PCCB for Cayman GTS

[Milnsey]

Evening.
I’ve just placed a deposit for a Cayman GTS with a probable build slot Oct/Nov and would be interested to hear member's thoughts on PCCBs. I am aware that there is no real benefit in normal road use and I don’t intend to track the car, however having had fairly steep bills for replacing the steel discs on my current 997 on a regular basis I was wondering if the initial 5k cost would be recouped over the 5+ years that I intend to keep the car.
Not forgetting the fact that PCCBs look so much better into the bargain!
Thanks

[Romo]

Well, I have them, and I do love them, awesome stopping power, great, I mean GREAT brake feel, and don`t care if it`s not really needed for daily driving, what I do care; it looks just fabulous, it stops fabulous ands as a realy nice bonus; there`s no brake dust what so ever, so no need for difficult rim maintenance !
I do not track the car.

Edited by Romo on Wednesday 28th January 20:49

Edited by Romo on Wednesday 28th January 20:51

[dreamcar]

Romo said:

Well, I have them, and I do love them, awesome stopping power, great, I mean GREAT brake feel, and don`t care if it`s not really needed for daily driving, what I do care; it looks just fabulous, it stops fabulous ands as a rawly nice bonus; there`s no brake dost what so ever, so no need for difficult rim maintenance !
I do not track the car.

Great endorsement!! I've included PCCB on my Boxster GTS - most think I'm mad! Another bonus you don't mention - they don't rust!

[UH-Matt]

If my car was for road I would have PCCB, no brake dust is fantastic

For track obviously not.

[bcr5784]

Milnsey said:

Evening.
I’ve just placed a deposit for a Cayman GTS with a probable build slot Oct/Nov and would be interested to hear member's thoughts on PCCBs. I am aware that there is no real benefit in normal road use and I don’t intend to track the car, however having had fairly steep bills for replacing the steel discs on my current 997 on a regular basis I was wondering if the initial 5k cost would be recouped over the 5+ years that I intend to keep the car.
Not forgetting the fact that PCCBs look so much better into the bargain!
Thanks

I think if you look at the cost of replacement carbon discs and associated pads that the ongoing maintenance costs will be much higher with them than the standard item. I deliberately avoided cars with them when I was buying (secondhand). Having tried them on the track I'm really not convinced about their benefit - certainly not in feel, and certainly not on the road.

[J-P]

Milnsey said:

Evening.
I’ve just placed a deposit for a Cayman GTS with a probable build slot Oct/Nov and would be interested to hear member's thoughts on PCCBs. I am aware that there is no real benefit in normal road use and I don’t intend to track the car, however having had fairly steep bills for replacing the steel discs on my current 997 on a regular basis I was wondering if the initial 5k cost would be recouped over the 5+ years that I intend to keep the car.
Not forgetting the fact that PCCBs look so much better into the bargain!
Thanks

Makes far more sense for a road car than track car. Cost to change the brakes is far too high for track use, whereas longevity us unlikely to be a problem for road use. No brake dust, no rust, look great, feel great and weigh less - the only thing not to like is the price!

[Geneve]

If you want the best car, you'll want the best brakes, so you'll want pccbs - IMO

For primarily road use, they should be cost neutral.

[AndyCGTS]

Ive opped for PCCB's on my CGTS, which is due to arrive shortly.

On the Porsche Experance Day, I found the PCCB had a lot more feel through the peddal and plus the added fact it saves a fair amount of unsprung weight and the added bouns of very little brake dust or rusting on the disk surfaces. IMO if you can afford them add them.

[cervezaman]

Have them on my 981 Boxster. Absolutely awesome braking performance. Love the pedal feel. Have done a couple of track days and the stopping power was immense.

No regrets whatsoever. Oh, and really clean wheels :-)

[Koln-RS]

On something like a Cayman GTS, with a fairly sporting spec, the unsprung weight saving should be very noticeable on the road. Should be a fantastic car.

[MDahmen]

if the sicom reefurbishment service works, then the cost is not that bad anymore - have not tried it yet as my discs are still good, butnwill certainly try once they need replacing
i thought main benefit was reduction of unsprung weight
given that ferrari only puts ceramics on their cars, i would have thought that overall they are probably a superior solution if you disregard cost aspects

[jsb]

I have an 05 Carrera S with PCCB, it is only used on track, plus the roads to get it there.

