Ceramic brakes

[Busa mav]

Looking to buy my first Porsche and it has ceramic brakes and 21,000 miles otc.
Friends are advising against due to the cost of replacing these things .
Anyone had any experience with them and their expected life ?

Car is a Carrera 4 GTS 2018.

Everything ticks our box as to being a cabriolet, colour, interior colour and the long list of extras, just the ceramics now giving slight concern.

Thoughts please

[jh001]

At 21k miles they should be absolutely fine unless it been regularly tracked. I think the rotor has to be weighed to ascertain what life is left in them.

[Taffy66]

jh001 said:

At 21k miles they should be absolutely fine unless it been regularly tracked. I think the rotor has to be weighed to ascertain what life is left in them.

Its not weight but how much Carbon has been oxidised with excess heat when used on track. There is a tool OPC uses to measure the amount of Carbon left in the disc. Insist this test is done and it should give an accurate wear percentage of each disc.
At 21k miles wear should not be more than 15% otherwise it looks like its been tracked. I have PCCBs on my RS and track sometimes but I always end a stint with two cool down laps with the very last one avoid touching the brake pedal.

[Busa mav]

Thank you for those responses, much appreciated.
I will get them to agree to checking when they do the 111 point check.
Dreamed of a 911 for 50 years and it’s now become possible, but still nervous as hell about actually committing

[Robert-udyrh]

As implied above discs should be good for over 100k miles with road use. Pads will need replacing but less frequently than conventional pads.

Not sure about cost of pads for your car but for a 992 it’s around £5k a corner. Yours might be as bit less but still expensive.

A side effect of CCBs is very little brake dust and what there is just washes off.

[ChrisW.]

Plus unsprung mass advantages and no disc corrosion for cars living out-doors ...

[J Chitty]

They need to be checked for chip damage during wheel removal when changing tyres and the bolts for corrosion…

[Swine Enthusiast]

Busa mav said:

Looking to buy my first Porsche and it has ceramic brakes and 21,000 miles otc.
Friends are advising against due to the cost of replacing these things .
Anyone had any experience with them and their expected life ?

Car is a Carrera 4 GTS 2018.

Everything ticks our box as to being a cabriolet, colour, interior colour and the long list of extras, just the ceramics now giving slight concern.

Thoughts please

You can get the inspected or checked (think the weights are listed so you can see the life). I was in the same boat but took the plunge - I must admit I am terrified of breaking a disc but if you're super concerned you can replace the discs and pads for steels and keep the yellow calipers

[ATM]

Swine Enthusiast said:

Busa mav said:

Looking to buy my first Porsche and it has ceramic brakes and 21,000 miles otc.
Friends are advising against due to the cost of replacing these things .
Anyone had any experience with them and their expected life ?

Car is a Carrera 4 GTS 2018.

Everything ticks our box as to being a cabriolet, colour, interior colour and the long list of extras, just the ceramics now giving slight concern.

Thoughts please

You can get the inspected or checked (think the weights are listed so you can see the life). I was in the same boat but took the plunge - I must admit I am terrified of breaking a disc but if you're super concerned you can replace the discs and pads for steels and keep the yellow calipers

He might have problems with his Porsche warranty - assuming he has one - if he does this?

[Desert Dragon]

I see it as a positive if they pass an inspection. Good find. They're immense and just about the best ceramic brakes out there. No brake dust etc and so many advantages. They can be refurbed by indies like 9e too.

[Busa mav]

Thanks for those comments, having slept on it I feel a lot more comfortable today.
Car also has single centre nut which must be a pain when there’s a puncture, but hey.

Car has Porsche warranty to 2025 !

Hopefully seeing a 8 months 992 tomorrow then it’s time to make the decision.

