penguinking

wondering what the basic upgrades are for 996 brakes. i'll be tracking my car every so often (about 10 days a year maybe) - should i be worried about the brakes? here's my understanding of the available upgrades:

fluid, pads, lines - and then if you want to go any further it'll cost you around 4 grand for the "big red" caliper/rotor upgrade. since the stock rotors are a one-piece design, is there any concern for the wheel bearings prematurely wearing down? is there a two-piece rotor application that uses the stock calipers?

Matt Romanowski

If you are a beginner, you don't have to worry about braking performance. Stock pads with good fluid will be more than enough. After that, I would suggest moving up to more aggressive pads.

Matt

penguinking

well, i've got about 12 or so track days under by belt, plus a handful of autox's...so i'm not exactly a first-time beginner, but certainly no expert at it.

i just like modding cars, and for this car, i wanna start out w/ brakes and suspension before i get into performance

Brian P

I'd second the upgrading of pads. Other than that, I wouldn't touch the brakes as they are pretty good already.

Jack667

I'm no expert, but I would say that you want to do the pads and fluid first. Then maybe the lines. Or - you might look into rotors. I'm not sure about stock 996, or what you have, but you might want to look into cross-drilled or vented rotors. Maybe the cryogenic ones...
Also - what tires are you running? Your tire choice will affect your braking performance (ie wheels locking up or ABS kicking in)

penguinking

i'm going to be using ATE superblue brake fluid, thats one thing outta the way.

pads sound like a great idea- any recomendations? they hafta be for street use as well...

i've heard problems regarding the maintenance of stainless braided lines, and that even if they do help, it is only a 10/10ths mod done to a dedicated track car. personally i used to run SS lines w/ no problems at all, but i suppose porsche's brake lines are different?

rotors were my only concern because upgraded pads would make the brakes run alot hotter than they're used to. combined w/ aggressive track time i'm concerned about wheel bearing failure.

what about brake ducting?

tires: i'm on the stock S0-3's for right now, but i'm looking into a dedicated set of track wheels/Rcompounds - regardless, i'd like to improve the brakes first though.

Tom W

Realistically, if you don't want to change pads between street and track and you have not had any problems with your brakes (boiled fluid), you don't need to do anything. The only change that would make much sense without a problem that needs to be solved are the pads. However, track pads are not the best for the street - usually because of noise and being designed to work well when hot.

I ran my 993 9 days of DE last year and the stock brakes were more than adequate with stock pads. I did try Pagid Orange pads for a couple events and they do work a bit better but the squeel waaay too much for street use. It takes about an hour to swap them and a big part of that time is changing the wheels to the track set anyway.

My advice, save your money (don't spend it on brakes or rotors as there is nothing wrong). Get the second set of wheels and some MPSC tires for them if you feel you need the upgrade and have $2k to spend.

Sloth

I ran my 996 C2 a couple of times at the track. No problems the first time out at Sebring, but I cooked them pretty good the next time at Moroso. If your pads are in good shape they should be fine for DE, but be careful once they get below 50%. You could look into some brake pads from Pagid. I think they do a sport pad that works well on the street and track.

Brian P

During track season, I simply use the Pagid Oranges for both street use and track use and I've found no problems on the street.

At the last event of the season, I switch back to stock pads for the winter months.

If you are looking for a good order of upgrades, you might want to try this...

1) Brake pads
2) Seats/harnesses(really should do both at the same time)
3) Fire extinguisher
4) Second set of wheels for R-compound tires
5) Suspension upgrades (possibly do this before #4)

Arthur

The extent of my modifications are RoW M030, and Performance Friction with the 97 compound. Followed my mechanic's advise on this. Stock brake rotors and lines. ATE Blue/Gold. I've had the PF 97's for over a year, about 3-4 hard DE events. Use them on the street as well. Squeak loudly but who cares. The pads have held up VERY well, and I am very surprised to see that I have barely worn out the pads themselves. Just went through my unofficial tech-ing last night, and there's way over 80% of the pad left. You will eventually want to go to R-compound tires, and then graduate into slicks. Then, maybe you'll turn into racing, which is a completely different ballgame and budget. Goodluck!

MJones

PDE uses stock 996's at Barber Motorsports and the stock brakes seem to hold up really well, given the wide variety of drivers that use the cars... It's a pretty hard braking course 5 big brake zones, 4 are tripple digit

penguinking

oh i thought they used GT3's for PDE

Steve in FL

penguinking: The GT3 is too expensive and too limited a production car for PDE to use. Their cars do have the AeroKit II bodywork which is pretty much equivalent of the '04 GT3 bodywork (I've been told the front spoiler lip is different).

RedlineMan

Hey All;

A higher performance pad DOES NOT necessarily mean more heat. A low performance pad asked to perform over its limits will create far more heat, stop less, and potentially damage the rotors.

Great tip on pad thickness by the way. You need copious material there to handle the heat. 50% means trash can for fronts, watch em close on the rear!

I would start with new fluid. ATE blue/gold is very good. I use Wilwood 570 because it is available locally and it works very well. Comes in pints to which is handy.

Better pads will not hurt either. Porterfield Carbon Kevlars are quite effective. The race compound stops very well but wears too quick for my budget. The Enduro pad also work quite well and last a LOT longer. I am currently using Performance Friction -97 and they have proven excellent.

Funny, but neither of these pads squeal at all for me after I bed them in well and hammer them good once or twice. Quiet, not much dust, no squeal, good modulation and excellent wear.

Forget the SS lines. Unnecessary. Don't hurt, but don't give you anything substantive. Just drive it until you start going through pads ever 2-3 days. THEN you will have EARNED your upgrade!!

penguinking

hehe...the icing on the cake: i like that :-P one day, i will have SS lines on my car!

for now, a good set of brake pads it is