brandon

Just looking again at my front caliper/pad assembly & not sure if what I'm seeing is zero pad left or not.



I know I SHOULD be smarter than this. I know what I'm looking at when I look @ my other cars.

Looking for advice or even a photo of good/bad pads.

Thanks much.

os993

Yup, looks like your pads are finished but you still have 1mm or so left, so no damage done to rotors (or at least that's how it looks to me). New pads have around 13mm of material on them.

brandon

Thanks Oleg - actually it FELT like there was a little binding today when I went to back the car up. I did one DE yesterday & left after dark, so didn't check them until today. Apparently went through a LOT of pad!

If the brake wear indicator has not come on, does it mean that I'm still o.k. (i.e. no damage?) Does it work for all four wheels?

I'm taking the car in this week regardless, just trying to brace for the shock if I've done something stupid!

Thanks.

Ray Calvo

bfjohnson1, the steel backing plate at the back of the pad is 3/16" thick (just measured my pads). So any greater thickness is pad material. From your picture, and looking at the point where the pad just hits the very inner diameter of the disc, I think you have 3/16" pad thickness left (looks equal to the backing plate thickness). So, you're probably fine for a few thousand more street miles, but if you're going to another DE, change them first.

brandon

Thanks Ray - I've read a lot of threads about various type of pads etc. I realistically won't run more than about 4 DE's a year & don't feel comfortable doing my own brake work (yet) so I'll leave the same pads on for all driving conditions. Any recommendations?

Also, it feels like the rotors have a pretty significant groove near the top where the top of the pads are. If it needs rotors are there choices to be made there as well?

Thanks again -

os993

Well, inspecting the picture a bit closer, I think Ray's observation is more accurate. The picture was hard to follow, but any material past the metal backing plate IS brake pad, so re-inspecting the photo, looks like some pad is still available.

Have someone (your mechanic) who knows Porsche's look at the brakes (can be done with wheels on). They will be able to tell you immediately how much pad you have left.

Sorry for the confusion. Ray, you Da Man!

Ray Calvo

bfjohnson1, re pads: with 4 DE a year, I would really suggest separate track and street pads. I run 4-6 events a year, and feel strongly that street pads won't last when driven aggressively on the track. Best track pads I've found are Performance Friction 90 compound; great track performance and wear is fantastic. For street use I like OE Textar or else Metalmasters.

Check out Robin's site; believe he has good description of pad change. Plus as I remember I've described my procedure. Changing the pads on a 993 is about the easiest of any car out there (once you get all of the factory anti-squeal garbage off of the backing plate and brake pistons).

RE rotors, I am just trying some of these cryogenically cooled rotors. Unsure whether the added expense is worth it, but the reprots I ahve read are favorable. For info, stock front rotors for me typically last about 20-25K miles. Wear with me is cracking from the cooling holes out; when they get greater than the hole diameter, time to replace.

Whatever you do, DO NOT buy rotors from Vertex; these are absolute trash. In less than 10K miles, cracks had gone all the way to the outer edge of the rotor. Plus they warped in nothing flat! Once again, you get what you pay for.

If you're doing DE events, don't forget to bleed your brakes after each event. I find it a must to eliminate the spongy brake pedal due to boiling fluid.

SundayDriver

I agree with Ray on the pads. OEM pads will not last long with DE's (I wore out a new set in 1 1/2 days at the Glen though that is an exteme case).

Another thing - Once you get below 50% pad, there is much greater heat transfered to the fluid. The pad material is a great insulator. You will have greater fluid problems when the pads get worn down.

Ben in Plano, TX

And don't forget to check the pads on the other side of the rotor. It's not a given that they'll wear evenly. I just changed my pads and rotors all 'round and all looked worn but ok except the inside of the right front rotor. That pad was more worn and the grooving on that surface only was pretty extreme. Made me glad I did it a bit early (based on how the outer pads looked).

brandon

Wow - thanks for all the great advice on the pads. I'll check out the next step up from OEM pads. I had a significant amount of pad at the start of the DE day & obviously went through a lot in a short period of time.

I saw that Performance Products sells the cryo rotors for nearly the same price as OEM. Are they drilled, or just vented in the center?