Brake Pad Purchase
 

I am preparing to do my first pad change on my 2003 Boxster. The vehicle is street use only and for about 3000 mi/yr. I see an offer of pads from Detroit Axle for way less than others. Are they any good or is this clearly a "get what you pay for" situation?

If you are driving 3k miles a year, a new set of factory pads will likely last you the rest of your life. Keeping it simple…

Point well taken, however, I am also wondering, given the light use, whether pads costing considerably less than factory will also be suitable. I could change the pads 3 or 4 times at the price.

When I bought my car in 17 I purchased some pads off eBay. I then decided, after reading upon these pages, to go aa different route spending ~$150 front aand rear... forget the brand.

I neded to replave the pads, six years later, and was going to purchase some $$$ [then remembering the Chinese pads I had from the 17 purchase.)

Installed them and they are workng fine. Street use... some sspeeding and cornering... hard braking. They work fine.

$$$ or $. You;re not racing... I'd just get some regular old pads. Good luck.

Not checking post for sp/gr errors.

Brakes are a very important component of your car.

All pads probably have to meet a minimum set of stds for stopping ability. The question becomes, do they meet quality stds? Without knowing the brand, because of the price chances are we know where they came from. Quality is not always the priority of a loss leader. Do you want to chance your life and others for the savings of a few bucks?

I'm all for saving some bucks when it makes sense. This is not one of those times. Let someone else prove me wrong.

And good for you on pinpointing how you drive your car and buying components to that driving style. There are a myriad of pads available depending on how you plan to drive. And if you plan to do the change yourself, you'll find it takes longer to get the car up on stands and the tires off than it takes to change the pads - that's after doing it a few times. It's a very simple process. Good luck and have fun.

I had PowerStop Z23 pads on my 981 and was very happy with them - they dusted so much less than the stock pads. I'm running EBC Red Stuff on my 986, and have been happy with them.

Porsche OEM pads are Textar with a Porsche specific compound.
However the standard Textar pads are good quality and far cheaper than Porsche OEM. So that's my recommendation in this case.

Some report squeling with Textar, I have never had any issues.

Question coming from ignorance here, but are Porsche OEM pads known for being track ready pads? I don't necessarily intend to track my car, but if they are, it would explain part of the increased cost- I would expect that if I wanted to take a Civic to the track I'd need to spend more on good pads compared to Honda OEM or whatever they have at Autozone.

In general, the answer would be yes, you can use OEM pads at a track day.

But...
The track and how you drive will have a major influence on pad life. If your track has several high speed straights followed by very slow turns, you're going to eat up pads regardless of what brand. If your track has fewer high speed sections along with sweeping turns, you'll use less pads. Some drivers only want to drive at lower stress levels to their car, while others wring out every last % of their car's abilities. Neither is wrong but will have a different result on pad life. When I started off in DE 11 yrs ago, I probably drove at 75% but have worked up to 90% (I drive my car to and from the track and I always keep that in mind when I'm on the track).

I did a DE at COTA several yrs ago. There was a professional driver there hawking his coaching services. His friend who introduced him said this coach could roast your pads (as in totally use them up) in ONE session if he drove 10/10ths with your car. Not sure that endorsement got him a lot of customers, but proves the point about how the track and how you drive makes a difference. COTA is tough on brakes and so was he.

Keep in mind an OEM pad on a Porsche has to check many boxes: quiet on the street, yet capable on the track and everything in between. Similar to an all season tire that's OK in the snow and OK at high performance driving but not great at either. Jack of all trades, master of none. Since the majority of Porsches won't see the track, Porsche can't supply OEM pads that are squeaky and dusty - 2 characteristics of track pads, so they're going to favor more street characteristics. But they have to assume there could be track duty so they make sure they'll work for a session, day, or weekend.

Brakes and tires are consumables if you plan to track your car.

