sandwedge

Light should be coming on in 200-300 miles I was told. New rotors, calipers and all sorts of things in the quote. Not because anything is damaged but because "it's the only way to do it". Is it? Much of the entire break assembly has to be replaced each time the pads wear down? New service manager btw.

boolala

That's what they told me too.

997driver

I was told by my indy that pads and rotors were to be replaced with each other as well. Didn't believe it at first, but they've always been very honest with me. Not too bad since I have 47k on both original rotors and pads, with one track day and several canyon runs. I'll be buying my parts from Suncoast though. If you get the parts and bring it to an indy, it'll be cheaper than 1200. Front rotors,pads and hardware is only 500. Labor shouldn't be too much either.

sandwedge

Did you do it? I ran my finger across both front rotors and they're smooth as glass. Can't help wondering what would happen if I bought a set of pads from Pelican for $87, jacked the front end up and just swapped. There's no warranty to be voided since it's not covered in the first place.

rijowysock

take a caliper and measure the rotors thickness and compare to the "spec" that is ok with porsche... should be able to find in a service manual or by talking to a tech, if they are within spec and not warped i would personlly just do pads and do them before the sensors kick in cause those sensors are expensive and i heard you cannot reset/install them by yourself.

Optical TDI

Calipers too? That's crazy talk. Just do pads if there is no lip on the rotors or no cracks near the holes.

CWhaley

Just clean out the rotor vanes and holes (if crossed drilled)... make sure no cracks (if cracked) reach the outer diameter and that any cracks are longer the 7 mm in length... finally, the thickness should not be below 26 mm in front & 22 mm rear (double check this).

It is not required to change out rotors at every brake job... It is a money stream for the dealer & the indies.

Chris

cannon1000

Indies have a lower hourly rate - so you can save money there. The dealer also has lower tolerance for rotor thickness than the actual minimum and will insist on changing them sooner than necessary.

My last brake job we measured the front rotors and felt comfortable they would last through one more set of pads. Not so good news on the rears which did require new pads and rotors. Be sure to measure thickness not just visually inspect them.

Spiffyjiff

bingo. as long as you clean and keep an eye on them like he says, you should be fine.

well, theyre about as "exorbitant" as any other item on a p-car, i spose...i have a reserve set from suncoast. interesting, as i've never heard of any problems self-installing. tho i should note that mine are still in the pkging uninstalled - i tied back the old, still-working, sensors with zip ties since i monitor/change pads often and dont need to rely on them. if i ever do install, i will post findings.

LlBr

If the rotors "seem fine" I'd check the run out before I did anything. Then mic them for thickness. If it's within specs you can make more confident decisions about which avenue to go down. Maybe you can then travel the least expensive path with confidence: only new pads.

If the rotors ARE gone because the measurements don't "measure up?" I'd just get new rotors and pads and DIY. It's easy if you have basic to intermediate "weekend mechanic" experience.

Here's a little fun at the dealer's expense: Funny to me how the Svc Mgr can predict you have "300 miles" left. Does he know your plans to drive across the interstate or do 300 miles of rush hour commuting? Or both?

tooloud10

I'd replace the pads and the rotors but the caliper replacement is just silly. If we were talking about Honda Civics, I'd probably only do the rotors every other time, but since we're talking about a late-model Porsche, I'd just swap them out, too.

Nugget

LlBr has it exactly right.

ralt12

I think he was just referring to new brake pads and rotors, rather than brake pads, rotors and calipers. No reason to replace calipers for normal brake maintenance. If he had to replace calipers, it would be a hugely more expensive number than $1200.

LlBr

You're very kind. Since we're talking brakes here we should keep the confidence factor high. Along with nose-to-the-rotor close up visual inspection, precise measurements (a PITA for some but fun for others) will do that.

wwest

I would begin by suspecting the service manager was misleading me about how worn the existing pads are. Brake pad wear does not wear down the thickness of the rotor, only turning on a lathe will do that and that should only be done if the rotor is "groved", not smooth as you describe.