2018 carrera 4 GTS 991.2 fully specced

Or a 2021 992 with 3000 miles and just a few cheap extras for an extra 15k

Never thought it could be so difficult to commit to buying a dream car

Edited by Busa mav on Tuesday 21st June 20:12

[ATM]

Busa mav said:

Never thought it could be so difficult to commit to buying a dream car

Well think again

The bigger the dream the harder the decision

Realising dreams is always going to mean some anguish and deliberation

Just make sure it doesn't stray away from enjoyable or you're doing it wrong

[PTT]

"Dreamed of a 911 for 50 years "

Don't wait any longer or its too late, buy the car and live your dream,

[shantybeater]

I never understand this. The CCB cars usually come with uprated calipers, if you worry then take the discs off, put larger steels on and stick them in a box or sell them for ££££££’s.

Either way you end up with a car with a better brake setup, and money in the bank if you decide to move to steel

FYI I still haven’t had the heart to take mine off the GT3, they are just so damn good and the best part about the car for me(which says a lot)

Edited by shantybeater on Tuesday 21st June 23:10

[ATM]

Warranty
Warranty
Warranty

You can't start modding a Porsche if you want them to stand by their Warranty

[short-shift]

ATM said:

Warranty
Warranty
Warranty

You can't start modding a Porsche if you want them to stand by their Warranty

Not exactly so; when talking about the Approved Warranty the latest wording makes it clear that the whole policy is not voided as a result of modifications - only failures to non-OE fitted parts and failures attributable to the fitment of non-OE parts are excluded from cover.

I can't remember the exact wording but that's a summary. It's pretty clear in the policy documentation (despite continual internet chatter to the contrary).

James

[APOLO1]

These are the ceramic coated ones that came in Aug 13 on the Turbo S first, you would hard pushed to wear these out on a road car at 21k Miles. Get a reading done on the density of the discs any OPC can do this, I bought my devise from Carbotech so that I can keep an eye on Disc wear on after track use. See below this was on my 991.2 GT3 after 18k miles and about 25 Track days and V-Max runs when put the car back in. You can see below that at a reading of 53 I am well inside the value range of 60-44. I Do add in cooling laps and change pads at around 60-70% wear.

Edited by APOLO1 on Wednesday 22 June 09:06

[Twinfan]

I don't think anyone is concerned about wear as long as you look after them by cooling them down properly and changing the pads before they're too worn.
It's damage that is potentially the biggest issue - random stones on the road, trips through kitty litter etc. A bit of bad luck, or a mistake on track, and you're out for a £15k+ bill.

This car was advertised at an OPC recently. It clearly needs new front discs and pads, and it magically disappeared after someone I know enquired about it. So even OPCs baulk at the price of replacements. I bet whoever took the car in got a good slap!

[ATM]

short-shift said:

Not exactly so; when talking about the Approved Warranty the latest wording makes it clear that the whole policy is not voided as a result of modifications - only failures to non-OE fitted parts and failures attributable to the fitment of non-OE parts are excluded from cover.

I can't remember the exact wording but that's a summary. It's pretty clear in the policy documentation (despite continual internet chatter to the contrary).

James

I am full of internet chatter so you can put me firmly in this camp. I have not had a Porsche with warranty since 2005/6. And I never claimed. I did buy a pair of Pirelli tyres for the rear of my 997 and sourced these at Porsche and they charged me 330 per tyre which was obviously crazy at that time. But in my defence no one else local to me could source these so I thought sod it.

But all this talk of Porsche approved Batteries and N rated tyres does sound ridiculous to someone like me with a bit of mechanical understanding. So I will admit I don't know what their warranties will cover and will not cover if you choose to swap out PCCB for simpler replacements.

[Maxym]

Robert-udyrh said:

As implied above discs should be good for over 100k miles with road use. Pads will need replacing but less frequently than conventional pads.

Not sure about cost of pads for your car but for a 992 it’s around £5k a corner. Yours might be as bit less but still expensive.

A side effect of CCBs is very little brake dust and what there is just washes off.

Set of four pads for 20K??? Really?