam has said that running -3.0 camber up front requires additional modifications to the car to prevent wheel rubbing.

I only got 4 days out of the tires...