There’s a reason that the OEM and race pads throw out a lot of dust. I don’t know but speculate that it’s a way if dispersing heat away from the brakes. I’m willing to live with that dust in return for better performance in a performance oriented car. I’d go with a pad made of the same material as OEM and made in the West, not China.

Good for you. There are 2 guys in my club that have great Porsches - one has a 2014 Turbo S and the other a 2019 GT3 RS. They both keep them spotless and their drives consist of taking them to the monthly Supercar Sat or weekly Cars & Coffee shows during nice weather season. They would complain mightily if they had to clean a massive amt of dust from their wheels after driving the 10 mi round trip.

Different strokes for different folks, but that's the riddle Porsche has to solve with their owner base. Some treat them as race cars, others as art. Porsche has to keep them both happy from the factory. With all the pad types available in the aftermkt, it's possible to choose the right pad that fits your specific needs.

I will shamelessly admit I fall under this category lol

To the OP, check out Akebono Euro Ceramics. I just bought a set (though haven't installed them yet) after a positive experience on my other car (BMW). They don't dust, like literally 95% less than OEM, and even then, the dust is lighter, not black, so it doesn't really show. People complain about a lack of bite, but honestly that was way overblown in my experience. Stopping power is still there. Only thing is ceramic pads are not ideal if you ever plan to track the car.

Honestly they're the best thing I have done to a car in recent memory. I love clean looking wheels and I hate cleaning them. Perfection.

Accepting lower performance in return for a less dusty wheel doesn’t add up to me and it doesn’t have to. As was said, to each his own. But following that same philosophy why spend all the money to get a real Porsche and then lower its performance? If looks are what matters, a VW chassis can be converted into a nice looking Porsche.

I’m addition, I believe that the ceramic pads don’t absorb heat as well as the OEM pads which results in higher temperatures of the disc and will result in a warped disc. The brakes are a system designed to work together and installing ceramic pads is changing the design with unknown results.

For street driving, the change in performance is imperceptible. Unless you're turning hot laps on at the track, it will be fine. Never heard of a warped disc from ceramic pads.

Akebono Euros are popular in the 996/997, BMW, Audi, and Mercedes communities. They're not some garbage brand, they're an OE supplier for McLaren.

Again, for street driving, they are perfectly safe and effective.

Powerstop ceramics are great pads for DD driving. They are virtually dustless and stop as good as factory or any other street pads. Amazon has them around $45/axel. I have used them on my 986 and 996 for street and even a little AX. IMHO other than dedicated track pads, they are the goto. No reason to spend more $ for the fancy brands
YMMV

My 2 friends referenced in post #11 made it to the club's annual picnic and car show today. Their wheels looked spotless. ;) That's my shark at the end of the row.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1685903916.jpg

@HuskB - Out of curiosity, why sharks often on display w hood open? Overheat concerns or?

Maybe bragging rights I guess as one could suspect "b/c it's H2O cooled front motor so diff than most rear or mid-engined P-cars similar era"? I have 944 in stable and at 944fest rarely are they displayed hood ajar. Plus 924 came to market as H2O front engined cooled first (even though 928 was developed prior as contingency for possible grweenie R.Nader Corvair potential backlash).

Just curious and sincere thanks in advance :)

At Porsche only events, it's prob not necessary as most will know it's front engined. Not the case at Cars & Coffees, as most ppl think of Porsches as "ass-engined Nazi slot cars". But we have a contest at our picnics and the judges want to see how clean your engine bay is. I've won with both my Box & Cayman but it's getting harder to compete with the garage queens so I didn't spend a lot of time on the shark. I'm currently working on my Box as the sales mgr asked me to display her at the dealer this Sat for their 75th Anniv celebration. Punkin needs to look her best for that, so that's where I'm focusing my time.

Ahhh appreciate explanation.

Would be a slam dunk competing w a 992 and it's postcard sized "engine cover access", no? LOL.

Happy cleaning and good luck! :)