New front brakes - What to buy?

[Jamesp]

My current front rotors on my S are toast. The brake light is not on yet, but the front rotors have about a 0.030 to 0.050 lip at the outer edge. Any words of wisdom on replacing the front rotors? OEM?, Stop Tech? Disc Italia? How about pads?

[Flavor 987S]

Originally Posted by Jamesp

My current front rotors on my S are toast. The brake light is not on yet, but the front rotors have about a 0.030 to 0.050 lip at the outer edge. Any words of wisdom on replacing the front rotors? OEM?, Stop Tech? Disc Italia? How about pads?

Buy OE Porsche pads and rotors from Sunset Porsche. New wear sensors too.

About:

$310 rotor set
$140 pads
$40 sensors

[Topless]

Brake equipment choice really depends on how you drive the car. Porsche OEM components are top quality and if your car is mostly street driven this is a good way to go. Texar pads and aftermarket Balo rotors offer good quality at a lower price.

If you run track events regularly you may want higher heat range pads. Hawk Blues are a popular choice, Pagid orange are a little higher with Raybestos ST-43 being the highest heat range pad. More $$$ for extreme high-heat pads.

Lots of choices.

[mnc-i]

You can't go wrong using original equipment (OE) parts.

I recommend you price the OE rotors and pads via Pelican Parts and other Porsche specific parts suppliers. Then check out RockAuto to see what the exact same parts cost from them and also the no-name brand parts for rotors and pads.

I replaced all four rotors and pads on my 99 Boxster for under $200.00 to include a brake parts kit (new retainer clips, bolts, fasteners, etc.) from Pelican Parts. I purchased the rotors and pads from RockAuto.

Of course, you have much better brakes on a Boxster S than what I have on a 2.5L Boxster so your costs will be higher.

I am most proud of the fact that I did the brake job myself. The cost savings on parts and labor was just icing on the cake.

Good Luck!

Just my two cents.

MNC-I

[lkchris]

My main vehicle is a Diesel Mercedes GL, a 5000 lb plus SUV, and I can mail order genuine front rotors from a Mercedes dealer for $57.92 each plus freight.

I've a hard time concluding that genuine Porsche rotors at around $150 each mailordered are of much higher quality if at all.

I just installed Zimmermanns on my 2001 Basic as I'm used to the gray coating thing and like the fact they're produced in Sinsheim where I've toured the ultra cool museum.

I believe I could have gotten cross-drilled Zimmermans so my Basic would look almost as cool as an S but didn't.

Otto Zimmermann Bremsscheiben GmbH -

The Porsche rotors and pads were significantly easier to change than the Mercedes and each Porsche pad gets a sensor while only one of the four Mercedes pads does.

[RandallNeighbour]

I like Zimmerman rotors myself over factory because I can get cross drilled for less money compared to my base boxster's solid discs.

I put Stop Tech on my BMW and the ceramic pads they sell are freaking LOUD and squeaky all the time, even in the hot summer months. Zero dust though. That's the only upside.

But be sure to get zinc plated hats if you go with Zimmerman or they'll go rusty if you don't paint them.

I'm now a big fan of EBC red stuff pads. Very grippy, LOW DUST, and they don't make noise if you smear enough of the copper goop on the back of the pad before you slip it into the caliper.

If you don't have a Motive Power Bleeder, this would be a good time to buy one. What a wonderful invention for DIY guys who don't want to bug someone to pump the brakes for them...

[healthservices]

For everyday driving I hate oem. I despise OEM, The brakes on the car now are oem, and as soon as time and money allows it I always change to a ceramic. Yes they take a little longer to seat but OMG the wheels actually stay clean after going around the block for once! Heck I can drive all week and the wheels will stay clean!

Yes I like clean wheels,

No I don't race the car.

No I do not have issues stopping the car.

And Lastly I do not have issues with brake noise.

[Mark_T]

I went with Zimmerman non-drilled coated rotors. Read too many threads about the drilled ones cracking.

Oem (Brembo) pads on the front, Textar on the rear. No squeal. The fronts get dustier than the rears, but neither are particularly bad.

Braking is superb.

[woodsman]

I'm big on OEM with Porsche's so I bought stock rotors. I hated the brake dust caused by the stock pads so I went with Akebono ceramics. The dust went away but the pads feel numb and harder than before. You won't need new sensors as long as the light is off and you can re-use the anti- vibration pads ( some have run without any successfully). Porsche recommends replacing the caliper bolts with an updated version once they're removed- a triplesquare versus the original allen - those damned engineers!

[Flavor 987S]

All you guys complaining about brake dust need to start using this stuff. $7 at WalMart. Works GREAT:

[lkchris]

Originally Posted by woodsman

Porsche recommends replacing the caliper bolts with an updated version once they're removed- a triplesquare versus the original allen - those damned engineers!

Triple square (XZN) or TORX?

[woodsman]

Originally Posted by lkchris

Triple square (XZN) or TORX?

I don't recall- do you know?

[lkchris]

Originally Posted by woodsman

I don't recall- do you know?

ECS Tuning says they offer Genuine Porsche and they're TORX.