I changed my pads and rotors and I wanted to pass along this info regarding the front pads & sensors. The front pads have been updated and will not work with the existing sensors - bottom line is you will need new front sensors when replacing front pads. The rear pads still have the hole on the top for the brake sensor to fit into. The new front pads have a notch in the steel backing of the pad and a half-moon shaped sensor snaps into it and will come into contact with the rotor when enough pad material wears away. It looked like a better design than the old set-up. I replaced my brakes before the sensor warning light came on and was told I could reuse the sensors. This was before the Pelican guy and I figured out the part change/update. There are two different part numbers for the left (driver side) and right (passenger side) sensor because one is slightly longer. The passenger side sensor requires the longer sensor otherwise the driver side sensor is about 1/2" too short. After doing the brake replacement and considering the costs I would recommend changing all the sensors because they are rather fragile and not worth the time trying to remove without damaging. Just my 2 cents.

 

Good info to have, thanks for sharing. I hear some periodic brake squeaking myself, and wonder if some brake work isn't too far ahead for me. Sounds like you've done this yourself, how hard is a pad/rotor swap on our 997.1 (scale of 1-10)? Did you get any sensor warning before you decided to do the service, or was it a somewhat proactive project?

 

I was being proactive and with the wheels removed you can see the thickness of your pads. Mine weren't much thicker than steel backing of the pad so I knew it needed to be done. There is a good video if you search something like "Changing Brake Video" on Rennlist where Van changes out brakes on a 996. Plus I about choked when I got the bill in February for the Brakes on my Cayenne S! The entire job took 6 hours including the brake fluid flush (I have a Motive brake bleeder which helps) and I would consider it a fairly easy/straight forward job.

 

Good info... btw, what was the cost of pads, sensors from Pelican?

 

Good job... how many miles do you have on the car and what year is it?