thebishman

Are you talking about the typical four, 25 minute run sessions during an HPDE? Meaning, 10-15 of that kind of track day?

I've been running in the advanced group at Porsche DEs for about 17 years now. As I've matured, (read aged), I have become progressively 'smoother' over the years, and no longer stand the car on its nose in the braking zones. Further, I always want to be able to drive the damn car home at this point in my life. I'm not out to break any track records, hurt myself, the car or anyone else. I have been looking at getting a nice 997 GT2 that would be 70%/30% street/track usage, and was hoping that by taking care of the PCCBs, and with my more 'mature' driving style, I would be able to actually use the PCCBs on track; (I loved the way they felt the other day on my test drive, granted that was on the street). If I only do about '10 track days' per year, I was hoping to get two years out of the rotors at least before replacing them. Any further advice appreciated.

Bish

thebishman

Craig,

Excuse the 'newbie' question but I've been out of the Porsche family since 2002:
Is the above price also for replacement PCCBs for a 997 GT2?
And is that new rotors, or taken from someone who's switched to steel rotors, i.e. 'used'?

TIA,
Bish

cfjan

The amount of wear on the brake has much to do w/ the type of tires you run too.. I am probably not punishing my brake enough when I was just running street tires.. (have had 20+ days so far.. not to mention the previous owner also tracked w/ these PCCB) And these are the 996 version, supposedly, the infamous "gen 1" that's good for nothing..

Who knows.. so far, the rotors are still quite smooth.. but I do have a set of iron rotors in the garage ready to go in..

997gt3north

Those look good - if they were 997 I would buy them. Given the price of a 996gt3, he is going to have to wait for the correct customer otherwise $3800 is too high. The track rats are buying $100 ATE rotors so $400 versus $3800 is a big leap. Given a set of ceramics should last 5X Irons, 5x$400 = $2000 - so my guess is $2000 - $2500 is going to be a more realistic clearing price.

911SLOW

I just told Peter the exact same thing.
2300 is a fair price for a GEN1 PCCB set in good condition.

(And I am not in the market for one. )

TRAKCAR

OK, thanks for the info guys.
I'm surprised they go for that little. At that $$ they are sure worth it over steel, even more so if you don't track much.

We will let ebay run out and see what he wants to do. I forgot to ask his reserve.

BobbyC

Bish,

While there's a lot of info on "PCCBs on track" out there (some real and some just hearsay) here's another guy's real life 2 cents experience with PCCBs.

I've been driving on PCCBs on track now for 6 years.

First, with a 2005 996 Turbo S (Gen 2 PCCBs) and then with a 2007 GT3RS (Gen 2.1 PCCBs).

I'm a Red run grp driver and PCA instructor. Did 70 track days and over 30k miles, a third of which were track miles, before I replaced all 4 rotors with a new set of PCCBs. Had it not been for one ****-up of my own causing (tell you in a minute) these rotors would have lasted another 10K miles.

I only use the "street" stock pads and change them out @ 50%. The one time I got lazy and did not check the inside rear pad thickness and it killed that rotor. Hence I replaced all 4. The other 3 that I took off are in good condition and I keep them as spares (unless someone buys them off me).

Moral of this experience...there are no better, consistent brake systems than the PCCBs. "Street" pads are all you need and are gentler on the rotors.

Go out and track the PCCBs to your heart's content...replace the pads diligently at 50%; treat the rotors nice (i.e. learn good braking technique) ; and you'll enjoy them for a long, long time.

thebishman

THIS is just the kind of first hand experience that I was hoping to hear. Thanks so much.

BTW, how much life, especially track days, are you getting from the pads and due to the 50% rule, are you replacing rear pads as often as the fronts? (I know this is very tyre and track dependent, but I'd just like your best guesstimate).

Bish

BobbyC

As an example, I recently did 4 days and about 600 track miles at Watkins Glen. Started out with brand new pads and a set of Hoosiers. The tires were done. The pads were @ 6mm, i.e. 60%.

In the GT3(RS) platform the rears wear faster than the fronts. I suspect in a GT2 (like in my Turbo S) it's the fronts that will wear more.

NJ-GT

I agree that if you take proper care of the PCCB, they can last a long time. Using the stock pads with non-sticky tires (avoid slicks or R6/RS/R1 type of tires), castrol srf, cool down laps, and replacing the pads at 50% left, makes the rotors life easier.

My crappy first generation PCCB (the ones with the most longevity problems) lasted over 31,000 miles on my ownership with 4 years of track days, autocrosses, street miles.

However, throw in sticky tires, drive at 10/10th and they won't last as long. Porsche SuperCup teams replace them at 20 hours or less. Ferrari Challenge teams every 8-12 hours on the front axle, and 12-16 hours on the rear axle. These cars run on slicks and racing pads.

TRAKCAR

How long would they have lasted at Sebring??

NJ-GT

All smooth and nice flowing NE and California racetracks, Pocono, LRP, WGI, LagunaSeca, CalSpeedway.

Sebring eats brakes, eats them bad. 70 track days on a GT3 with PCCB at Sebring, impossible, they would not pass 20 days on street tires, on slicks not even 10 days.

cfjan

Never been to Sebring before, why is it so brutal on the brake? Long straight and then very slow corner at the end?

I mean, you mentioned WGI.. you get up to 140mph+ before the bus stop too, but I guess Sebring is even faster?

NJ-GT

Many factors.

Massive grip, Sebring's surface is mostly concrete.

The Glen only has two heavy braking zones, the bus stop and the toe of the boot, everywhere else there is flow and not so heavy braking with plenty of time to cool down the brakes.

Sebring has massive braking done at T1, T3, T7, T10 and T17, higher levels of grip, and the speeds are plenty higher. On a good run I see 160mph (traqmate, speedo says 175mph) on the back straight, 145mph entering T1, 140 mph entering T7 and 135 mph entering T10.

T3, T4,T5, T7, T10 and T13 are autocross turns (low speed turns) so you need even more braking.

My Fiat ate one set of brand new front street pads in one day, they retail for $2,000 an axle.

cfjan

Thanks for the info.. hopefully get down there and do a DE one of these days.. !!