Icloud

I have a 2014 Cayman S (stock). I am a member at MSR Houston and attend 3-4 track weekends at COTA a year. I am going thru brakes pretty quickly. I am now told my front rotors have stress cracks and need to be replaced. Does anyone have a recommendation for rotors and pads? I don't want to upgrade to carbon, but need something more durable than stock.

mjdavis

Girodisc. Can't lose. They last forever.

jscott82

Drilled rotors are useless for the track, anything else is better. Sure Griodisk or PFC two piece are much better, but they are 2-3 the price, not sure they are 2-3 times better.... I think there are Sebro and other 1 piece options that are same/similar price to stock.

For my SPC car, I just put PFC two piece, I have yet to run them though, so no data on longevity yet. My gut tells me it wasn't money well spent.

fnel1771

Sebro slotted last for ever and are a cost effective solution also. I run hard and do ~20 days a year and they last all season. For pads I use PFC08 or 11 and have also used Ferodo DS1.11. They all work fine depending on your driving style

olegd

Moderate stress cracking of Porsche rotors is normal as long as cracks are not reaching from one vent hole to another. Thickness is an important measure of safety on these. Each rotor should have the minimum thickness stamped on its edge.
I am going with Sebro slotted this season and my favorite pads are Hawk DTC60. They are reasonably priced, work well on the track and seem to squeal less than PFC08. They are dusty as hell so I only use them with my track wheels.

Bill Lehman

+1, "Stress" cracks are normal on a tracked Porsche. In addition to the above post, cracks should not extend to the edge. When the rotors need replacing, I had good service from Sebro slotted.

dgrobs

Girodisc with Ferodo DS1-11 pads.

jfpell

I have 1 season of DE running the GiroDiscs / Ferodo DS1.11 pads on Cayman GTS. While the GDs aren't cheap, they do come in a larger diameter. So far, both are working very well together and wear rates seem very even and not at a high wear rate. Good ability to modulate -- not too harsh of a bite.

Sebro slotted are also a great, lower cost alternative that I ran on my previous 997S (with PFC08 pads)..

JRitt@essex

Our Essex Designed AP Racing Radi-CAL Competition Brake Kits eliminate all the woes of the OEM setup. Every component in our systems are designed specifically to deal with the heat of extended track sessions, and they are as close as you can get to what the 911 RSR runs in IMSA.

Our caliper brackets are fixed to the spindle, and the caliper rides on studs. Unlike the OEM calipers, the only time you need to remove the caliper though, is for disc changes. The removable caliper bridge allows for pad changes without caliper removal, and it takes longer to raise the car and pull the wheels than it does to change pads.

We have front-only, and front/rear solutions. You can see all sorts of customer feedback on our essex blog.

https://www.essexparts.com/essex-des...1355mm-981-718

https://www.essexparts.com/essex-des...28-987-981-718

The initial investment in the full kit with calipers is higher than simply replacing the pads and discs, but they have a laundry list of benefits and they hold their value extremely well. Most of our customers who track their cars regularly find that they pay for themselves in 2-3 years in consumable costs alone. When it comes time to move on to your next car, you can also cash them out for a couple grand, and your OEM calipers are still fresh on the shelf in the garage.

The technology is far beyond the OEM equipment.

chancecasey

I am about to track my 2011 Cayman S for the first time, up to 6 full hours of seat time. I just put the Sebro slotted rotors on about 5,000 street miles ago, full Castrol SRF flush, and new OEM street pads.
Think a single set of track pads, with my street pads as a backup, would be sufficient? Maybe 2 sets of track pads?

As for the pads themselves, in this thread PFC08 or PFC11, Ferodo DS1.11, Hawk DTC 60 were all mentioned. I haven't bought track pads in forever, so I guess what I'm looking for is:
1. Durability - really the main reason
2. Friction - don't necessarily want/need the pad to be that much more aggressive/grippy than OEM
3. Performance - obviously less fade at temps is better but this track has very long straights so not even sure this is an issue

I have used Pagid for a 911 in the past and was very happy with them - they were the least aggressive of the options at the time (don't recall color) but zero issues

Bill Lehman

I assume that you're going to COTA. That track has a reputation for being hard on pads. Track pads work well at high temps, street pads don't. I would advise using track pads. I've run all of the pads on your list except the Hawks. All worked fine, I'm currently running the Ferodo DS1.11 on my GT4.

chancecasey

YES! Thanks for the tips!

1. You think 1 brand new set of PFC08 would last OK for this event? They are pretty darn expensive ($380 + for all 4 corners)
2. My car has no cooling ducts - any concerns the PFC08's would get "too hot"?

zedcat

COTA is indeed a heavy braking track and will put a lot of heat into the brake system even with the long straights. SRF is a good choice. I have driven there in a 12 Cayman R with Pagid Pads Yellow-F/ Black R. Also PFC 11. With near new pads you should be OK for a weekend. Never a bad idea to have a spare set and tools to change of course. You can get a set of GT3 front ducts from Suncoast. Easy to install- just clip on to the LCA and not expensive.

Bill Lehman

08 will work, I got several events out of them, it's more of an endurance pad. 11 are a little more aggressive. More cooling always helps, definitely add the GT3 ducts.

daylorb

I've taken my '12 Sypder to COTA. At some point I read advice that basically said try it stock first, see how it does, make progressive changes. (I'm paraphrasing). So I took it "stock" more or less. Started with this setup:

1) Stock spyder/R pads are an upgrade over S pads - put in new oem pads - daily the usage on them was not all that noticeable, running 5 times of 20-25 min each. Stock rotors, measured to make sure they were within range.
2) Fluid flush with high temp brake fluid
3) I have a softronics tune, and I use one of the funky lap restraint seat belt clamps

That was it - it ran just fine - not a lick of brake fade in those short sessions. I can get another weekend out of the stock pads before they get down to 50% if I wanted to push it. I'd be surprised if you needed more than one new set for the weekend. Keep in mind my lap times are not setting records, I'm in the middle/yellow run group and the temp outside was cold for what it is worth last time.

That said - I don't mind swapping pads for the event, so I don't see any harm in using a better pad and next time I likely will. Also no harm in keeping it cooler - so the brake ducts are on the way... and so are GT3 LCA's and an alignment... I've heard that running the Pagid street pads make it easy to bed the track pads - so I may go that route.