Hi All,

I'm posting this to discuss but also to act as a refference for others as there isn't much on this topic.

Took the car in for 4 years maintenance. The car was put in service in 07 and has approx 19k miles on it now...

Dealership did (according to maintenance schedule):
-Major maintenance
-Spark plug change
-Brake fluid change
-Other minor stuff...

Anyways, when the car was there, I got a call that my front pads were near limit and that the sensor would trigger soon if not changed. Now 19k miles is low to replace pads but I do a lot of city/traffic driving...

The rep tells me that front pads need to be changed with Rotors. I say, changing rotors with only 19k on them? The car hasn't been tracked and this is the first pad set change... So disks are visualy in great shape, no cracks etc He says "high performance cars like these, you need to change both" which i think was dealer BS... So I ask if they measured the disks and he says he will call me back. I lookup stats on this board and I find the attached document. It's for the 996 but it seems that 996 brakes and C4 brakes are same...
Anyways, he calls me back and says rotors are at 27.3 mms so they are nearly worn, which of course is far from true as new they are 28 mms and Porsche recommends replacement at 26.0 mms... So I say, no, just change the pads (even though price was a rippoff, I have nowehere to work on a car in my condo building...) He says fine but it's going to vibrate at high speed and make noise...

And this is what they wrote on my bill... "No warranty if vibration or squeek sound"
I believe that all this is a load of crap...
The only thing i've noticed thus far is that the pads aren't fully bedded yet... visualy, there is a thin (0.4-0.5 mm) circle area around the disk that the pad is not fully touching yet (i.e. stays rust color). This was yesterday, today, after some braking, the line seems to be thinner on the driver side and almost gone on the passenger side...

Anyways, just relaying my experience to help others and get comments if any.

 

here is that file. Forgot to attach

 

Thanks for posting. The info should come in handy at some point...

 

I notice u have an S. Those numbers do not apply to you. They apply to the base only. Yours has bigger rotors.
I wonder if the numbers are in the manual? I couldn't check during the story since they had the car and manual and at this moment, I am too lazy to go down to the garage to check now.

Anyone know if brake pad/rotor info/tolerances are in the manual?

 

with normal driving and if the rotors are not warped now..I would not change them.

I would of requested to have the old pads..but you where getting the hard sell..

they could squeak now..but in no way should there be any vibration the new pads should seat in quickly to the groves from the original pads.

just saw you spec sheet..the really said there bad with a half of a inch left..thats crazy..i would be pissed

 

They aren't warped. They are fine. The spec sheet I posted is a general doc with rotor and pad tollerances. Nothing to do with my car

 

Hi Sev,

I am in the MTL area also and I have to say that the stories I hear from experiences with the dealers (both Pr* and Lau*) around here are downright scary.

I looked at the service manual for the 997.1 and it definitively specifies that you should fit new vibration dampers, expanding springs, retaining pins and retainers when changing pads. But I could not find any indication that discs have to be changed when changing pads. I also looked at the GT3 and Turbo sections, which I assume are the "high performance" cars and could not find it there either. It would be funny to ask the service advisor for the doc ID of the page he is referring to so we can compare notes...

To your point, assuming the discs are not warped or cracked and are within specs for thickness, I really do not see any logical reason to change them. IMHO, the dealer would not have a leg to stand on when trying to enforce the "no warranty when squealing" clause. Think about it: since you have all OE parts, there is really no way to tell for another dealer that this clause was there in the first place. That is exactly why there are factory service manuals: so every shop tech has the same directives and does the same thing...

This story illustrates why I am starting to do more and more work myself on my cars, I just can't take this crap anymore. If you don't have the inclination or the space to do it yourself, you should know that we are very lucky in the greater Montreal area to have great indy Porsche shops like EK Performance, WeTune!, etc.

HTH,

T.

 

Post a pic of your rotors. I say absolute BS

 

I can't confirm or refute what your dealer has said to you regarding the condition of your brakes but, I have replaced pads on several cars when the rotors where within acceptable wear tolerances, including on my '01 Boxster, with no ill effects. The caveat here is that I did the work myself and my labor is free. As you were having the dealer do the work there may well have been a financial incentive for you to have them replace the rotors at the same time as the pads, given their labor rates. Changing rotors is not a big job in itself but it's a good deal less of a job if the tech already has the car on the lift, the wheels off and the brake pads out of the calipers and is planning on flushing the brakes system making it ultimately less expensive to have them done together. The rep could have explained it better but this may well be what he/she meant when they said " that front pads need to be changed with Rotors ". Just my 2 cents.

 

FWIW, I drive an '05 Supercharged 997S with 530HP and 57k miles on it, and have not yet had to change the pads or rotors, and I track the car in addition to doing lots of stop/go during rush hour traffic.

Some folks are hard on brakes, some are hard on tires. I destroy tires, but am apparently easy on the brakes.
CATTMAN

 

Thanks for the full post. My warranty just expired and knock on wood. the cars has been bulletproof thus far. I will checkout those indy shops if I have to though. Otherwise, regular maintenance on this car is done as my lease will be done by next interval...

I was aware that damers, springs etc had to be changed but rotors, that made no sense, especialy since they exhibited no problem and are well within thickness tolerances...

 

My thoughts exactly... they just wanted to make some easy money as most owners would probably buy that this is a high performance car BS...

The disks are not even half life... I really didn't see any reason why I should change them...

 

I really do a lot of street driving and short trips. It sucks but most of my clients are close by and I live close to downtown so when I go out... Rare I go for a drive for fun these days...

Just as an FYI, rear pads are half done. 19k miles (29k kilometers)

 

Sounds bogus to me too. Good thing you told them no. Unless you have a low speed vibration (bad warpage) or high speed vibration (minimal warpage) rotor changing is unnecessary.

Now should you choose to change the rotors you can easily do this, even in a parking lot. I just did all four rotors and pads, in a hotel parking lot. Don't let that intimidate you. The 911 brakes (Brembo) are very user friendly.

 

FYI - just changed my pads front and read after 29K miles and still have about 25% left. Did it for track - brake pad requirements of at least 50%. No need to change rotor if not damaged. BS that its a requirement. The shop I use is honest in this respect and do quality work. They also do a brake fluid change at the same time. Car brakes like new.