More cost effective Brake upgrades ??

[insite]

it's not called trail braking on the street. how about a panic stop in wet weather on a slight bend? the bias is too heavily rear for street OR track. if you do this, it's not a matter of if, but WHEN you will spin (street or track). a brake system is supposed to be balanced. moving the fronts to the back is a dumb idea.

Originally Posted by ekam

Well first of all that's called trail braking. As a novice you're not supposed to have your foot on the brake when you enter the corner anyway. It's an advanced driving technique and definitely not for someone who's not experienced.

That being said, I'm going to do the swap, but don't to what I do. It's bad for you.

[Topless]

Shlim8,

Sounds like you indeed have brake issues. Take your car out to a barren road and do a few full simulated panic stops from 50-0. Your car should go into ABS judder every time with no wheel lock up. If it does not you need some brake work. My car is really set up for track rubber and I get used to threshold braking and very high braking forces. When driving on the street with stock 205mm PS2 tires I get into ABS a lot.

[thstone]

I had a brake situation similar to the OP when I first bought my used Boxster - I'd slam on the brakes at about 50mph and it seemed like the car just didn't want to stop and the ABS wouldn't kick in. I also tried pad break-in runs with no improvement.

I also replaced the tires with Michelin PS2's. Whether PS2 or PS3, the tires should now be fine and giving you all of the grip needed to stop very well.

I decided to start at the obvious and work my way up so the first thing do to was to replace the rotors and pads (I went with Cquence drilled rotors and EBC Redstuff pads but any good rotor and pad would be fine for the street). I also installed the GT-3 brake ducts at the same time (cheap and easy). Didn't touch the fluid or ABS system.

Now I can stop on a dime and as another writer commented, I have to be careful about out-braking the car behind me on the street and worry about getting rear-ended. Also, now if I get on the brakes hard, I can get the ABS to engage and feel the judder.

If this hadn't addressed the issue, then a full brake fluid flush would have been next.

If pads, rotors, and fluid hadn't worked, I'd have taken the car in to a mechanic or dealer for evaluation and see what they recommended.

[shlim8]

thstone, before u did all the mods on your brakes.... did your brakes lock but the abs didn't kick in ? Or the car just refused to stop but brakes didn't lock ? In my case, I think the brakes are working well but the abs has yet to cut in. It does take pretty hard braking to lock the brakes.

[Lightning]

Some people confuse initial "bite" or "grab" with ultimate stopping power because it is very noticeable. The easiest way to increase "bite" on a road car is to increase cold pad friction and rotor diameter. Although it is entertaining (and somewhat reassuring) in dry conditions, too much "bite" can actually be a safety hazard in wet or slick conditions. It is actually more important to have a system with a fairly wide modulation window, rather than on/off like a light switch.

To complicate matters, many race pads have to be warmed up to get to their optimal stopping power, through repeated braking cycles, something that is less frequent in street driving. Some of the best enduro race pads have very low friction in the first application out of the garage (or driveway).

Any good "sport" pad will help a lot on the street, but it will probably be slightly noisier and dustier. Oh well. Also make sure your fluid is properly bled and that the rotors have NO grease on them. If you still have a problem, you might still have a sticky piston.

All the modern Porsches already come with great brakes that have been fade tested well beyond most other car manufacturers (as well as suspensions that are capable of more cornering speed than you could ever safely use on public roads). All the Boxster brakes are made by Brembo, and there are actually VW and Audi guys (and some older Porsche owners) waiting for you to take the brakes off of your car so that they can put it on their cars.

For the street, focus on getting great tires and great pads, and the rest is tweaking.

p.s. As far as putting base model front calipers on the rear, you should listen to insite, as he is a pretty smart guy. It did not occur to me that both the base model and the S use the same brake piston diameters (fronts 40/36mm, rears 30/28mm), so I checked, and he's right. Unless you have a way to adjust brake bias (and most street cars don't), putting the same size pistons front and rear will cause massive rear wheel lock-up (or massive puttering, with ABS). Not fast, either on the street or the track...

[shlim8]

For the Boxster S front brake conversion - do I just need the S calipers + rotors or do I need something else ??