Recommended low-dust (ceramic) pads for 987.2 NON-S

Does anyone have recommendations for new pads on my 2010 Boxster (non-S)? I found many posts recommending Akebonos for S-cars (fronts won't fit the sensor, but that can be jumpered out, which I don't mind doing). However, I see no info on what would fit on the non-S. Does anyone have part numbers for these? If not Akebonos, any recommendations for other low-dust pads with OEM or better performance? I saw some posts about EBC, but I also saw many about squealing (reds) and overall quality issues. I saw Textars are OEM and I know they dust like crazy. I don't track, but I sometimes drive fast in the twisties... so I need something decent... Some older posts mentioned Centric ceramic pads... but I'm not seeing those as listed for the fronts (again, maybe I just need to jumper the sensor, which is fine by me, if the pads work well otherwise!)

I put Brembo ceramics on a couple months ago and I so far there's been no dust. Front P65041n Rear. P65028

i usually wind up taking them off and going back to OEM because the braking is sub par, are these as good as the OEM ?

The pads are the same for the 987.2 S and the non-S. Front and rear (from the factory the S rear rotor is very slightly thicker than the non-S one, but not enough for most companies to make two size rotors for the rear, most just make one.) The front rotors on the S and non-S are also the same. That's why the color of the calipers is so bogus.. I was thinking of painting mine red when the brakes get done Thursday, but decided why bother.. it's the same brakes. I'm going with a kit from Powerstop ( Pagid pads ): https://www.amazon.com/Power-ESK6731-Front-Euro-Stop-Brake/dp/B01CFL12EO/ - note that this kit is just listed as for "2009 Boxster" (no S or non-S designation.) I have hope that the plated rotors might resist rust a bit better than the factory ones do.. these are supposed to be fully plated (they appear to be..) including in the vanes. Also - I believe Porsche uses pads from various manufacturers - made to their specifications. I've seen Textar, Pagid, ATE - all being sold as OE pads. Note that the "kit" doesn't include new hardware. The caliper bolts are one-time-use (torque to 68ft/lbs) and I'm putting new all-stainless hardware on just because. I bought the bolts and hardware from FCP-Euro. Was about $35. I can let you know what I think probably by the week after..

@RSchwerer - I'd love to hear more as well. How do they perform? Love to hear they don't dust as much (whatever I have on now dusts like crazy, and sticks hard... and I'm lazy about cleaning wheels!) @deilenberger - Yes, I can wait for your verdict. Thanks for the extra info, too. If the S are really the same, then I might lean towards the Akebonos as they have been well regarded (and are available at FCP as well... they're a local business to me in CT as well, so that's a plus beyond their warranty!) Great reference on the PowerStop Amazon kit... that's a nice price, too... but I'm tempted by FCP for the warranty and locality! Are the 987.1 the same as 987.2 brakes as well (aside from the sensor sizes)? This thread by Dr Acula is the only one I found with great detail, but they haven't been around since 2019 and I was afraid that S vs non-S was a difference... if it's not, then I can use the recommendations there on the Akebonos: EUR917 for fronts (no sensors, larger "Centric part number 117.37004" hardware kit, and EUR738 (direct fit) for rears. FCP carries Akebono as well Still, I'll wait for a few more posts/reports here before jumping forward. The brake wear light just turned on, and I can see I have plenty of meat left on the pads so it's not an urgent thing anyway. My rear rotors also measured out to be ok (19+ mm thick) but my fronts are well worn, so those need to go. Full front set, and pads only on the rear should be fine. I may stick with drilled rotors on the front, just to keep them consistent with the existing rears... at least for now. I'd like to go slotted eventually, as I don't need drilled (hell, I'd do flat rotors if that was an option). Please keep the info/comments coming... thanks!

AFA the Brembo pads , a little background. I had 95000 miles on the original rotors and 47000 on the pads (EBC Redstuff Ceramic). I figured that was enough so I looked for a deal on good rotors & pads. I had no complaints with Redstuff. There was moderate dust which easily washed off. Full disclosure (and obvious based on the above mileage) I'm not very hard on brakes. I don't track and I don't drive on streets like a pretend race-car driver. When I know I'm going to have to stop, I lift-up on the gas and loose speed well in advance. On turns and curves I'm mildly aggressive and usually touch the brakes, downshift and accelerate to start the car's rotation into the turn. So my braking isn't critical and most common brands will perform adequately. My other concerns were dust and smoothness of the grip. Anyhow, I found decent deal on a kit with F&R Brembo rotors and ceramic pads for $563+tax. It also came with new wear sensors NewParts . I ordered new caliper bolts and shims from FCP Euro. My plan was just to do the work before spring at my leisure and flush the brakes at the same time. But once I got started I was having so much fun I got it done fairly quickly. Hardest part was getting off my frozen rear 15mm spacers. Also bought a set of rotor screws but I really didn't need them since my old ones came out with no drama. Afterwards went out to seat the pads and test everything on the Interstate during very light traffic. Did 5 or so emergency stops from 70MPH and everything felt great and predictable. I've only put about 500 miles on so far and I'm happy. No squeal or dust.

