I was washing the car this afternoon and noticed multiple holes on the rotors are clogged with what appears to be brake pad material. Is this normal? The brakes and pads are stock and I did my first DE about 2-3 weeks ago.
Thanks for any insight!



PS: I tried search in both 996 and 997 without luck.

 

Completly normal, especially when use race pads but also when using stock brake pads hard. Easy to fix, juste remove the wheel and use a drill to clean the holes.

 

When I wash my car ater track day, I put a fast stream of water to the rotor surface and that takes out the brake dust from the holes. high pressurized air (or water) works too.

 

No drill! Use air pressure.

All you'd need is a can of compressed air like you might use to clean camera equipment.

 

Not sure if compressed air from a can will work since I never tried it, but air from a compressor definitely does the trick. I tend to blow out the drilled rotor openings with compressed air everytime I wash the car. I also use it to blow the excess water out from around the tail lights and other crevices where it likes to hide and drip down later.

 

The holes in drilled rotors are for weight reduction and to squeeze out water when braking in the wet, so the powder in the holes doesn't hurt anything. Be careful blowing out nooks and crannies with compressed air, you can force moisture into places you don't want it like inside of headlights and talilights causing fogging.

 

The holes in the rotors allow for heat to escape. I have noticed the pedal going soft when the rotors were clogged, but this was under track/racing conditions.

When I suggested compressed air, I meant compressed nitrogen. Many camera and computer stores carry this. Not ideal, but a good solution in lieu of a nitrogen tank...

 

I t looks like the "hole" you have circled on the right side of the picture is actually the rotor wear indicator. This is actually solid in the center, so you can blast all day with the air compressor at its still going to look the same When the "hole" disappears and it becomes solid across, it means time for new rotors

 

I use compressed air on mine, but make sure you wear a mask - that stuff feels bad in the old lungs.

And blow out the dust before (not after) washing the car to rinse away the debris.

 

rmag is correct..those are wear indicators and not vent holes

 

Good advice maybe but I've never had a problem and I've been doing it for years on my Porsches. Other makes might not have the same level of sealing and perhaps the air can force moisture into unwanted places.

 

Not so.

Any rotor manufacturer will tell you its important that the piercings are NOT clogged.

'Weight reduction' is a nice joke - have you tried calculating the weight saved? Take the SHW rotors apart and you will see that the structures around the piercings actually add mass to the rotor.

In a perfect world, the rotor designers would have us using the heaviest rotors possible. The more iron in the rotor, the greater the capacity to absorb heat, in braking forward moving energy is turned into heat energy (to keep it simple), so the greater the ability to absorb heat, the more effective the breaking system. Unfortunately this is the very worse place to have weight.

R+C

 

Happens to me after every track event. Just get yourself a $99 Craftsman 3 gallon air compressor, make yourself an "extension" to the air gun nozzle, and blast away (dry). Do it outside and with a mask on to keep the dust out of your nose and lungs. I've never heard of or seen "wear indicators" -- my rotor "holes" go all the way through. Those rotors in the photo don't look very worn to me...

My front rotors, on the other hand, are barely worn but almost "shot" due to the cracks. Still waiting for PFC to come out with a Direct Drive for the rear (fronts are out now).

 

It is my understanding that the holes and\or slots allow the superheated gasses from the friction pads to quickly escape. The fading sensation comes when the brakes overheat and gasses build up between the rotor and pads...like hydroplaning in a manner of speaking.

 

On the Stock GT3 rotors there are one or two "holes" near both the outer and inner rims which are just partial drilled. When the "hole" disappears, your rotors are worn to their limits. Usually rotors will need to be replaced because of cracking well before they wear out.