They are frankly unbelievable, never faded, feel remains consistent.

They might not have that initial pedal feel that some like (I don't like that really solid pedal feel from the top of the stroke) but the feel does remain constant. What I have also noticed is that the pedal feel is carried across the different variants and vehicles, whereas steel ones seem to have a different feel dependant on application/vehicle.

But I have also used a GT3 on steels on track, and the brakes whilst feeling different also stayed consistent.....they just didn't feel the way I like a pedal to feel.

I have never worked out the costs, I am sure buying second hand (as i did) I have seen a saving in disk costs (car only does about 2k per year).

[mikefocke]

How many iron replacements would you have to have to afford one PCCB rotor set replacement? How many miles would that be?

[dreamcar]

Geneve said:

If you want the best car, you'll want the best brakes, so you'll want pccbs - IMO ......

Exactly my reason for specifying them.

[Koln-RS]

mikefocke said:

How many iron replacements would you have to have to afford one PCCB rotor set replacement? How many miles would that be?

I don't think there's a definitive answer - must depend on usage. But if one accepts the 100k plus mls for pccbs, then that's probably 2-3 sets of iron discs. I think the cost and life of pads is similar.

I've had iron discs on Porsches that have corroded, the rears had to be replaced at 20k mls, but the fronts were 'skimmed'.

[bcr5784]

Just to put a bit of flesh on the bones of my comment - and not wishing to be a party pooper. Like AndyCGTS my experience of PCCB was on a Porsche experience day.

Absolutely no issues with the stopping power or consistency of PCCBs (though they did get a bit smelly). Stability was excellent to. However, the Porsche experience course isn't very taxing on brakes - maximum speed is probably less than 90 and there is only really one big stop per lap. I certainly wouldn't expect steel brakes to have any problem there either. Snetterton might be a different story.

My only "issue" with them is weighting which, under maximum braking is even lighter than the steel ones (which are already much too light for me). As a result I found trail braking difficult to get right (necessary on nearly every corner of the Porsche course). Doubtless a lot of that is down to me, but I think I would actually have found it easier with steel brakes.

The instructors view (and probably free of BS as he is a family friend who works there a lot) was that you didn't need PCCBs for the road.

That is not to say you might not WANT them for other reasons - appearance and unsprung weight. But to put weight into context the difference in weight of the various tyres you might specify (let alone the wheels) is up to 3kg a corner. So if you really want to save unsprung weight you should investigate that too.

[iandc]

As an aside (sorry to interrupt the yes/no discussion) if you fit PCCB do the calipers have to be yellow or can you spec different colours?

[dreamcar]

iandc said:

As an aside (sorry to interrupt the yes/no discussion) if you fit PCCB do the calipers have to be yellow or can you spec different colours?

As fitted by Porsche you can have any colour you like as long as it's yellow.

[BIRMA]

I've got them on my Boxster, there was a great debate on here about them a while ago. As far as I'm concerned I'll always buy a Porsche with them, under normal road use they last for ages and as mentioned the brake dust is non existent and when trying other high performance cars I always say to myself 'st this cars got no brakes' until that is I get used to the cars brakes, when I get back in my car they just feel right, can't really put my finger on it but they do. I would also add that I have boiled my brakes on the odd track day with my past cars (probably me being a crap driver) but the Boxster had never suffered with this to date.
From a purely aesthetic point of view the standard discs behind 20 inch wheels on the rear of the 981 look plain out of proportion its like the rear discs are saucers and just look wrong, whereas the bigger PCCB's look as if they should be there.
Just be careful if you live on a hill and wash your car and wheels as they can cause a real brown trouser moment until they dry.
I've had the car for coming up to three years with absolutely no issues, I would also say good on Porsche for at least offering them as an option be it a rather expensive one.

Edited by BIRMA on Thursday 29th January 16:12

Edited by BIRMA on Thursday 29th January 18:54

[Milnsey]

Many thanks for all you replies. Very helpful. I’ll certainly tick the PCCB box when the time comes. Not too worried about brake dust as I fancy black satin wheels which should go well with agate grey.