"996 Performance Brake Pads"

I'm looking to upgrade my brake pads before my next track day. In reading through previous posts Pagid pads seems to be a popular choice. I found a set of "996 Performance Brake Pads" on the Suncoast website and was wondering if anyone has experience or comments about these. They are $50.00 more than stock pads and $200.00 less than the price of a full set of Pagids. Link: http://e-partssales.com/Merchant2/me...Code=996brakes Thanks!

porsche does offer perfomance pads for the 996 i dont have the pn on hand though

Splurge & get the RS-19's. It'll be some of the best money you ever spent.

Curious if the RS-15 wouldn't be a better pad for normal every day driving. I was just looking over the compound descriptions on the following link. http://www.paragon-products.com/prod...u2474-rs19.htm

It appears, from your avatar, that you've got a rollbar/cage in your car, so you are serious about the track. If so, you may want to consider something even more radical in a race compound. However, back when I used to do this stuff, I would use a dedicated set of rotors for my track pads and my street pads. Racing pads are tough on rotors; plus I didn't like having a buildup of different compounds on the rotors. But that was on a Corvette and those rotors were quite cheaper. FWIW, I used Performance Friction pads and had good performance out of them. The last was the 01 compound, which were awesome but super super super dusty. As in, the entire side of my yellow car turned black. Really nasty stuff. Michael

I haven't used the RS-15's, so I can't compare them to the RS-19's. The RS-19's are fairly rotor friendly (endurance pads) and are amazing at the track. I keep them on for street driving too. The only real drawback is that they can squeal really badly on the street, but washing the car or bedding them in again (which I always do on the way to the track) gets rid of that for awhile.

Guys, thanks for the feedback. Michael, thanks for specifically talking about the Performance Brake Pads. What would be your choice (fr & rr) for a "track only" set up? Patrick

Patrick, A couple of other things to think about. Your car comes with a lot of front brake bias. It will brake much better on the track if you shift the bias to the rear by using a higher friction pad in back. We use Oranges in front and Blacks in back. Maybe we will try Blacks in front and Greys in back next year. Also, all of these pads generate a lot more heat than your stock pads. Make sure you are using high temp fluid. ATP, SRF or something similar. If you are on a big brake track you should also think about mods for cooling them. Finally, make sure you have the ability to bleed your brakes at the track. Don't temp fate going out with a mushy peddle. Jim

I would have to say "what Jim said". He's right on the money (although I'm less familiar with the bias front/rear than he is). I've been out of the track thing for several years now, so I'm not current on what pads and what compounds are available. You gotta remember the physics behind braking - you are changing energy (forward motion) into heat. The benefit of a "racing" pad compound is that it can handle the higher heat that will make a "street" compound gas up and fade away. But all of this heat has to go somewhere, and that's going to be in the rotors and the calipers. You need some air to help cool the rotors and you need to have the fluid that can handle the heat. The beauty of the Porsche is that it is a piece of cake to bleed the calipers (and change the pads). Don't buy any fancy brake bleeder either - just find a buddy at the track to pump the pedal for you a couple of times. Once you get good at it, you can do both fronts in 5 minutes (faster if you can do it without removing the wheels). That was the one advantage of the clamshell hood on my C4 Corvette. And remember - high temperature racing pads do not work until they get HOT. Make sure to heat them up before any attempts at high speeds stops, and do not use them on your daily driver. When they are cold, basically, you have no brakes. Which sucks. HTH, Michael

I appologise if it appears I am hijacking here, but what would be the best combination for normal everyday driving? The comment from JimB about adjusting the braking bias is very interesting, and I'd like to give that a try. One thing I've noticed is something that MJBird993 just mentioned, and that being certain brake pads need be warmed up first. My 01 Turbo braking is a disappointment to me at the moment. The rotors are in great condition as well as the pads, but when I first take off or when the brakes have no been used for a while, the stopping power is terrible...our Toyota will toss you thru the window if not careful...I cannot say that for my Turbo. Thanks in advance.