2002 3.6 C2 brake options ??

Hi All, My 996.2s brakes feel very poor, ABS kicks in very early and you really have to hit the pedal hard..very little feeling through the pedal. Just bled and replaced the fluid and pads look in great condition. I was going to get a new set of pads and steel lines all round to see if that helps improve feel. What do you guys recommend ?

If you're new to 911s, you do have to push damned hard anyway. If the ABS is kicking in early, it might be down to lack of grip (ie tyres), rather than lack of braking performance.

My brakes felt terrible when I first got my 996 - so I ended up changing all 4 discs and pads for Pagid OEM, stainless lines to caliper (Goodrich) and had the lines rebuilt in solid back to the cylinder. All running Motul RBF fluid. Pedal feel is superb and feels night and day over what was on the car. It's not cheap but certainly some of the best money I've spent on it since owning!

I think you probably need to compare with another 996 and see if yours is normal or not. Under used discs can get rusty on the inner faces reducing their effectiveness but look OK from the outside. A bed in procedure can help if the pads are new or glazed. Read stoptech website white papers A fresh set of pads and discs are thankfully relatively inexpensive, euro car parts are doing a 45% off brakes right now but there 'may' be nothing much wrong with Yours? Unless really cheapo pads had been fitted, unlikely..

Just had another thought, maybe you have track pads fitted which will be rubbish until you get heat in them: try giving the brakes a hammering- the bed in procedure and see how they feel, if they are OK then but then rubbish again the next day from cold you maybe have track pads on..

If the ABS is kicking in then if there is nothing wrong with the ABS itself, it will be a grip issue. Get the alignment checked and make sure you don't have excessive negative camber dialled in (it's good for cornering performance but bad for braking performance). Also, check the condition and age of your tyres. There will be a code associated with the date of manufacture on them which you can look up. Old hard tyres will can lack grip even when they have plenty of tread left. I had the same problem that you described when my car was new to me. I set the geometry correctly and put good new tyres on, with a slightly wider than stock front one, and the braking performance was transformed.

If the ABS is kicking in all the time for no real reason it could be a ABS reluctor ring that's corroded or cracked.

Thanks All. I am.replacing Pads and lines next weekend, I've ordered StopTech Sports, any experience of these?. Fingers crossed that helps

I doubt new flexi lines will make much difference. Stop tech sport are semi track pads and will need a good bedding in procedure to get them functioning properly, cold bite may be worse than standard pads. I'm not sure you were having a problem with brake fade which is what the pads are designed To Help reduce. Would be interested to know how it works out and what pads you had on to start with, part number/manufacturer may still be visible printed on the back plate.. did you inspect the discs inner and outer and do a proper bed in procedure for the current setup?