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Hello dear Porsche lovers, I recently purchased my first Porsche, 991.2 C4S, and I have decided to take it on the track for a "spin", I rarely track the car and my driving will be mostly street and spirited drives, any recommendation for the brake pads, and it probably has to arrive soon since track day is Jun19th, thanks, everyone!
Fronts look back ordered though. Textar + Zimmerman are OEM manufactures for porsche. Same quality parts at a lower cost. I use these on my C2S for spirited canyon drives and 2-3 track days a year.
Unless you’re going to track days regularly and are in the more advanced run groups, chances are your speeds and lap times are not going to be fast enough to overly tax the OEM brake setup, even with RAS and traction control enabled. In other words, just leave your OEM pads on the car - they’ll work fine, and will probably be OK after the track day. If, on the other hand, you’re capable of running in the advanced run group because you’ve got previous experience racing, doing track days, etc. you may want to consider something like Ferodo DS2500 pads for street/track use, Endless MX27 pads or Ferodo 3.12 pads with the latter being more track focused and compromised when on cold streets. There’s no sense in investing a ton of money in new rotors and pads if you’re not actually going to need them, and unless you’re doing more than one or two track days a year in a faster run group, chances are you’re not going to need them.
I would at least burn through the stock stuff before replacing, but if you want to do something the brake fluid may be old enough at this point to go ahead and replace.
I put Hawk HPS 5.0 pads on mine a year ago. I've tracked it once with those pads, and everything seemed fine. I'm certainly not a driver that can take the car to its limits. For daily driving I really like the pads. Braking performance is very good, lower dust than OEM, and they are quiet. No squeals or squeaks of any kind. I'm in Canada so sourced them from a Canadian source, but I imagine they're easy to find in the USA.
Being too lazy to change wheels (centerlocks)***, I run Pagid Yellows, front and rear and Motul 660 brake fluid, on the street and on an ocassional track day. "Supposedly" the Pagid Yellow are a bad for fo the street, rumorred to have to be warmed up before they will grip...I call B.S. on that one based on my experiece on the street with the past two (cars) a 991.1 and 991.2. Cost? Close to $1,000 front and rear from Suncoast, stock aftermarket pads are probably 1/2 of that...can't say for certain. Suncoast doesn't even list them.
Regardless of what Porsche tells you, the stock pads are optimized for road use and NOT track use. Below is an article I authored about why running stock pads on track is a bad idea. Can I run my OEM brake pads on the track?
If you run your stock pads on the track, you run the risk of not only pad fade, but also risk damaging your discs (just like this gent did elsewhere here on Rennlist).OEM pads get heated past their maximum usable temperature, which causes them to smear onto your disc faces in globs.
In your situation I would recommend some quality brake fluid as noted above, along with some Ferodo DS2500 brake pads. Here's an article that examines the various Ferodo pad compounds: "Which Ferodo Pad Compound is Right for Me?" If you decide to do more track days, modify your car further, etc., you should consider getting a dedicated set of pure track pads such as the Ferodo DS1.11 or DS3.12.
You can find the front and rear DS2500 (H compound) pads for your car in our web store in the link below. I'd also suggest flushing your system with three bottles of the AP Racing R2 Fluid. That setup will keep you functional on the track and will also work great for autoX, fun mountain drives, etc. We are a longtime Rennlist sponsor and have helped thousands of Porsche (and other vehicle) enthusiasts with their brakes. The pads and fluid we recommend are in stock and ready to ship today from our Charlotte, NC warehouse today.
Thanks and feel free to reach out via PM if you need further assistance.
__________________
'09 Carrera 2S, '08 Boxster LE (orange), '91 Acura NSX, Tesla Model 3 Performance, Fiesta ST
Jeff Ritter
Mgr. High Performance Division, Essex Parts Services Essex Designed AP Racing Radi-CAL Competition Brake Kits & 2-piece J Hook Discs Ferodo Racing Brake Pads Spiegler Stainless Steel Brake Lines
704-824-6030 jeff.ritter@essexparts.com
Damn, what an incredibly detailed response. JRitt@essex clearly know if what he speaks. Nice job with the facts. When it's time for brake supplies, I will be shopping on the ESSEX website.
I've had my 991.1 for about 18 months. I have become a regular at local autocross events, and am now participating in HPDE events. The OEM brake system is fine through the early learning curve, no doubt. If you end up committing to track days, you'll want to consider upgrades.
As others mentioned, always use high temp brake fluid, and change it at least annually. I use Castrol SRF.
I recently upgraded my rotors and pads, going with 350mm Sebro rotors on all 4 corners. This was possible with the stock calipers, after installing spacers for the rear end.
For pads, I went with Endless MX72 GT3 size front pads, OEM size rear. This brake upgrade has proven to be a good one.
Thank you very much for your input, and yes I'll probably run intermediate at best, so I will stick for OEM for this run and later change it out if I decided to do more tracking
Regardless of what Porsche tells you, the stock pads are optimized for road use and NOT track use. Below is an article I authored about why running stock pads on track is a bad idea. Can I run my OEM brake pads on the track?
If you run your stock pads on the track, you run the risk of not only pad fade, but also risk damaging your discs (just like this gent did elsewhere here on Rennlist).OEM pads get heated past their maximum usable temperature, which causes them to smear onto your disc faces in globs.
In your situation I would recommend some quality brake fluid as noted above, along with some Ferodo DS2500 brake pads. Here's an article that examines the various Ferodo pad compounds: "Which Ferodo Pad Compound is Right for Me?" If you decide to do more track days, modify your car further, etc., you should consider getting a dedicated set of pure track pads such as the Ferodo DS1.11 or DS3.12.
You can find the front and rear DS2500 (H compound) pads for your car in our web store in the link below. I'd also suggest flushing your system with three bottles of the AP Racing R2 Fluid. That setup will keep you functional on the track and will also work great for autoX, fun mountain drives, etc. We are a longtime Rennlist sponsor and have helped thousands of Porsche (and other vehicle) enthusiasts with their brakes. The pads and fluid we recommend are in stock and ready to ship today from our Charlotte, NC warehouse today.