Brake Pads: OEM OR After market???

Well the brake light lit up and the pads need to be changed. What are your thoughts: OEM or A.M.?? After market: any squeaking, better stopping (yes,no) Manufactures that you like Anybody change to SS lines on P-cars? I have always installed SS lines on my 4x4 projects Roters: what are your thoughts, I have had the car a 4 months it has 47k on it now and I got it with 41k.... between my wife and I we will hit 100k by next year... So should I have resurfaced or just change pads? Back ground the car stops nice no pulling and no squeaking, but I do not have any knowledge of the first 40k Jerry

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What do you use the car for? DD or DE/DD? You won't need SS lines or performance brakepads or high temp fluid unless you do more than putt the car around. As for the rotors, if you have a significant lip you must replace them. There are multiple discussions here and on Renntech. I believe 26.6 is the minimum thickness, resurfaced or not. -td

td873 I plan on 10 D.E. this year ( thats my goal) , also DD...we have three cars, but one of us choose the p-car everyday Jerry

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I DE about the same and use OEM high-perf pads (similar to Pagid Blue). They do have more stopping power than stock pads, but they squeak. Not bad, but noticeable as a DD. You should also upgrade fluid to something like ATE Gold if you bump pads. I don't run SS lines and haven't had a problem yet. I don't think you will need them. The advice given to me was to learn to swap pads (as it is an easy DIY) and use stock pads for DD and swap to high-perf before you go to a DE. Seems like good advice. You should measure your rotors to be sure you have enough room to resurface. [I would doubt this is even a workable option on a P-car] A simple test is to run your fingernail up to the top of the rotor - if you catch your fingernail on the lip, it might be time for new rotors. If your fingernail just rides a small hump, you should be OK, but ask your shop to check the thickness just to be sure. Keep in mind you can only lose .7 mm on a side before you need new rotors. Lastly, 10 DE's is 20 days of track - which is somewhere between 50-80 hours of on-track time. You'll definitely run through a set of rotors in there. And a couple (if not 3) sets of pads. At least one set of tires. And two brake flushes. -td

I saw a lip today when I was looking at the pads...my wife has the car now, will dubble check in the morning. So as soon as you have a lip the way you described then I probably need new rotors? If so were should I get them? as well as the two sets of pads...i like your Idea I will run two types Lastly, 10 DE's is 20 days of track - which is somewhere between 50-80 hours of on-track time. You'll definitely run through a set of rotors in there. And a couple (if not 3) sets of pads. At least one set of tires. And two brake flushes. Shhhh dont tell the wife I already have two days down and am mapping out the rest of them I am tempted to look for DE tire set up but not sure...the DE I just went on, I was happy I had the street tires on do to the wet weather, and I am looking to hit a Dec. 21 date

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I use the fingernail check between DEs and during the off season. When they lip badly, you'll probably need new ones. Your shop should be able to let you know if/when you need new rotors. I use the Ruf shop here in Texas, and they don't steer me wrong. I would suspect that a dealer would be able to do the same. I'm sure others have experience in your area as well. -td

go for OEM brakepads......before I had to change mine I never had any noise problems...NOW my P sounds like a freakin' bus when stopping. I used Mintek because they produce less brake dust...what a mistake that was!!!

I don't track (yet) but did replace OEM pads at 37k miles even though they still had 30-40% wear left. I did not replace rotors but will have to after these pads wear out. I have no brake squeal at all w/ OEM. I would say you'll eat up pads and rotors with 10-20 track days a year so the OEM is most likely the wrong choice for you.

http://www.sharkwerks.com/ With the miles on your car I would expect that you are on the 2nd or 3rd rotors. There are many choices in parts. Try the link above, they are close to you,I think. Do it quickly as the light comes on when the pads are down to 10%. With that the brakes will get hot and wear faster. Do not count of getting the rotors turned.

