KBS911

Took the car to the dealer today to have the rear pads replaced. Had a "moaning" noise that developed after a recent track event. My car has 8K miles, 3 AutoX and 1 DE, not much. I had taken off the front pads, piece of cake, and cleaned the rotors and scuffed the pads, but the noise was coming from the rear. You have to remove the calipers on the rears so i felt I'd leave it to the dealer for the first go round. $650 bucks BTW for parts and labor. Ouch!...... It's OK though, I paid cash and won't have to get busted if the wife saw the CC bill. The parts cost was $443 minus my 15% PCA discount.

Interesting note: The front pads are made by Pagid but the rears are Textar #T4997 GG. I replaced them with Pagid OEM upgrades that are more aggressive, PN# P 90FF, 997.352.942.95. They are RED!, but I don't know if that means Pagid reds or not. They were the middle factory choice between the original "comfort" pad and the optional "race" pads.

I was surprised that the pads weren't a matched Pagid set and that Textars were used for the rears.

In any event there is plenty of thickness left on the original Textar pads, but they are glazed. I am going to clean them up and save them for later street use.

With all that said the dealer doesn't have an equivalent front brake pad upgrade. I have read that several members have replaced the fronts but specifically with what? What is the turnkey, no mod or shaving, Pagid replacement part number for upgraded front pads?

At this point, in for a penny in for a pound. I want to install new front pads, especially since I can easily do it myself. I just need the PN# and a vendor that carries the pads. I'll probably even tell the wife about these.

Thanks.

911rox

Hey KBS, whilst Porsche offer 3 compounds for the rears of the GT3/RS, there is only one OEM compound for the fronts for the moment. Most guys here are upgrading to the Pagid RS29s and the pad shape is U8004- no mods required, just slide them in...

cfjan

Surprise to hear that it is so hard to change the rear pads...

KBS911

I don't think it is hard, just more work than the fronts. You have to remove the calipers and I wanted to make sure I had all the right tools before I changed them.

KBS911

Thanks, which vendor has them, in stock of course?

cfjan

I just meant that It is relatively difficult, compared to the older setup, where you don't need to remove the caliper.

skxf430

Try Craig at Rennstore http://rennstore.com/

GrantG

I think the 997.1 GT3 required that you remove the rear calipers too - just the 996 GT3 has the more traditional slap-em-in approach (which I am used to with my 930 calipers). Too bad they got away from that...

TRAKCAR

That is why I put CUP car style studs in on all 4 corners, less likely to strip out the uprights.
I have a set of OEM RS pads for sale, $700.00 delieverd.
They are Pagid, I am pretty sure, fornt I am sure, but I will try to identify the rears on Monday.

andrewdr

TRACKAR, what are the cup car studs? Anyone know the torque spec on 997.1 GT3 caliper bolts?

lawjdc

you might wish to try turning off your traction control so your rear pads don't get eaten up so quickly

TRAKCAR

Torque is 65lb. You should put at least Time Serts in, but I went with studs instead.

Even with Time Serts you have the risk that a caliper will come lose eventually. I'd go with studs.
Before I put in Time Serts it happened to me at VIR, both bolts came lose and the only thing holding on the caliper was the wheel. I had to buy a new upright from Champion and they put in the Time Serts on all 4 corners and I trailered to VIR back and forth for one session.

I don't know the size of the studs, but I know they are different than the CUP cars (Orbit did it), because the uprights are different.

Without stability or traction control the pads wear even front to rear.
Only in the front do you need to flip the pads after 4 track days and then they are still good for a total of 8-10 days both front and rear, so you only have to take the rear calipers off every 8-10 track days.

KBS911

That's the thing. I run with everything off. The rears were glazed, plenty of pad left, and I think I can scuff them up and use them again. The noise started after a DE at PBIR. Probably should have driven outside the track area a bit for a better cool down.

The new pads made a huge difference, although they have that squeal thing going on at low speed/pressure. Thats normal though. I feel much better now that the "moaning" sound is gone. Just need to get front pads.

TRAKCAR, are RS pads a direct replacement for the standard GT3 and are they upgraded from the standard 3 pads?

TRAKCAR

I do not know. Since the calipers are the same, I expect that they put the same pads in, I will look Monday to see if there is a description on the back.

TRAKCAR

I just checked both front and rear OEM are Pagid P90FF.
No Textar?

If anyone wants mine let me know. I did about 400 street miles and 5 gentle laps on track to brake in the car, so they did get bedded in, but I doubt they wore much and they come with the backing platres delivered to your door.