As far as I can determine the Akebono website indicates they only do rear pads for 2010 Boxster . I have them on front of 2007 CS and am very pleased although the 2.5” spring retainers did not work with their pads however the older 3.5” ones did. Got the 3.5” ones from AutoZone for about $10.

Yeah, the Akebono site says only the rears, and only on S, which is clearly incorrect (since we've established that S and non-S are the same). Yes, I know that you need different hardware kit for the fronts, but if I can use them, then that would be great. Yours is a 987.1 , so I want to be sure that works on 987.2 as well, but from what I saw on the other thread, they should.

Another Point of reference for you: I use Hawk ceramics when I'm not at the track (which is obviously most of the time). The stopping power is comfortable for both my wife and I driving thru the mountains of Colorado, but I wouldn't say they are low dust. Low/medium/high dust is a relative term in my opinion. Comparted to the stock Porsche Sport pads, yes, they are much lower dusting. Compared to my Jeep JLUR, they are high dusting. This is comparing only the amount of dust and not brake performance. The residue from these pads is a light brown and it is fairly easy to clean off the wheels. Would I buy them again.........probably. I wouldn't mind trying a set of EBC ceramics however. My 2-1/4 bits.

On my MB E350 which is my daily, I recently installed Powerstop rotors with Akebono pads . It’s a very good combination for keeping dust low. While Akebono sets a very high standard for ceramic brakes, as a general rule ceramic brakes create far less dust than semi-metallic. And the dust that is created is lighter in color. The downside is that ceramics don’t perform quite as well. But in my opinion for normal driving, ceramics perform well enough. I have about 8000 miles on my Powerstop rotors and they still look good. They are both slotted and drilled. For street driving with my 987.2 I use the Hawk HPS 5.0’s. They are substantially better than the Textars. They perform better and produce less dust. But it’s still more dust than a ceramic. Since I drive my Cayman aggressively sometimes, I will probably not go ceramic with it. It also helps that I have black wheels so the dust is not as visible.

I ended up getting Sebro slotted rotors and Textar pads for now. The notification on the dash is annoying, and I don't have time to deal with the finer points of using the Akebonos. In addition, after further reading, I saw many recommending against ceramics because they don't stop as well as stock. Granted, I'm not a racer, but I also had a few sudden stop situations (idiots in trucks) recently that made me very happy for my existing brakes, so I figured let's not degrade their performance just to save a little dust. Also, FCP didn't want to recommend the Akebonos since they weren't a perfect fit... and, like I said, I thought I had time to deal with the issues but I ended up getting busy, so I figure just keep things simple. I may tie-away my sensors, as they are not very helpful. They are amazingly inconsistent - sometimes the notification comes up when I start the car (manual trans, so I'm on the brake after all), sometimes after a while, and sometimes I don't get any notice at all. In addition, the pads have a good deal of life left on them, so why am I being warned so soon?! I mean, I expect I have months to go, yet it's complaining now... and the manual says you need to address this "immediately"... Thanks for the help everyone. Maybe the next time around I'll do the Akebonos after all... but for now, it's stock...

