Ptech1

As a previous dealer technician, I can tell you that those measure at 5mm all day long, with a new pad starting at 11-12mm. There are measurement tools you can slide between the spokes to confirm. Warning will not come on until 2-3mm, with the only caveat being outer rotor lip wearing through the sensor wire beforehand. On most street cars (Panameras and Cayennes aside), you can go through two sets of pads before rotors measure close to or below minimum thickness spec.
Find yourself a decent independent, I recently quoted the same $1800 Cayenne GTS front brake replacement for a client at $825, using the same brand of OEM replacement rotors and pads, and with the proper mark up and labor. Dealerships have a bad rap for a reason.

Anthony's

I run it til the indicator makes contact. He really depends on how you drive. You almost can count on replacing the rotors. Don't buy bargain parts. Use textar pads and rotors. Best value for the dollar.

lurchphil

If rotors are not worn beyond limits, they can be turned by shops with equipment that will accept drilled rotors. Mine were lightly worn and after turning, they worked perfectly. $20 per rotor.

Petza914

Not a good idea to turn drilled rotors. You lose most if not all of the hole chamfer which can make them prone to cracking between the holes. You also reduce the heat sink which makes them more prone to warping under heavy use.

Mumbles

Don't the rotors have an indentation on them to show when they are worn down to a minimum ?

JAGMAN1

One thing to remember is that the wear sensors measure wear out the outer lip. So if the lip is pronounced as a result of rotor wear, the wear sensor will trigger earlier. If it we possible to turn only the outer 2-3mm of the rotor to eliminate the lip, that would be ideal.

Ratdog33

Thanks for the tip. I picked up the gauge set. Here are my results. 5.5 6mm is what I see. Seems like they were trying to sell me I did not need.

Bruce In Philly

Cool gadget, but as noted, you car will tell you by popping a light.

You will need a caliper to measure the rotor thickness.... cheap ones at Harbor Freight.

BTW, I never turned a Porsche rotor and they never grooved on me. My last pad change (actually my first at around 75K miles??) the rotors were fine but close.... so, figuring I would get at least another 75K on the Porsche pads, I went ahead and changed the rotors too.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

Iceter

If you were looking for more affirmation, I wholeheartedly agree that the dealer is trying to screw you. There is no doubt, looking at your pictures, that you have thousands upon thousands of miles left on those pads--with the only caveat being that they all have worn the same amount and you don't have some weird, uneven wear on another caliper that we're not seeing.

I can't speak to your car in particular, but on a base 997, there are dimples machined into the rotor face for the purposes of showing rotor wear. They are machined at two different depths, the shallower one to indicate intermediate wear and the deeper one to indicate the wear limit of the rotors.

While the service writer's comment that "it's a Porsche" is correct, to an extent, what he's also done is sized you up and decided that you're not smart enough to know whether your brakes need replacing or not. Keep your pics and send them to PCNA with your service review survey.

FWIW, I will give shops opportunities to fix a screw up, but I will only give a shop one opportunity to be honest and act in an ethical way. I can tolerate mistakes. I will not tolerate lies.

Bruce In Philly

Are these dimples on my 2009 C2S rotors? I never saw them.... but I never looked and was unaware at the time Porsche did this.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

stronbl

Ratdog33 - as others have so clearly stated, your pads are fine and the wear sensors will tell you when they are no longer fine. The only reason I am writing to confirm what has been said so many times already is to unofficially welcome you to the club in advance - the club of the DIY'ers. Usually it starts with super high priced oil changes but as in your case it looks like an unnecessary and high priced brake change may be the trigger. As you have already started doing so, you will slowly gain more and more tools and knowledge and before you know it, you'll be doing the brake jobs yourself and paying only for parts while enjoying the therapeutic nature of working on your GTS. So, again welcome to the club.


PS - Don't let the center locking wheels scare you away, they are not difficult to manage, just take your time and reach out for some pointers, advice, help, or documents. They too are very manageable.

Ratdog33

Very well said. I could not agree more. Thank you

My balance with this whole dramatic event is I still have warranty on the car, so crushing the relationship with the dealer over this would have other impacts to consider.

P.S. Any suggestions on a torque wrench would be appreciated

altonj

You do have plenty of pad life left, best to get your money's worth out of them if not heading to the track.

You should not feel you are risking your warranty service by bringing this up with the dealer. You have recourse through PCNA if you have a warranty issue you feel is not being handled appropriately...

Your dealer may not be trying to "screw you" but they are trying to oversell you. We see this all the time. That big expensive building needs to get paid for. This is the exact practice that gives the industry a bad name. They think you will blindly trust them as they are the dealer. Fact is, a great number of service writers have never worked on a car and don't get it. They are trying to achieve the sales goals the dealership management has set out for them, and they can't think long term customer retention, let alone doing what is right. Just today we had a drop in new customer who had recently visited the dealer. He had a "noise in the engine" and the dealership told him it needed replacement. They quoted him 30k (CDN) for a replacement motor as his only option. Now, the motor may need replacing, but we will diagnose next week and present a few alternatives... The car is question is 996 C4S that is maybe worth 25-30K (CDN)

You were wise to seek another opinion, and got many.

Any name brand calibrated torque wrench will suffice. I am partial to Snap-On digital wrenches but they can be overkill for DIY.

Ratdog33

Thanks, but a snap on torque wrench big enough to torque the center locks would cost as much as the car! Jk

altonj

For centerlocks, get a torque multiplier