Has an awesome day yesterday at the Thermal Club. Had the entire track to myself literally. GMG took 4 of us there and we were it...no one else. Car is a 997.2 TTS with suspension setup from GMG and bolt on engine mods. Car is 3,500 lbs so heavier than the gt2/gt3 and makes 700+ hp so I need more stopping power than average.

I went to the event with new stock pads and a recent brake flush. I do this after every track event. Brakes on the stock pads and fluid have been fine for me I'm no pro. I also have GT2 brake ducting on the fronts. Rear rotors before the event were pretty low but looked fine for maybe a couple more track days.

Anyway during my 4th session my pedal became soft so I slowed it down and thank God...next corner brake pedal hit the floor. No more brakes at all. Thankfully I was the only one on the track so I could cruise a couple laps at slower speed to cool them off. Even when I got to the pits the pedal was on the floor.

Beyond the obvious fluid which boiled, the rear calipers which are standard Porsche yellow actually turned dark burnt orange. Pads completely wore out PSM was off for this session but earlier it was on and contributed to significant rear pad wear earlier. My rear rotors are also pretty much done. Now I need to do something.

Question for the occasional track guys - so my options are to buy new rear rotors but change to much better pads and fluid. For those of you tracking PCCB's what would you recommend?

The other is to pull off the carbon rotors and replace with Brembo steel rotors with a street/track pad combo and high temp fluid. I did get a ride with James Sfronas in his street gt3 991 with this steel setup and holy crap my neck is still hurting from the brutal stopping power of that car with zero fade.

I would like to keep the carbon ceramic rotors if they can perform like the steel brakes with upgraded pads and fluid but I'm worried about the wear. The set of new steel rotors all around is $5k whereas the carbon rotors are a lot more. I only track a couple times a year so maybe I can get away with just a new set of rear carbon rotors (for the remaining life of the car) as long as the pads aren't too aggressive. My next track event isn't until 5 more months at COTA for a multiple day event. But last thing I want to pay all that money to ship my car and fly out only to be cut short because I kill my brakes again.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

 

The Porsche ceramics are really not made for the track - go with the steels and you won't go wrong (cost vs. durability, etc.). There are options besides Brembo, such as Girodisk rotors, which are great for the price and they'll work with your current calipers.

From reading your post, I am going to guess that you were pushing the car pretty hard and the reason why your rears are in the shape they are in (discolored and wear) is because the PSM was kicking in quite a lot thus making the rears hot and the wear beyond normal. Given the discoloration (which means very high temperatures) do yourself a favor and have them checked out (the seals, pistons, etc.) before tracking the car again.

 

On track always turn the nanny stuff off.

Brake Options:

1) Steel - Alcon/PFC/GiroDisc with PFC08/RS29
2) Ceramic - CCX Kit - I hear this is very good and will generate less heat than steel obviously.
http://www.jzmporsche.com/news/2014-...m-porsche-gt3/

Not sure who sells this kit in the USA.

Fluid: Endless RF650

 

Thanks for the info. Yes I forgot to disable PSM on the first session and it definitely wore the (brand new) pads down a lot more than I thought in the rear. So the next session I had PSM off but it didn't matter since my pads had worn down complete in the previous session and began eating away the rotor and melting the caliper. Will def have a full solution for the next track day...just trying to figure out if I stay with the ceramics or go steel. Looks like steel is the best option.

 

I would get the cup steel rotors offered from fvd

 

I believe Racing Brake makes a kit to swap out the ceramics with steel rotors. They are based in SoCal so you can visit their shop in Orange County. If you want to stay with ceramics, you can always go with Surface Transform which may never really wear out but they will probably cost you nearly $30K.

Check with the Rennlist guys on other various options out there.

 

Cup rotors mentioned above won't work, different offset. If you want top notch stuff go with Brembo rotors or better yet AP racing rotors. These are British made rotors used in top lever motorsports like IMSA and NASCAR. I run their 380/350 rotors as pictured below. I have a set of extra set of brand new AP rotors in TT offset if you want a set. Girodisc is a good choice but will not last as long as AP or Brembo. I have those also. For pads, go with PFC 08/11. Fluid = Endless RF 650. Upgrade your brake ducting and install rear 997GT3RS brake ducts. Your car does not have these. Brake cooling is often overlooked but a key to a good brake set up. All the GT cars have much better ducting that the TT and as such you need to upgrade your car with those components.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Bz8R86]

 

These are exactly what I had in mind. I was following another Turbo S around the track and he had this setup. He said it works flawless and the price for the rotors, pads, fluids, and install was similar to the cost of replacing one carbon ceramic rotor!

 

Brembo Type 3 sprint or Type 5 endurance rotors are the way to go along with the Race Technologies RE10 endurance pads for the track. This is setup Porsche Motorsport runs on the 997 & 991 RSR & GMG has also.



We race with the Brembo discs for club as well as pro races. All the 12 (sebring, sepang, bathurst) and 24 hour (daytona, spa, lemans) endurance races we have done are with the Brembos and they are the longest lasting and most durable brake we have tried.

We can help you source the correct parts for your needs.

 

A lot of good info here thanks everyone. I just picked up a basically new set of rear PCCBs from a 997 GT3 with pads as well. So at least I have good set of working PCCB's now.

I have another question to answer first before I swap my PCCBs over to steel brakes. I'm impulsive and went out and bought a 991 Turbo S. I will not track this car tho.

So I have to decide which track car I keep....my 997.2 or my e92 M3. Tough decision both are highly modified and fantastic in their own way. If I keep the 997.2 I'll go with the brembo rotors...but if I keep the M3 then I need to accept being slow around the track haha.

 

We all know you will be keeping the 997.2 TTS as your track car. Cannot see you accepting being slow around the track.

 

you are probably right Scott I got into this sport for the adrenaline rush.

Every time I get into the 991 I say to myself...OMG this chassis is soooo much better it would be an awesome track car. But then I think the tracking cost - tires, insurance, PCCB issue (with no cost-effective replacement options yet), etc. I'd go broke doing it.

 

Mine was awesome at COTA. But do not want to kill the PCCBs so no more tracking for the car. And track ins is so expensive

 

Great info!