I'm just curious how many miles one gets from the stock front and rear rotors? In my Boxster I estimated 80K or two sets of pads.

 

Depends on driving style and conditions= city driving more stopping. I replace mine with new when I change brakes.

 

How do you drive? Track? Which pads?
Stock pads with "normal for me" driving/braking style, >50k miles

 

50/50 city highway, no track but aggressive diving at times. With stock pads. Sounds like what I was thinking about 60k miles. Just trying to price out two turbos so need to price in the change in rotors in the next year or two for the higher mileage one.

 

To answer your question, on cars not seeing track miles I have seen somewhere between 80-100k per set. Obviously the more aggressive the pad and driving, the faster they go. Rotors are give or take $150 each. A full brake job will cost you $900-1200 at a shop or $600-800 in your own garage.

From your post, it sounds like are looking to buy. Enjoy the new car, whichever you select. Don't worry too much about the cheap maintenance expenses like brakes. Just be careful for the bigger stuff like 2nd gear pop out, rear spoiler failure, leaky tip tranny, or failing accumulator/slave. Enjoy

 

Bought my 03 Turbo with ~10K miles in June 2009 and it now has 116K miles and the brake pads/rotors are original and still have plenty of life left. Had the car in for service a few weeks back and the tech checked the brakes and reported there was plenty of pad material left.

I do not track the car and haven't had the time to take it out in the twisties for months and months but I do brake rather aggressively.

A long time ago I read somewhere that a bit more aggressive braking is easier on the brakes than the long leisurely braking that many drivers tend to use. Since I have followed a more aggressive breaking technique for not only the Turbo, but the Boxster and for other cars as well. I drove my Boxster 50K miles on its original set of pads and got 100K miles out of the original rotors. (Replacement pads/rotors service lives have been mixed. Some have worn out in less miles, some including this last set have delivered service life comparable to the original hardware.)

I drove my GTO (a bit over 3600lbs of 400hp V8) almost 50K miles and its original brakes were just fine when I traded the car in. I put 120K miles on my VW Golf TDi and it was on its original brakes and they were in good condition so much so the brakes and their condition never came up for any discussion when I was selling the car.

Regardless of how you brake be sure you have the brake fluid flushed/bled every 2 years.

Be sure the holes in the rotors are clear of any rust/dust build up.

Once in awhile -- a few times a year -- I wash the brakes at the local car wash using the wash wand to remove as much brake dust build up on the wheel/brake hardware as I can.

The brake dust build up can interfere with the tendency of the pistons to retract slightly and pull the pads away from the rotor. If the pads remain in contact they'll run hotter and thus when used get hotter which can lead to accelerated wear.

(One sign I take as when it is time to clean the brakes is when I hear a faint brake squeal when coasting to a stop. This tells me the pads are in contact with the rotors.)

 

stock rotors 110,500 miles

 

I rarely track, and got 70,000 miles out of the rotors. My driving is 60/40 highway/urban, and I'm not hard on brakes. AS

 

tracking kills them fast, if not they last forever.

 

 

I've seen you drive- do you ever use the brakes?

 

I am approaching 46K on the clock and new rotors are on the way. fwiw, I also just replaced one front wheel bearing as of today.

 

For comparison with the other posters;

I track my car about 18 days a year and daily drive the car as well.
Stock rotors last about 6 to 8 track days before they crack enough to warrant replacement and this is using track pads, Padgid Yellow and Black in the rears. Stock pads last 1 to 2 track days on a high speed track like Watkins Glen, and probably forever if I drove only at Lime Rock. I changed to Giro Disc rotors and they last usually over 20 days until they are worn out but never really develop any surface crack like the stock rotors. I can't tell you what it really is in terms of miles as the majority of the wear comes from the track miles but I drive the car to the track and don't trailer it so maybe I have to replace the stock rotors every 6,000 miles and the Giro Discs every 12,000. Also for reference I drive in the Red (Instructor) run group. Drivers in the beginner run groups usually can run stock brakes for a while until there speed and skills improve, then the wear will become ridiculous.

Just offering this for comparison from the other end of the spectrum.

Tytus

 

That's great info. Personally never had a problem with my 996 C4S with stock rotors and pads. Brand new stock pads wore out in a 3 day track event with the 996 Turbo. Also brand new rotors have 1/4" cracks in them all ready where my C4S had them after about 68k but never got any longer.

On the turbo I switched to pagid yellows on front and back and see better pad wear. Going to replace the rotors to non cross drilled rotors if the cracks get any longer on the stock rotors.

I use engine braking a lot on the street, love to blip,rev match and down shift so it probably contributes to longer wearing brake components.

 

tootsie pop lol