Brake pads and DEs

[jmatta]

I also agree to purchase a set of dedicated race pads, but be sure to purchase a set for all four wheels. Leaving street pads on the rear, with front race pads, gives a terrible imbalance in bite and could cause you to loose control of the car in heavy braking conditions. I've seen actual situations where the car has swapped ends and in speaking to the driver after the incident, it was determined pads were mismatched with no brake bias to compensate for the difference in grip level.

I've used Pagid Orange for years, with great results on my various 911s; I don't track the Boxster, other than to perform exhibition runs.

[insite]

Originally Posted by jmatta

I also agree to purchase a set of dedicated race pads, but be sure to purchase a set for all four wheels. Leaving street pads on the rear, with front race pads, gives a terrible imbalance in bite and could cause you to loose control of the car in heavy braking conditions.

i disagree. when you add more braking to the front axle, comparatively LESS braking is required at the rear axle. race pads up front & street pads in back is okay, but the REVERSE is not okay.

under heavy braking, the nose dives and the rear end of the car begins to lift. the loss of weight over the rear axle means that the rear wheels are comparatively easy to lock up; this is why brakes are bigger up front. with street tires & OEM pads, the front axle is responsible for about 70% of braking. with race tires and race pads, it's more like 90%. this means that as you add grip / braking capability to the front, a REDUCTION in bias at the rear is required.

that having been said, the boxster is heavily front biased from the factory to help it cope safely with all weather conditions. if you're running a DE on a dry track, running race pads at all four corners will get you a bit more rear bias, allowing you to better use all 4 tires to slow you down.

as a rule of thumb, too much front bias will lengthen your braking distance. too much rear bias will make the car very squirrely under braking and can cause sudden oversteer while trail braking into a corner.

[Topless]

If you do a lot of track days you will surely run into brake issues at some point. Smoked pads, pad fade, boiled brake fluid, gummed rotors, warped rotors, bias issues, etc. Over the years I have gone through the trial and error process: run stock Porsche pads, Mintex, Pagid Orange, Pagid Black, Pagid Yellow RS19, Raybestos ST-43, Porsche rotors, Balo rotors, Zimmerman rotors, Porsche Fluid, ATE fluid, Motul fluid.

My current favorite setup:
Plain Jane Zimmerman rotors $80ea
Rayestos ST-43 Pads $250/set
Motul 600 brake fluid $16/pt
Porsche 997GT3 brake ducts $20/set

This is not a scientific study in any way, just the only setup that has never let me down. I change fluid twice a year and change pads when pad material approaches the metal backing thickness. I have explored different bias setups and just prefer using the same pad compound on all four corners. The ST-43 pads are a fully competition pad that last forever with no heat issues ever. They are a little intense for street use and will easily overpower a set of front 205 street tires quickly invoking ABS. They also squeal a bit around town when cold. With a set of comp tires running deep into braking zones on a hot day (95F) they are flawless.

Hopefully someone will find this useful.

[MikenOH]

Originally Posted by Topless

If you do a lot of track days you will surely run into brake issues at some point. Smoked pads, pad fade, boiled brake fluid, gummed rotors, warped rotors, bias issues, etc. Over the years I have gone through the trial and error process: run stock Porsche pads, Mintex, Pagid Orange, Pagid Black, Pagid Yellow RS19, Raybestos ST-43, Porsche rotors, Balo rotors, Zimmerman rotors, Porsche Fluid, ATE fluid, Motul fluid.

My current favorite setup:
Plain Jane Zimmerman rotors $80ea
Rayestos ST-43 Pads $250/set
Motul 600 brake fluid $16/pt
Porsche 997GT3 brake ducts $20/set

This is not a scientific study in any way, just the only setup that has never let me down. I change fluid twice a year and change pads when pad material approaches the metal backing thickness. I have explored different bias setups and just prefer using the same pad compound on all four corners. The ST-43 pads are a fully competition pad that last forever with no heat issues ever. They are a little intense for street use and will easily overpower a set of front 205 street tires quickly invoking ABS. They also squeal a bit around town when cold. With a set of comp tires running deep into braking zones on a hot day (95F) they are flawless.

Hopefully someone will find this useful.

I put in a set of those last year and at Mid-OH I couldn't really tell any difference running stock 987 rotors, motul 600 + carbotech Xp8's all around with Kumho XS tires

Went to VIR this fall using Nitto NT -05's and was amazed --considering the higher speeds--that I never had one issue with the brakes for 3 days with 4 sessions a day. The brakes were consistently solid when other guys were complaining about brake fade; might have been those $30 ducts

[teamwenz]

Originally Posted by Topless

If you do a lot of track days you will surely run into brake issues at some point. Smoked pads, pad fade, boiled brake fluid, gummed rotors, warped rotors, bias issues, etc. Over the years I have gone through the trial and error process: run stock Porsche pads, Mintex, Pagid Orange, Pagid Black, Pagid Yellow RS19, Raybestos ST-43, Porsche rotors, Balo rotors, Zimmerman rotors, Porsche Fluid, ATE fluid, Motul fluid.

My current favorite setup:
Plain Jane Zimmerman rotors $80ea
Rayestos ST-43 Pads $250/set
Motul 600 brake fluid $16/pt
Porsche 997GT3 brake ducts $20/set

This is not a scientific study in any way, just the only setup that has never let me down. I change fluid twice a year and change pads when pad material approaches the metal backing thickness. I have explored different bias setups and just prefer using the same pad compound on all four corners. The ST-43 pads are a fully competition pad that last forever with no heat issues ever. They are a little intense for street use and will easily overpower a set of front 205 street tires quickly invoking ABS. They also squeal a bit around town when cold. With a set of comp tires running deep into braking zones on a hot day (95F) they are flawless.

Hopefully someone will find this useful.

Where can you purchase these

[Topless]

Originally Posted by teamwenz

Where can you purchase these

???
The ducts are available from any Porsche dealer.
The rest can be purchased from Porterfield
http://www.porterfield-brakes.com/

[teamwenz]

I saw Suncoast had the brake ducts but checked Pelican for the rotors and pads and could not find them listed. I have a 2001 Boxster S. You can usually find them for the stock Boxster but not the S. Do you put the ducts on just the front rotors or both front and rear?

[Topless]

Originally Posted by teamwenz

I saw Suncoast had the brake ducts but checked Pelican for the rotors and pads and could not find them listed. I have a 2001 Boxster S. You can usually find them for the stock Boxster but not the S. Do you put the ducts on just the front rotors or both front and rear?

The GT3 ducts go in front. Make sure the stock rear ducts are still in place. Porterfield has your Zimmerman rotors also.