Driving Impressions: 996 Brake Upgrade

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well, i put my 996 front calipers and rotors on the car and took it to the track. WAY, WAY better.

on the street, my base boxster brakes seemed great to me. i could stop quickly, pedal feel was good, etc. On the track, though, i definitely experienced fade. much of that could be due to the fact that i used aggressive street pads rather than race pads, but i got fade for whatever reason. this prompted the upgrade.

two weeks ago, i threw the 996 brakes on the car w/ textar pads. while the limiting factor for braking distance is of course tire grip, the ability of a braking package to allow the driver to modulate short distacnes should not be overlooked. i consistently beat my boxster braking distances by about eleven feet from 60mph (interta based measurement). the pedal feel was much, much better.

then, i purchased a set of Hawk HT-10 race pads and installed them. i bedded them in on a deserted road. i then took them to the track. WOW. my first hot lap of the day was faster than my best previous time at that track. i had so much more confidence in the pedal. right about the time when my old brakes would start to fade is when these brakes started to get REALLY, REALLY good. i had a buddy drive my car to compare to his. he was shocked; he kept braking WAY early.

i would say that the rotors / calipers accounted for about 50% of the improved track performance while the pads accounted for the other 50%. also, i removed my dust shields behind the front rotors to help cooling. anyway, if you take your car to the track, i cannot stress enough how big a difference race pads make. this caliper / rotor upgrade is a treat as well. i will post the rear caliper conversion notes when i do that work. there are some pics of the 996 vs. boxster brakes for comparison below. the only difference to the calipers are the larger pad retaining area and the mounting depth. the pistons and calipers are exactly the same other than those differences. the rotors are about an inch larger in diameter and two milimeters thicker.

BASE BOXSTER BRAKES