Standard c2 brakes

My 996.1 c2 has new brakes all round when I got it(only on it 1-2000 miles). Unsure of discs but they look like genuine brembos and the pads are textars. I've no idea if these are supposed to be any good but I think they are crap tbh. Pedals decent but they are badly under powered. Fair enough, my last car had a first class set up and I was a bit spoilt with it. Will ferrodo pads or the likes make much difference or do I need to go for big reds? Car might see a track at some stage but I'd like to just have more confidence in the car. I also have a thing for big brakes :grin:

Is this you first 911? Generally the brakes are very good, but you do have to give the pedall a good shove, they don't have a lot of servo assist. MC

Had a few close calls with Abs kicking in and found them very disappointing. Hadn't thought much about upgrading as it's all new front and back but I'm starting to look more at it now. Is it down to the textar pads? Are they cheap rubbish?

Sorry, first 911 yeah. My last car was a p1 Impreza. Fair enough it was slightly lighter, 50kgs at a guess. I fitted 8 pot d2 front calipers and 330mm bells and rotors with ferrodo ds2500 pads and a small 2 pot set up on the rear. Rear brakes half the size of the c2's but they had a lot of feel and literally would've stopped in half the time.

This ^^^ Coming from other cars the 996 brakes feel dead and wooden. Take some time to get used to them and they are really really good, addictively good actually and other road cars start to seem over assisted and lifeless. Textar are the OE Porsche pads - good for normal fast road use I'd say. If you are regularly tracking it then upgrade the pads. There are a few big brake upgrade options if you feel the need, using e.g. cayenne calipers. Have you bled them through? Mine was running ancient fluid when I first got it.

Hi wasz. I'd say the fluids well past it and is on the cards as I'd say I have a few brake pipes to sort. Probably do the flexis at that point. Is the master cylinder a big plus on the standard brakes?

I think the brakes on my 996.1 are terrible too, even compared to my 987.1 Boxster, yet everyone that has driven it says they are typical 996 brakes :nooo: There was a problem recall due to bad servo I believe, mine has had a new servo fitted years ago before I bought it, so in general I think that they are just crappy brakes with no feel, they do the job though, I can get the ABS to kick in so obviously they are working as intended. I`ll be looking to upgrade mine this year as I`m probably going 3.7 Hartech conversion :lol:

Take the car out and give the brakes a workout, empty bypass and do, say, 10x 100mph to 30mph hard decelerations assuming there is plenty of meat still on the pads and the fluid is good. That should be enough for the brakes to give some feedback and improve the braking performance. If the ABS kicks in early it could be down to old tyres/ too much camber or an ABS issue. They really are decent brakes when you get used to them, if you don't use your brakes hard enough then they lose their performance and feel as the pads glaze up. Every time I'm out on a decent run I run the car up towards the redline to give the engine a workout and stamp on the brakes where possible (and power slide out of slower corners if wet but that's not really necessary!) as they love that sort of behaviour and it keeps the car young.

First thing I thought when I bought mine 5 years ago was the brakes are poo. Now the only time I think about brakes is in other cars how over servo'd they are. Never seem to get any real brake fade either when braking hard a lot like you do on most cars.

Brakes on the C2 are exceptional, and I tracked mine numerous times. My passengers (Exige, Caterham, Renault RS, fast Hondas etc owners) all commented the same. My set up were Pagid RS-5, Motul RBF660, (cheap) Pagid discs & HEL brake lines. Take your car out and give the brakes a good work out.

I agree the brakes take some getting used to but are very good. The only Porsche I have owned that had borderline brakes was my 996 turbo but perhaps there was an issue somewhere :?: Ps I have often found that braided hoses make the pedal feel even more lifeless. Maybe just me that though :mrgreen:

There's no beating solid pipework. I hired a transporter the other week. First set of traffic lights and I nearly threw myself through the windscreen. I knew I should have wore my high heels but thought that was only necessary for a tranny.

I don't think it's down to being over servo'd. I don't mind a bit of a work out, especially as it's a weekend toy so I'm all for getting the full experience. The brakes would've been on the list for bigger and better as it's the sort of thing that tickles my balls but I hadn't thought much about it as they are all new. And because of them being new I'll not panic on changing them. I have finally got my ramps finished so I can get my finger out and something done.

I also thought my brakes were poo when I got the car, they looked like they were in pretty reasonable shape, barely any lip and lots of meat on the pads but I replaced the textar pads on there and the discs with new brembo discs and ultimax2 pads and it's now acceptable for my use. Otherwise I was looking at a 356mm d2 6pot kit. https://www.dcperformance.co.uk/subcat/po01/d2-front-big-brake-kits.html

Hi astrix. I had the d2 8 pots on the Impreza. They were first class. The car would nearly stand on its nose. Problem with them, they aren't the best quality item. For a track car, excellent. For the road also excellent but, after a wash they need dried out. If you don't drive the car, they will stick. Can't compare Impreza with 911, apples and oranges and all that and rear brakes on the Impreza were only half what the 911 would have, the feel and the power of the d2's were in a different league. Would I buy them again? If it was a weekend toy then yes. For a daily driver then no. They need a little looking after. But in my experience, brembo subaru compared to d2, no comparison. Smaller, lighter and works twice as well.