996 Turbo brake pad upgrade

[martyspain]

I'm not happy with the feel of the stock braking system, and wondered whether a pad change might offer a bit more initial bite. I've been running the stock pads so far, and not been very impressed. The brakes feel very wooden at the top of the travel and while the power is there when you really stand on them, they're not very confidence-inspiring. I'm familiar with Porsche brakes and I know that they don't offer the sort of over-assistance you get from some other systems, but mine feel worse than other systems until you're really leaning on them from (very) high speeds. The discs and pads are only 18 months old with plenty of meat left on them, so to my mind they shouldn't feel this bad.

I appreciate that the arguments over whether the stock 996 Turbo brakes are up to the job or not will rage on and on, and while a 6-pot conversion from Nine Excellence would be ideal, that's an awful lot of money (so I've been told - no prices on their site, sadly).

Any advice from others who've upgraded their 996TT brakes?

[DasChin]

Have you looked at additional cooling for them?

Maybe try the 997 gt3 front air ducts as well as the rear caliper cooling ducts. Really cheap upgrade and u can find the part numbers on here in my post on readers cars. They are bigger than the turbo ones and you could have lost yours over time.

They clip onto the wishbones and easy to fit.

Also worth looking at the 996 gt2 rear cooling ducts as they can help out. Bit more money but direct air to the rear discs which get hotter on the turbo as you are carrying more weight than a gt3 or gt2.

Try the better fluid and steel lines.

If that does not work then its 6 pots am afraid and 350mm gt3 discs up front. Or even 380mm from 997 gt3 if u run 19s.

[davek_964]

My guess is cooling wouldn't help. 996 turbo brakes are equally crap whether hot or cold.

[DasChin]

If you have not changed pads then do that first.

I have got pagid 29s (yellow) in my gt3 and they are great. Some guys have tried performance friction and carbon Lorraine too with good results.

Stock pads are not great really so ditch those first. They don't offer great bite after a while and over heat quickly as you can really carry alot of speed around in a turbo.

Try the cooling route...the 997 gt3 front ducts and rear caliper ducts cost like £20 all in from the opc. U can fit yourself so worth a try for such a cheap amount of ££.

Part numbers:
Fronts
997.341.483.92
997.341.484.92

Rear caliper:
997.331.487.92
997.331.488.92

Here is my thread on 911uk with pics of the ducts:
http://911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=97326&postday...

Edited by DasChin on Thursday 3rd September 10:49

[Moosh]

I upgraded mine to 6 pot 996 GT2's fronts. Left the rears as stock. Use pagid yellow brake pads. Makes a huge difference. You will be very happy with the change.

[Mark A S]

Moosh said:

I upgraded mine to 6 pot 996 GT2's fronts. Left the rears as stock. Use pagid yellow brake pads. Makes a huge difference. You will be very happy with the change.

I have this set up too with a more aggressive rear pad, stops well for a 1560 kg car. Pedal feel is good with decent feed back.

[IknowJoseph]

DasChin said:

Here is my thread on 911uk with pics of the ducts:
http://911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=97326&postday...

Your rears aren't quite fitted properly. You need to get the ducts clipped together around the suspension component, which isn't how you've got it:



With them clipped together tightly they're flush with that suspension arm (so "higher" than in your photo) and are rock solid - no need for cable ties or to cut that plastic curve off. I fitted a set of rears to my 996 C2 and, although it was a massive pain to do, once clipped together it's a perfect fit.

[mr pg]

I tried RS29's when I had my 996T, and they were a noticeable improvement. However, I couldn't live with the noise (mine was road use only), so took them off after just 280 miles. If you don't mind noisy brakes mine are available. PM me.

Paul.

[Mark A S]

Re noisy squealy brakes with upgraded pads, if you hit them hard a few times that will quieten them down for a while, well, works on mine

[Moosh]

pagid yellow brake pads need to be bedded in. When you first put them on you need to get them fairly hot with some fairly heavy braking and then let them cool down. If they start to squeal then as above, do some hard braking.

[DasChin]

IknowJoseph said:

Your rears aren't quite fitted properly. You need to get the ducts clipped together around the suspension component, which isn't how you've got it:



With them clipped together tightly they're flush with that suspension arm (so "higher" than in your photo) and are rock solid - no need for cable ties or to cut that plastic curve off. I fitted a set of rears to my 996 C2 and, although it was a massive pain to do, once clipped together it's a perfect fit.

thanks. yeah its an old photo and I changed it as people commented on 911uk.

I use the cable ties just for extra to help keep them on.

[martyspain]

Thanks for the replies. Will take the cooling advice on board. I was hoping to avoid noisy brakes, so it looks like RS29 pads are out. I was originally intending to fit Performance Friction pads, but the guys at RPM Technik who are looking after my car advised that they're noisy as well.

Anything out there that improves on the stock pads but doesn't squeal?

[mr pg]

It was RPM who fitted mine, and they tried a couple of things to improve it, to no avail. I also tried the hard braking route. No longer have the car, so not a problem now.

[Modern Classics]

davek_964 said:

My guess is cooling wouldn't help. 996 turbo brakes are equally crap whether hot or cold.

Correct, and dont take chances with them, leave plenty of road, or move to
Scotland, one of the few places on earth where you can really drive a
911 Turbo.

[IknowJoseph]

DasChin said:

thanks. yeah its an old photo and I changed it as people commented on 911uk.

I use the cable ties just for extra to help keep them on.

I was probably a but unkind with that post, there's no obvious way of fitting those ducts and we only got them on after much consultation of your original photos! Hopefully those ducts are improving things for my car.

[chriscoates81]

I think I'm the only one that thinks the turbo brakes are fine, if I mash the pedal hard enough abs kicks In so I don't see the problem? I'd rather that then the current overserved trend with about an inch of pedal travel.

[DasChin]

IknowJoseph said:

I was probably a but unkind with that post, there's no obvious way of fitting those ducts and we only got them on after much consultation of your original photos! Hopefully those ducts are improving things for my car.

don't be daft man and it was a fair comment. a few others said the same so good to get feedback from people. I only trimmed a little bit off so doubt I would have lost much cooling.

the brakes felt really good in wales when we were 'pressing on'. need to test out on track.

[Digga]

chriscoates81 said:

I think I'm the only one that thinks the turbo brakes are fine, if I mash the pedal hard enough abs kicks In so I don't see the problem? I'd rather that then the current overserved trend with about an inch of pedal travel.

I think they perform okay, but also agree they feel a bit 'dead' at the top of the pedal travel. That said, so far, the car seems to turn into corners quicker than I could ever have hoped, so perhaps I don;t need to scrub as much speed off as my old "slow in - fast our" brain hardware thinks.

My own take is that cooling them will not help a jot - more likely even to reduce initial bite if all else remains unaltered - but a change in pad material is a fairly sensible, initial step, prior to considering more complex or expensive upgrades.

[rgracin]

I have the same issue.

Has anyone tried the Ferrodo DS pads?

[rgracin]

I have the same issue.

Has anyone tried the Ferrodo DS pads?