Did the first brake job on the Boxster . New pads all around (Textars for now, as I couldn't get a firm answer on alternatives - not a racer, but I did like the idea of low dust from Akebonos... but they don't list direct matches for the 987.2 . Maybe next time.) New Sebro slotted rotors on the front (rears were fine). New hardware and bolts. FCP made it easy to source and everything went together perfectly. FWIW, I did the job because the wear sensor alarm was popping up intermittently. Some days I could drive without it showing up at all, most others it would show up at random times during the drive. It was kinda annoying because it was so inconsistent. What's more, there was no information about how urgent the issue is... the manual says "immediately" but I checked the pads through the wheel and they seemed like there was plenty of life left... still, I figured, let's just get it done soon. For those interested, the pads had plenty of life left. The fronts were the ones getting close to the end, and you can see the "worst" pad here: As you can see, plenty of life left versus new (on the right). The warning seems VERY premature, IMO. Even after pulling off all the sensors, they all showed continuity between the pins, so there must be a broken wire, but not clean break, so it's intermittent. Although I replaced the front sensors (left the old ones in the rear, as they were fine)... I may still use the old parts to make jumpers in the future... but at least I know not to worry when the light turns on. I forgot to take a pic of the new rotor installed. I could take a picture of it through the wheel, but the wheels are crazy dirty, so I didn't want to have that distraction, haha! Still, here's a pic of the rear with the new pads installed: Having done brakes on many other cars, I will say the job is VERY easy. SO nice to see a properly engineered system with clear access to the caliper bolts. All I needed was a T55 Torx and 10mm socket for the caliper... and everything came off quick and easy with no struggle... so nice. Not bad for a 13 year old car! I also thought I might need a pad separator tool, but I didn't, as a simple channel-lock did the job: The pads moved easily with this method. Only thing to be aware of - if you don't have a pad on the other side, those pistons will move out as you do this. Just put something in the way (I held a screwdriver there) or even the new pad and that will keep it from happening. I also love how easily the pads can be replaced without removing the caliper. The fronts needed removal because the antivibration plate (the thing with the two cylinders on it) was stuck to the old pads... looks like the anti squeal grease they used there before ended up sticking. I didn't use any on reinstallation. The rears didn't have these plates at all (is that normal?). Either way, the brakes are smooth a quiet right now, so I don't care... For reference, I used these videos to prepare for the job: My only comments beyond what was said there is: 1) You shouldn't need to remove/replace brake fluid unless there's a problem. Ideally, you fill it properly when the pads are new, and then the level would drop as they get used. Ideally you shouldn't add fluid unless you trip a low sensor, of course. With that, assuming you're not leaking fluid, you shouldn't have to remove/top-off after the change. This has been my practice with all my previous cars. 2) As I mentioned above, there was an antivibration plate on the fronts. Don't know if they're supposed to be there for the rears. I didn't have them on the rears... and I didn't use anti-squeal on any pads. Never have on any of my cars. All seems quiet right now. The anti-vibe pad may stick to the pad (as they did on my fronts)... I just pried them off with a screwdriver, wiped them up, and put them back. Without antisqueal, they should allow the pads to slide in/out easily without removing the caliper. But if the pads are sticking, then pull the caliper - it's really easy. 3) I jacked up the car in the rear by lifting under a large metal brace there, which allowed me to put a stand under the jacking point. On the front, there is no exposed brace like this, so I lifted at the jacking point and put a stand under the control arm near the ball joint. I left both the stand and jack engaged, so the jack was really more of a backup... Not sure what else to say. It's a very easy job with the right tools. Much easier than other cars I've worked on! When I come across some more money (or just on the next change) I may try the Akebonos (with sensor jumpers since the sensors don't fit with them, from what I've read).

It's been about a month since the brakes were done with the Powerstop kit from eBay.. here is the promised report. The brakes work fine.. Equal in braking to the originals, perhaps with a tiny bit more initial bite - they feel quite good. There is still a "knock" when I reverse after using the brakes to stop - I believe it's from the rear pads moving in the calipers. Doesn't cause any issues, it's really only noticeable when I back out of the garage with the top down - the walls refect the noise and top down there's nothing to stop me from hearing it. Harmless. The new brakes seem to work equally as well as the original equipment brakes that were on it. The rotors were described by my mechanic as being "identical" to the ones he took off (minus the rust on the hub I guess..) The calipers received a coating of black high-temperature-paint. They look quite nice, but I haven't gotten around to putting the PORSCHE decals on them yet. They're sitting in an envelope in the garage. The new stainless hardware looks nice against the black calipers. Brake dust isn't awful - perhaps a bit less than the original pads. Overall - satisfied. I can recommend the Powerstop kit for everyday use - and the FCP-Euro hardware kit.

Looks like a satisfyingly brake job. Just a couple thoughts based on your write up. 1) Both the front and back brakes do indeed have shims to help with NVH. But many of us don't use them as it is easier to swap pads without them in the way. Like yourself, in my experience there is no noise associated with removing them. But if there were NVH, I would guess that a bit of brake lube would be a first step in addressing the noise while reinstallation of the shims would be the last step. 2) A lot of commentary about those pesky sensors. If you are doing brakes yourself, you can certainly make visual inspections of the brake pad wear. Tie off those silly sensors and eliminate an unnecessary variable. 3) These cars have fantastic brakes which as you mentioned are super easy to service. One of the many things impressive with the 987/997 platform where performance is maximized yet maintenance is a breeze. 2)

Thanks for the update on the shims. I figured they must be on the rears, but I didn't have them there. Like you said, I'll probably remove them on the next go around. For the sensors, I probably don't need those either, but now that I have them, and they're FCP warranteed, I may just keep them. Thanks for the updates!

For those interested, I finally got the non-app-specific Akebonos installed on the front of my 987.2 (2010). Check out my thread and pictures here: https://www.planet-9.com/threads/ak...-non-s-2010-front-wheels-and-or-a-pictorial-on-how-to-just-replace-pads.255829/