frayed

My main issue with PCCB on my 997S was that it left the brake pedal so high that it made heel toe shifting a PITA.

At first, I thought this was solely a me issue. Then I let a friend (experienced racer, mostly amateur and some pro racing). He also complained about the difficulty in heel toeing due to pedal height and PCCB sensitivity (the initial bite is akin to a decent track pad on iron rotors).

Even Excellence noted that in their PCCB test car the brake pedal was too high unless you got the brakes not on track.

PogueMoHone

My GT3 has PCCB and it is just as easy to heel and toe in it (even at slow speeds) as in my 997S which (unfortunately) has steel rotors.

frayed

That's good to hear

toddbee

How long will they last before you have to replace them? The dealer tellls me the life of the car. is this true?

Bob Rouleau

That depends on whether you use them or not. If you track the car (why else would you get an RS?) then they won't and they cost a stupid amount of money to replace. Porsche will not warranty the PCCB if you track the car. You can get a nasty surprise if they fail.

Flying Finn

You can't adjust the pedal heights on 997S (same way you can do in older 911s)?
I haven't even bothered to check since I was sure the adjustment is there (I guess better not to assume anything) , but can you do it in GT3?

roberga

tod: nobody knows how long the rotors will last with track use. They will not last the life of the car.

Also, if you go off into the gravel the rotors will likely shatter. The current cost of GenII are $5400 each

carrering

I'm on the fence on PCCB's as well. Whats tempting is to just save the 8K and use it to buy some lightweight track wheels instead. you save all the unsprung weight the carbon rotors will and then some. Then I'm thinking, even better to get PCCB's and the lightweight wheels. choices choices.

frayed

Weight savings in the wheel and tire will exceed those of the lighter rotor. . . less mass further out from center = lower moment of inertia. PCCBs are a very expensive way to save a few pounds of rotating and unsprung weight.

Contrary to the comments above, I think the difference in driving feel is in terms of brake feel over the steels. ROCK hard pedal, very easy to modulate, and so confidence inspiring (comparing PCCBs vs. steel on 997S's). Nordschleife, I'm not sure what you mean by 'best metal rotors.' Rotors are largely commodoties, and have yet to hear of one metal rotor feeling any different than another, whether cryo treated rotors, slotted, x-drilled or a combination of the above. Perhaps you mean 'best track pads'? A quality track pad from Hawk or Pagid certainly have awesome feel on track, but tend to be dusty, noisy, corrosive, and have poor stopping power cold. That is, aggressive track pads make terrible street pads.

Not so sure about vastly. If the PCCBs outlast steel rotors 10x, the gap starts closing.

Nordschleife

Jeff
A well designed brake system, including rotors, callipers, pads, steel brake lines, brake fluid and cooling, is what I am talking about. In fact when I was driving a 997 Turbo I nearly got in a nasty situation as the stock brakes did nor haul me down as I had become used to.
At $5400 per PCCB rotor, they would have to outlast several iron rotors to balance the economic equation.

R+C

frayed

Just curious, what would you change on the Turbo or GT3? With steels, the only things I'd mess with is fluid (Castrol SRF), maybe brake lines (I think steel brake lines are over-rated as stock brake lines have internal steel braiding), pads (RS19s or the like) and a really, really good manual bleed.

Nordschleife

Well

I'd probably switch to 2 piece rotors, to get ones with a more highly developed and aerodynamic internal vane structure, these are not generally available, only supplied with new callipers. Then I would switch callipers to 6 pot monoblocs which are machined in-house to a design that has been refined over a number of years. Then I would fit good new steel brake lines, 'appropriate' pads and SRF fluid. Whilst doing this, I would have proper brake ducting fitted.

Does this work, yes.

For example -

several Nürburgring 24 Hour teams run this set up without problem.

when I have been showing the the way to my (very) hard charging buddies in the (highly) modified 959, I have had to take care not to brake too hard and get run into whilst driving a heavy station wagon (very trick RS6 with these brakes front and rear).

a friend who develops ABS and Stability systems for a living, remarked he had never experienced such effective brakes in a street car, and how smooth the experience was.

The Rinspeed 911 which set the 'World Braking Record' for street cars (whatever that means) did so with these brakes.

Finally, stopping light cars is not a problem, stopping heavy cars is a major problem. The high speeds routinely achieved in Germany highlight how serious the problem is, hauling a 4500 lb tank down from 200 mph to 100 mph is 4 times as much work as cutting speed fom 100 to 0.

Driving on the Autobahn can be tougher on brakes than the track as the brakes are often cold before use and the amount of speed to be reduced is usually greater than on a race track.

R+C

frayed

By the way, what's all that cost? Do you swap rears as well? If not, how would a GT3 owner ensure that optimal brake balance is retained (997 GT3s have more rear bias than before and a different diff)? Ducting on certain cars can be problematic (ground clearance, limits on wheel to wheel lock, etc), any issues here on a GT3? How much noise? Dust? Availability of replacement parts and pads? Brake pedal travel can get messed up with aftermarket calipers and stock slave, any issues there?

I'm not being an ***, and you don't have to answer such questions but like any aftermarket solution compromises are typically made. I contend that well sorted factory solution is probably in excess for 95% of GT3 buyers. . . .and less problematic.

MJSpeed

Get them...if they work as you want/need them to; great!! If not when it's time to replace them, do so with "the best steel brakes!"

MJSpeed

Does anyone know the answer to this for sure...I assume they can't be adjusted but as the Finn said I don't want to assume anything!