I've owned a 996 4s for a couple of years now. Always passed MOT without issues. Until recently I drove company cars and the brakes were always very powerful. Here is my issue, I bought this rather than a 997 for it's rear end looks and turbo brakes but I've always been disappointed with the latter. Yes it stops but doesn't inspire confidence. I like powerful "brickwall" brakes with immediate bite It came to me(according to the service history) with EBC cross drilled discs all round,Porsche textar rear pads and EBC yellow front pads all with no more than 12k use. Outer disc face shiny with no lip or grooves but all with a bit of inner face surface corrosion especially at the rear despite being braked hard and often. Do I get them skimmed or replace all round with Pagid? A local Porsche specialist told me Porsche brakes feel wooden , do not have much servo assistance and need firm pedal pressure, yet some contributors on this and other forums describe the brakes as very powerful. The OPC made no comment about them at the last service yet picked up on a corroded coil cover, a weak lhf spring and poor rubber o ring in the petrol cap. I know it's subjective but are the brakes on a 4s just not that brilliant compared to a new eurobox?

 

I assume you are running new and/or performance brake fluid. Is this correct?

My C4S had outstanding brakes, even with OEM pads and rotors. I didn't experience the weak brake feel that you describe.

 

Sounds like your calipers need to be rebuilt. Both sides of the rotor should be shiny. If the inside side of the rotors have surface corrosion that means the inside brake pad is not hitting the rotor, resulting in very reduced braking power. You will have to figure out why that is. My brakes are very powerful and I can stop on a dime..so to speak.

 

You've hit the nail on the head. Just jacked it up and the corrosion is worse than I thought, but all 4 calipers , all inner pistons and worse at the front? Coincidentally it's much worse since OPC changed the brake fluid last year.

 

I've driven about 5 996s and every one of them has had very GOOD, but very MISLEADING brakes if you are used to driving other cars. Because the pedal is so much firmer, it can feel like nothing is happening, since most American and Japanese cars, and even most non-sporty European cars have crazy brake boosters that will stand the car on its nose with only a few pounds of pedal pressure. The Porsche will stop just as hard or harder than those cars, but it requires more pedal pressure, which makes it easier to modulate the amount of brake you want.

It sounds like you have some issues with frozen caliper pistons maybe, but just be warned that even if you get everything working in tip-top shape, you will need to push the pedal pretty hard in this car vs. a Toyota or something like that.

 

It sounds like it was an actual issue with the quality of your calipers. However, for others that come across this thread - initially I was disappointed with the brakes when I first drove my car. Compared to my previous car (Z4) the brakes seemed really bad and required a lot of pressure to slow the car down. What I've learned is that it is by design. The Z4 had hyper-assisted brakes. The 996 gives you much more control and pedal feel, and as a result requires more pressure. That doesn't mean it won't stop as fast or perform as well - its just has a lot less assistance.

 

This is just what I'd hoped for from this forum. It's brought about a correct diagnosis of the problem, confirmed what the specialist told be and tells me why new car brakes are so good. Reading further it appears lack of regular use is the cause of the problem, so I'll send them off for rebuilding. The car history suggests it has been a garage queen for a large part of the last few years.