Who has Composite Ceramic Brakes (PCCB'S)?

I was just wondering how many members of the club have Caymans or Cayman S ' that were delivered with the factory PCCB 's from 2006 to present. If you would like to elaborate on your experiences with them please do! Check out the Poll!

Don't have them, but at times I wish I did...

No but I am working on it

Another no, and I'm not sure I can afford $20k for a rotor change

Nah ... the yellow calipers would clash with my red and black paint scheme

Yes, I do. No issues to date. 34K and still like new.

They are half the cars fun !!

No, but shall I get them next time round? I think yes.

Yup, got 'em. Would not do it again. Big time fluid boiling at DE mid-level driving ability. Best advice to fix that, other than switching to SRF, was to turn OFF the PSM. My driving style is very smooth (so my instructors say) and the PSM is continuously, yet unobtrusively, squeezing the brakes and overheating the pads and then the fluid. The PSM will only allow a certain tolerance of slip angle and will do whatever it thinks it needs to to keep you from exceeding it. For the price -- nope, not again. If I could find some "cheap" iron ones to use for DE's, I would change them. Best, - Mark

Mark sounds like something is wrong, does your car have sport chrono ?

I have about 24,000 miles on mine with no wear on them, not even any score marks! I have never had a problem with any kind of brake fade either even under prolonged hard, spirited driving. Of course, I drive that way with PSM off unless there is water on the road..

Sounds like no sport mode so the PSM must be running in "nanny" mode. Time for a Softronics ECU flash with sport mode upgrade.

Ken, Yes it does has SC and I always ran with it on. The three dealers it has been to remain baffled as to why it has this problem. It has had a new master cylinder and gallons of fluid run through it. It got MUCH better with PSM off, but the pedal was still not solid and hard the way I think it should be at the end of the session. I have ridden with instructors, including one in a stock 2000 Boxster S (Pagid Oranges and Motul and R compounds), and was astonished at how fast they can brake a car. Mine simply will not do that. Beats me... - Mark

Yes that does sound strange, and it sounds like they've replaced some of the likely culprits. Have you had a chance to drive another GT3 with PCCB 's like yours and see if it was different? I've driven the GT3 RS with PCCB 's and it didn't exhibit behaviour like what you described albeit I didn't flog it for an entire session because it was someone else's car. Are there other control units they can replace such as the ABC unit, etc? Maybe one of them is having some sort of issue? Hard to tell. It would be interesting to see if our PCCB 's could be adapted to a Cayman though.

Ken, No, I haven't driven another. There is a Cayman with PCCBs who runs a lot of DEs and is very fast, much faster than I am. He runs stock tires and pads and has no braking problem (he says). (He does go off a lot and crashes now and then...) I have spoken to GT3 guys with PCCBs and they have no problems,either. The only other component in this car left that might be a problem is the ABS controller. I may be able to plead and whine enough at a dealer in Ft. Worth to get it changed as it might be considered a safety problem. As I understand it, GT3s use an entirely different brake controller. It may even be adjustable for F/R bias, but I could be mistaken about that. I have driven two Caymans at the track with regular iron brakes and both of them had soggy pedals, but neither guy complained about them. (This was just driving in the paddock,not at speed) Maybe I just expect too much, but as much as the magazines tout these as indefatigable brakes, that was what I expected to experience. I still think something is wrong in this car but other than the ABS controller, there really is not anything else to replace. Thanks for the thoughts, I do appreciate it. All the best, - Mark

Lads i am trying to find the oem pads for PCCB anywhere? Brakes where fine until i changed pads which i think they are not oem and something is very wrong after today's track day .

Bump. Would appreciate any updates/experience with PCCB 's now that they've been out a couple more years since this thread was started. Would appreciate it if posters could stick to facts or first hand experiences/observations as of late. If I take the jump for a new CR than I would consider PCCB 's therefore the renewed interest. They've also gone down in price, at least in Canabucks, since they were first introduced. What about wear, replacement cost/experience, noise, braking feel, durability, etc.

Now I have them! Expensive, yes, but brilliant. So far I have done 17,000km and I kid you not the rotors look like brand new, less than 0.1mm wear. You can barely tell they are even used! Maybe they will last 3 or 4+ times longer than steel ??? You just dont have to worry about them on the track. No fade, nothing abnormal, well not yet so far. Compare to standard they hardly make any mess on your rims, a major bonus there. People told me they may be too grippy before, but not so, they are just perfect! :banana: :cheers:

I have them. Can't really say how they compare as I've never had the standard brakes. With that being said, I have practically no brake dust, the bite hard at auto-x, and look fantastic behind the wheels. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that they match my yellow gauges and seat belts. :banana:

gts , mine have 15K miles on them, some friends have more. depending on how the car is used the answer to your questions might range from simple to more complex. do you intend to track the car or not? if so, how much and how hard, and what tires would you run?

DE's maybe 4 times a year. Stock rubber or perhaps Pilot Cups at the stickiest. Otherwise spirited road use, mostly on the plains but occasionally in the mountains.:cheers:

Why not ask the question PCCB or not to Cayman R (prospective) owners? In theory I would expect a higher proportion of those people to opt for them. Would be interesting to see exactly how many however.

They're more than welcome to reply also. But for the specific reason that R's haven't even been delivered yet they won't have any experience to report. - and that is what I am specifically looking for.

I have PCCB 's on my Turbo and incomming Boxster . During light driving they have a tendancy to buzz/squeal. A quick stab of the brakes and it goes away. They dust very little durning normal street driving -they don't even look like they wear . The disks are substantially larger in diameter (especially the rears) than regular steels, so they fill up even a 19" rim nicely. You have to be careful w/wheel changes. Any heavy knock on the disk risks cracking it-sometimes not in an obvious way. Use two wheel guides for wheel service-and don't use Goober and Gomer. When buying used, inspect yourself with a magnifying glass (no joke). Bleed procedures are the the same as regular brakes, and they have have 2 bleeders on each front caliper. With heavy track use however, all bets are off. They are a consumable like everything else, only much more expensive than steel rotors. I would be squeamish about changing the pads from stock too. The rotors are just too expensive to replace. If you do get them, be thankfull they are not Ferrari's as they only allow two pad changes before you must replace the rotors- a $20K brake job. Live from Boston BD