My brake wear light came on in my 2017 P4S "971". I was wondering should I replace just the pads or the rotors also? Also what's typically the cost of both options at the Porsche dealer? This is for the front brakes. The back pads and rotors were replaced a few months ago before I purchased. Car has 25k miles on it. Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

I always replace the pads and rotors at the same time. In addition, you'll need to replace the wear-sensors. Rotors are (for a Porsche) cheap. $150 a side for Bosch .Porsche parts from the dealer and labor are stupid expensive. If your shop will let you provide your own parts, get them off of the web and bring them to the shop to do the work. I would strongly suggest getting OEM pads though. I bought some Centric pads and they were a few MM off from the stockers and rattled in the calipers. I ended up dropping the coin at the dealer for OEM because I couldn't handle the rattling. The wear sensors are at Advance Auto and they're $15. You'll also need to replace the caliper bolts. They're dealer-parts, but like $9 each and you'll need 4. All-in, for new rotors, OEM pads and sensors, I was a tick under $500 in parts. A dealer will charge 2-4x that for a complete front brake job.

If you've ever had even the teeniest bit of interest in learning how to DIY this car, the brakes are a great place to start. It's stupidly simple and you'd really have to try very hard to screw things up. The catch is that you'll have to have the right 12 pt bit for the caliper bolts, a $15 pad spreader, a torque wrench, a can of brake cleaner, and the caliper lube. Oh, and a jack and stand obviously. You can knock out each side in 30 minutes if you're lollygagging.

 

I'm new to Panameras, do most of my own work, and will need a brake job in the next year or so. Why would caliper bolts need to be replaced? I've never worked on calipers as big as the Panamera has, but I guess all the concepts are the same as the many brake jobs I've done in the past.

 

They are torque to yield. The threads deform noticeably. Some don't bother, but it's not something I would skip after seeing the deformation myself

 

Out of interest do the rear calipers need winding back in ?

 

No, if similar to the 970 design. If you remove the rotor you’ll need software to retract the parking brake shoes. You can rig up a way to press the pistons back into the caliper. I’ve used C clamps or carefully wedge a prying tool between the rotor and piston. A dedicated tool is a lot easier but not worth the cost IMO.