Brakes - stay stock or upgrade?

[23109VC]

anyone know if the 987 rotors ARE lighter?

on the same topic - I was searching online for rotors and found quite a few places that sell zimmerman rotors that come precross drilled. i could get the same "look"but keep OEM sizes,e tc.

my only issue is that I don't know whether it's advised to stay with OEM porsche stuff. on all my other cars i just used gneric stuff and all worked fine.

anyone here swear by the OEM stuff or think that generic zimmerman rotors are fine, and then go with a decent quality pad? i'm not looking for race compound pads or anyting, just a nice pad for street spiritied driving - stock pads or stock equialent generics are probably fine.

any suggestiosn on pad/rotor combos that don't cost an arm and a leg like dealer prices but still perform as well or better?

[Bob O]

I'm a little confused. What are you trying to accomplish? Bigger rotors won't stop you quicker.. they just dissipate heat quicker. Your tires are more important to quicker stopping than bigger rotors. If you're only driving on the street with no track or auto-x time (which you stated), then heat dissipation is no issue for you. I'd stay with oem rotors and mintex redbox, hawk, pagid, axxis, or even oem (except for the dust) pads for the street. All are fine. Some with more or less dust than others. Some with more or less rotor wear than others. But all are good pads.

A 986 to 987 rotor swap, as I understand it, is NOT a straight swap. New calipers and pads would be required. And perhaps other hardware. (I haven't done it but read elsewhere that this is the case... I could be wrong on that) . The stock, straight-from-the-factory brake hardware is world class. For the everyday driving that you state you do, they will never fade, overheat or otherwise lose it. So.. unless you're hitting the abs everytime you brake, and are as a result overheating the pads and getting fade, I'm not sure what "upgraded" brakes will do for you. (Track time not included! My second day ever at the track the stock brakes started fading. I upgraded my track pads to Pagid Orange with stock rotors. Never a hint of a fade since on many many track days.)

And yes.. if you haven't changed your brake fluid you need to... like right now!! ATE Blue or Gold wold be a good choice. About $14 on line from several vendors. Brake fluid is hygroscopic (it absorbs water, which is very very bad for brake fluid since its non-compressible (water that is). Pus it, water, boils at 212F...at which point you have no brakes. And since the temp of the fluid in the calipers gets quite a bit above 212 F during braking...not good..at all). Porsche recommends changing the fluid every two (? could be every) years. (I change mine twice a year so I don't know the recommended change interval, other than its at least once every two years). Change your brake fluid.

Bob

This seems to be the brake question day on the forum!