Replacement Brakes and Discs.

I'm thinking of tackling the replacement of my front and rear discs and pads on my MY 2003 996 C2. I've just had a major service with my local independent and he tells me that they are "unserviceable". The braking seems to be ok to me but he says that they'll fail the MOT (June) by visual inspection alone(?). I've always done this sort of job of my run-around cars myself. I'm lead to believe that there are some extra shims in the front brakes and that they need to be fitted exactly right or you'll get brake squeal(?). Can you recommend a make of disc and pad and where to get them from (I'm in south Wales). Will I need to bleed the system afterwards? My independent has quoted me about £300 per axile (+VAT). I'm sure that I could get all the parts for less than £150 and do the job myself.

I use Sebro disks and Textar pads from www.eurocarparts.com . The pads are just the same as the Porsche ones, apart from the packaging, and the disks also seem identical. You would be absolutely amazed at how bad the inner surfaces of the rear disks can get without being able to feel it through the pedal. Also, the braking performance doesn't seem to suffer greatly. Take a look and see how bad yours are - you might be shocked. There are some DIY references on the technical pages which have nice photos, and I'm sure that if you have done this sort of thing before and know what you are doing you won't have any real problems. The caliper bolts can be a bit of a pig to get out if the previous maintainer hasn't greased them with high temperature grease, so it might be worth having a couple on hand just in case. That's if you are re-using the bolts - there was a thread recently about the merits of this if you do a search. Edit: You shouldn't need to bleed the system afterwards, but be careful to remove any excess fluid from the master cylinder reservoir when you push the calipers pistons in. Good luck!

As Richard says plus: 1. the discs you get might not have the 'hats' painted like the OPC ones. Worth doing yourself before you replace them if this it the case as they rust and look a bit grotty. 2. my 986 didn't have the shims fitted so I had to replace the pads without them. Used some copperslip = no squeal. You might be able to reuse yours if they aren't stuck to the previous set of pads. I don't think they are that expensive though.

Thanks both! I've had a look at the Eurocar parts web-site; it looks like they sell the discs individually, in which case I think the bill might be around £350 mark(?). This would be for discs and pads for front and back. Does this sound about right? I could paint the "hats" in Hammerite smooth. Thanks again.

Adrian, I would get a second opinion; my OPC had told me my discs would fail MOT as they were corroded (are yours corroded or the holes are cracking?) but since they were braking fine, I challenged them and put them through MOT and they passed. Got the disc changed at an Indi a couple of months after when the pads needed replacing.

Hi Kish. I may well go along to my MOT place and ask them to have a look at the discs. They are corroded - especially on the inner surfaces. I've only done 2.5K miles in the car in the last year, which is probably a contributing factor. Also, I never used to dry the brakes off after washing the car until I read about it on this forum - a big mistake. I think that most of the damage was done then - especially as I have not been doing the mileage to polish them up in between washes! I can only learn from this and hope that the replacement discs aren't made out of cheese - like the original ones and that they don't rot quite as quickly! Cheers.

Hi Richard. I've priced out all the gear from Eurocar Parts; It comes in at £375 - all in. This doesn't include any shimms or spring kits. I asked the guy (who was very knowledgeable about 996s) and he said that there was no need for any other parts other than discs and pads. Does this price sound right to you? Do you think that I'm going to need any extra shimms/springs? I don't want to get half way through the job and discover that I'm short of something! Could you let me have any tourque settings or any other info that you think might be useful? Thanks (as always) for your help! Adrian.

(Hope Richard doen't mind me replying, but) You can almost guarantee some of the anti-rattle pads/shims will disintigrate when you take the old pads out, so you really ought to have these spare (they are suppose to glue on anyway!) The caliper bolts are supposed to be stretch bolts, so these should be replaced as well. (Actually I see Richard mentions this above) Apart form that - it's easy... (famous last words!)

I don't think that's the case Mark, there was a thread on this a while back and Tim Court reckons:- £375 sounds about right from Eurocarparts. The instructions to fit can be found here http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=231501 Shouldn't take you more than 1.5-2 hours per axle (pads and disks) I never bother buying shims I've never bothered buying new sensors I've never bought new bolts (although Porsche state you should replace them) Wheel bolts need to be torqued at 96ft/lb Caliper bolts at 63ft/lb Good luck, should be a doddle.

Cheers Rodney, thats very useful info! Eurocar Parts don't seem to do the bolts for the calipers anyway...? But I'm not going to bother if I don't have to!

The bolts are fairly cheap - about a quid each - so have a couple of spares ready just in case.

You can get the bolts from Exeter OPC, 10% forum discount, post free if required.

I've noticed the new Porsche discs seem to corrode more than others- my 996 seems to slightly 'seize' on overnight, even if slightly damp (I'm always careful to get some heat in the discs by an accelerate and brake hard routine as I approach my driveway) I had some sebro discs on my 993 which were great and cheap. Tony Wright at Wrightune said they make OE porsche discs. Another option if they're a bit corroded, but there's plenty of wear left in them might be to have them skimmed. Some places can do them in situ.

It's due to the lower chrome content of the disks used after the 993. The disks squeal less, but they are more prone to rust.

Just a quick observation. Copperslip is usually not recommended for vehicles with ABS systems since it can interfere with the operation. A non-metallic grease such as Ceratec produced by Mintex is preferred. Hopes this helps. Regards, Clive

Adrian, I have just done exactly what you plan to do and I did replace all the caliper bolts. This was even after members of this forum said they didn't bother and my local indy said they didn't either. But being a bit of an unlucky so and so I decided to get them and change all of 4 corners. I was very surprised given the location of the bolts just how "new" the old bolts looked when exracted. So in hindsight if I do it again I won't bother with the new bolts.

Hi Ron. Thats very helpful, thanks! I take it that the job went ok? Is yours a 996 facelift too? Did you find it difficult at all. (I've changed discs on plenty of other cars in the past). Did you need to use any shimms or spring kits with the pads or just copper-ease? Thanks again. Adrian.

I got mine from design911.com. I used patern disks - cant remeber which but they are good and original pads etc. Design911 will do you the whole kit and have a special offer on at present. I then changed them myself - less than 2 hours. The car is so well built it is not a bad job. Hope this helps Robert

if you ask for sebro discs the hats will be painted grey HTH