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I also use the OEM sport pads... functionally similar to Pagid Blue, and from what I can tell from others, MUCH less squeaky. A good alternative, especially for a DD (I don't even change 'em out b/w DE's). 4-Large, 10 DE's definitely require high-performance pads - even if you have to listen to the squeaking. The reason is safety, not performance. I don't think that sport pads give you better braking power per se (at least not at my level of competence!) Think about it, the braking power comes much more from the total force against the rotors vs. the compound used in the pad. More calipers and bigger calipers increase the area of that force, and therefore result in more braking power. I'm not sure if the physics of better pads effects either the force per caliper or the area to which the force is applied. More importantly, the further you depress the brake pedal, the greater the force applied, until sooner or later that force is greater than your tires' ability to maintain traction... then ABS kicks in. So even if you could effect force against the rotor with a brake pad, all you're doing is making your foot work less because the tire is still going to lose grip at the same point. (all things equal). The real reason you want sport pads is to prevent brake fade. As your rotors, brake fluid, and pads heat up during the course of a track session, the heat leads a degradation of the entire brake system. Sport pads and high-performance brake fluid are simply more chemically resistant to heat, and therefore are able to maintain a consistent level of friction of pad-to-rotor. For that reason, you will notice the difference between basic and sport pads only towards the end of the run session. For the same reasons as above, track tires become a logical next step at some point. Once you have learned to get the most out of your brakes, and any more aggressiveness on the part of your foot leads to ABS engagement, a move to grippier tires effectively gives you more "headroom" for even further aggressive braking without losing traction or engaging ABS. I'm guessing that you can go pretty far with better rubber before the brakes on these cars become the weakest link. Since your wife drives the car also, just tell her that extra cost in pads and fluid are for her safety, because yesterday's DE can lead to degradation of brake fluid and pads during tomorrow's commute to work! Not sure if anyone else has had this problem, but the over time, the heat from repeated laps and DE's burned my brake sensors to the point of failure. This caused a false positive indicator on my brake warning light. (No sensor signal is interpreted as requiring new pads). Rather than continue to have my brake warning light come on all the time, I just had the sensors taken out of the loop. (Besides, those sensors are there for people who drive their car for over 40K without even realizing that they have brake pads!).

ervtx Thats is what happened to me, I set the car on the lift, an found that the pads were fine but one sensor was melted What is the dif. from oem and oem sport pads?? I think I will do 2 or 3 more DE on street tires then move up to two sets, and at that time I probably will switch out pads at the same time, I have a lift in the garage and so it is fast install, or change before and after events.... plus It will force me to check the car out before and after each event

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oem pads = Porsche stock pads oem sport pads = Porsche pads that use the same compound as Pagid Blue. Minor differences, but functionally equivalent. Yeah, I did the same, except that I changed the pads out after just 1 DE. Remember, you want high-perf pads for the DE you are about to run, to prevent brake fade, not simply because your old pads need replacing. Even brand new, the stock pads will fade on you - and hopefully not at the end of a high-speed straight that you had been able to handle on every other prior lap!

ervtx Where did you get your pads at? thanks Jerry

I use OEM for street and Pagid Yellow for track. The pagids are loud but work great. If you are on street tires, I would suggest the Pagid Orange. The yellows would be pretty aggressive for the tire compound. I have only got 3 track days max out of a stock set of pads. I guess the main thing I found was proper cooling is going to make them last longer and fade less. After I did the GT3RS brake ducts, M pads started lasting longer and fade a lot less. DPS motorsports is where I get all of my pagid stuff from.

JC3D where did you get the GT3RS ducts, those sound like a good addition Jerry

From Suncoast. That was one of the best mods I did all summer, first time using it at laguna which is very hard on brakes, no fade whatsoever.

I saw it on sun coast were do you put that thing

They clip right onto your control arms. You should see the difference in sizes compared to your stock ones. Here's what they look like from the front of the car: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2351/...abd9cc0539.jpg You can see how much air they scoop up from underneath.

So they grab air from under the car.

from the front and underneath. If you look where your control arms are, they hang right off of those.

Are you running a lower suspension...and have you had any problems I am running pss9

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Dealer (probably the best place to pick 'em up since they are factory Porsche).

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Do you think it would make as big a difference on a track with lower-speed straights (less air ducted)? Man I would love to DE at Laguna. Did the Skip 3-day racing school there in the Formula Mazdas, but it must be even better in your own car. Same question as Jerry... GT3 ducts on a lower suspension... Mine is lowered to ROW; PSS9's. I also have GT3 control arms, so my guess is no problemo.