Brakes $1700...

[KRZTACO]

Hi,

Just called my Mechaninc (Hergesheimer Motorsports, Lake Forest CA) and here's what a brake job will cost me:

2000 Boxster S:

Rear Brakes $325 plus tax, (new OEM pads, turn the rotors and clean up the small cross-drilled holes)

OR $640 with new OEM rotors

Same for the front respectively.

Hope this info helps,

KRZ

[aesir]

Why can't the rotors be turned?

[MCR429]

I am going through the same thing right now. I just bought new OEM rotors and pads, front and rear, from ********************************************************************************************. Cost was $542. Porsche dealer wanted to charge me 1200 EUR~ $1600 to do it. I found an awesome site on doing boxster brakes yourself. Here's the link.

http://www.bombaydigital.com/boxster/projects/brakes/

The guy has step-by-step instructions with color-coded pictures. Idiot proof.
I went with the Zimmerman rotors and Textar pads which are both German manufacturers of OEM parts. I was going to get Pagid pads, but their German sales rep said that for legal purposes, he recommended that I didn't buy their pads because laws here would find me liable in the case of an accident if I had "race" equipment on my car. He said the original type should be more than sufficient for autobahn useage. Also I did not go with the cross drilled and slotted rotors because they wear the pads more by having a "cheese grater" effect. Mechanics I have talked to here said that Germans normally don't turn their rotors, and their rotors as a rule are not designed as meaty as those of American manufacturers; so, I didn't bother to guage the thickness of mine, and just bought new ones. However, the tolerances are listed on that link above in case you want to see if your rotors are still good.
Hope that helps,

Matt

[KRZTACO]

Originally Posted by aesir

Why can't the rotors be turned?

After turning the rotors a couple times there may not be enough material (rotor gets too thin) to turn them again, so you must buy new ones.

I have 35000 miles on my car so I should be just having my rotors turned and the holes cleaned up on my Boxster S

[Brucelee]

The Eurpeons in particular are using thinner rotors than they used to. Most Porsche dealers do not recommend the turning strategy and that MAY be a money thing. However, my brake guy says not to do it with the Porsche, BMW and MB rotors.

Hmmmm!

[KRZTACO]

Originally Posted by Brucelee

The Eurpeons in particular are using thinner rotors than they used to. Most Porsche dealers do not recommend the turning strategy and that MAY be a money thing. However, my brake guy says not to do it with the Porsche, BMW and MB rotors.

Hmmmm!

Well....If I don't have the rotors turned then it leaves the grooves and pits in the rotor.

mmmm....??????

[Brucelee]

Well, they want you to replace the rotors each time you do the pads. In their mind, this is the ONLY way to do it properly.

Back in the day, turning them 2-3 times was fine, no?

[Intense]

With respect to turning rotors, you can have them turned until they reach the minimum specified thickness set by the manufacturer.

Seriously, the effects of running a rotor past the min thickness are: easier rotor warpage, or if they get too thin, they could break (literally) apart.

I not sure why some mfg recommend changing rotors with each set of pads. But that qould get awfully expensive awfully quickly for me. As I tend to go thru brake pads like water, between track events and auto-x's.

Good luck with your decision.

Oh, as a sidenote, I would avoid cross-drilled rotors if you could. Unless you like the bling bling factor. I'm not gonna get into a technical discussion here. But as an example, I can't think of one race team or series that uses cross-drilled rotors on their cars.