stealthboy

Last week I got the brake wear limit warning on the dash of the Macan. So assuming it was the front brakes that wear first, yesterday I did a front brake pad job, then for good measure did a full brake bleed all around. Both jobs very easy on the Macan, BTW. Unfortunately, still get the dash warning, so now of course I'm resigned to doing the rear brakes - I was hoping to avoid that. A few questions:

1) Is the brake wear warning something that needs to be reset? Yes, I replaced the wear indicators.

2) I've been reading that the rear brakes are pretty much impossible for DIY since the electric parking brake needs to be recalibrated using a special tool (of course). Is this true?

NC TRACKRAT

Were your front brake pad wear indicators worn through? If so, they set off the warning light. Before going to the trouble of doing the rears, get an inspection mirror and a flashlight and take a look at your rear pads to see how far down they've worn. You may not need to do them. If they do need replacing, go here and do a search for how to retract the parking brake: http://www.macanforum.com/. As for your warning light, I believe it will have to be reset with an appropriate factory or aftermarket instrument.

BIG smoke

I slide my phone on video with light on for brake inspection.
Rather that mirror and flashlight.
Don't send your fancy phone in there with 400 degree brakes and rotors.

PSEE

Uh - the friction material looks pretty close to the backing plate...

It appears you may have ~1/8" remaining. It's likely the wear sensor has already been worn through.

How many miles on your Macan?

NC TRACKRAT

The phone pic is a good idea but don't forget the inner pads. Inners and outers don't necessarily wear at the same rate. I think the above pic doesn't show that the backing plate is slightly thicker on the ends and that there's more "meat" on the pad than the pic would imply. Also, keep in mind that the rear pads wear slower than the fronts.

CayenneTTS

ANybody have any luck upgrading brake pads?

Mark in Baltimore

+1. The dust is insane. Just backing out of the driveway creates a Pig Pen level of dust cloud.

Pointbye

You went and bought parts and replaced your brakes without looking at the rear sensors? LOL

CayenneTTS

Plus on my cat delete and tuned turbo the brakes are just not sufficient, it is comparable to my LX570 work truck/winter beater

BIG smoke

NC - totally correct on that call. Outside pad is easy to inspect. Inside pad is more difficult, and often does not have similar wear.
Thus, on my STi with BREMBO's. Outside was fine by wear bar, inside was down to the rivets and backing plate. Happily handed over the cash to my mechanic for the work rendered.

boatracer

CayenneTTS

dgjks6

You can do the rears without any special tools. Just have to reset the electric parking brake. You can do it with a PIWIS or you can just do it by hand. I did it by hand and it worked fine. No errors or warnings and parking brake works fine.

user 72902

I have about 300 miles on my Macan and I'm putting ceramic pads on it either this weekend or next. I have them on my 997 and C300 and the dust factor is night and day. My two previous 993's were tracked so I'm sensitive to how the brakes feel and I don't notice a difference with ceramics. I did the swap on the Mercedes after a 100 or so miles so no need to mess with the rotors - dealer though I was crazy but they don't have to clean my cars.

Mark in Baltimore

What pads are you going to use? The dust on the stock pads is ridiculous.