Brake Pad Change Instructions

[Loren]

Loren,

Are these thickness specs the same for 'S' rotors? Mine's a MY '05 C2S. Thanks.

Here I go replying to my own post. I did a search like I was SUPPOSED to, and came up with the answer. Here's a link to the forum page: http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?s...8&hl=rotors, and scroll down to Post #6.

Cheers

You posted a 997-1 question in the 996 area - which could be why you not replies.

[355bhp]

You posted a 997-1 question in the 996 area - which could be why you not replies.

Guess I got thrown because I started looking in the 997-1 Maintenance forums, and there were only two topics, both unrelated to brakes. There's a wealth of stuff in the 997-1 forums; I just didn't bother to go beyond the first coupla pages.

I'll mic my rotors this weekend, and I also need to find the minimum pad thicknesses before I attend a local high performance driving class in May.

Edited April 16, 2009 by 355bhp

[Loren]

You posted a 997-1 question in the 996 area - which could be why you not replies.

Guess I got thrown because I started looking in the 997-1 Maintenance forums, and there were only two topics, both unrelated to brakes. There's a wealth of stuff in the 997-1 forums; I just didn't bother to go beyond the first coupla pages.

I'll mic my rotors this weekend, and I also need to find the minimum pad thicknesses before I attend a local high performance driving class in May.

For a 997-1 S:

New pad thickness should be 12.0 mm both front and rear.

Minimum wear thickness 2 mm.

Personally, I would would not a track a car with less than 4 mm.

[355bhp]

You posted a 997-1 question in the 996 area - which could be why you not replies.

Guess I got thrown because I started looking in the 997-1 Maintenance forums, and there were only two topics, both unrelated to brakes. There's a wealth of stuff in the 997-1 forums; I just didn't bother to go beyond the first coupla pages.

I'll mic my rotors this weekend, and I also need to find the minimum pad thicknesses before I attend a local high performance driving class in May.

For a 997-1 S:

New pad thickness should be 12.0 mm both front and rear.

Minimum wear thickness 2 mm.

Personally, I would would not a track a car with less than 4 mm.

Thanks Loren!

The school requires a minimum of 50% pad thickness or 6mm in my case.

Cheers

[Loren]

You posted a 997-1 question in the 996 area - which could be why you not replies.

Guess I got thrown because I started looking in the 997-1 Maintenance forums, and there were only two topics, both unrelated to brakes. There's a wealth of stuff in the 997-1 forums; I just didn't bother to go beyond the first coupla pages.

I'll mic my rotors this weekend, and I also need to find the minimum pad thicknesses before I attend a local high performance driving class in May.

For a 997-1 S:

New pad thickness should be 12.0 mm both front and rear.

Minimum wear thickness 2 mm.

Personally, I would would not a track a car with less than 4 mm.

Thanks Loren!

The school requires a minimum of 50% pad thickness or 6mm in my case.

Cheers

Good - that was exactly my point.

[skymast]

I just did a full pad and rotor replacement yesterday on my 02 996 TT w/ 50K miles. Many thanks to renntech and the contributors to this thread. This DIY made it a very simple task to complete in 2 1/2 hours. As a frame of reference, i was quoted $2300+ from the dealer in Nashville and i did it with parts from Suncoast for ~800 (note, i did not replace the sensors or purchase the bolt kit). 2 1/2 hours of my time to save $1,500 was definitely worth my time!

[pf cayenne s]

Hello,

What kit would you recommend to replace pad and rotors on my 2002 C4S.

It has 30000 miles but I used it on track about 7 times. I have an upcoming event (2 days at Gingerman track and after that I think it will be time...). The rotors and pads are not dead yet but I always prefer to have some thread left as when I am on the track I do not want to worry about worn brakes...

Anyway I found different options on FVD or ebay but really I do not know what to get...and where to get the best deal... your help will be appreciated!

I think the OEM brakes are fine for the use I have...

Thanks

[jamesanderson84]

Just did my front and rear brake pads this weekend using the information in this guide - really straighforward job that any mechanically inclined owner could undertake without worry.

I could not get the pads back with the pliers (could not get enough leverage on them) but used a carpenter's G clamp and a rag to protect the caliper paint and it worked like a charm.

The brake wear sensors were a bit fiddly - especially at the front where they were starting to get worn down. I ended up removing the pads with the sensors attached and then they came out no problem once the pads were clear.

I adjusted the handbrake, blew all the dust out of the rotors, cleaned the calipers off and cleaned the inside of the wheels while I was at it. Total time about five hours. I agree with others that the hardest part of the job is all the jacking and axle stand manipulation.

Thanks for all the info here. Really empowering to someone who has not owned a Porsche before.

Next job - changing the spark plugs....

[ravis]

Hi All - I followed these instructions and changed front brake pads on my 996 C4 yesterday. I'll do rear brake pads later. Just trying to be cautious, since I'm doing it first time. It took about 4 hours but most of the time was taken in the setting up my garage. I want to thank Loren and several others who have contributed. I have taken some pictures and I'm adding these here.

Here is a close-up of 996 front brakes:

Due to size limitations, I'll add more pictures in my next posts. Thanks!

[ravis]

Here are some more pictures:

Here are two rods type screws that I used to easily take out the front wheels from my 996 c4. The benefit of using these is that you could slide out the wheel after removing the bolts. Basically, I remove two bolts and then screw these rods in. After that I remove rest of the bolts and slide out the wheel.

Here what the brake looked like after wheels were removed. Following the advice on this forum. I turned the wheels to the left when removing front passenger side brake pads.

The following picture has some instructions regarding which parts have to be removed in order to take out the pads:

Here is what the brake looked like after I removed the retaining pin and the clip:

Here is a picture of the brake wear sensor. My brake wear light had turned on. Clearly, the pad was worn below the hole in which the brake wear sensor sits and the it had cut through the sensor. It seems that the brake wear sensor is worn out and turns on the warning light, if pads are not removed after 65% wear.

More pictures are coming in next post. Thanks!

[ravis]

Continuing from my previous post:

I had to replace one of the front brake wear sensors. Each brake pad has a brake wear sensor hole in it. Here is the location of the brake wear sensor:

Following picture show brake wear sensor wholes in pads:

I used old pads and 16" water pump (channel lock pliers) pliers to spread the calipers. However, I'm planning to buy the "disc brake spreader tool" by Snap-on. It sells for about $52 and make the job of spreading calipers really easy.

By the way, after I had spread the calipers, I found that pads wouldn't pull out, since they were glued to the pad vibration damper and the damper was sticking to the pistons. I used a 9" long box cutter/paper knife bought from Office Max to pry the brake pad from the damper. The paper knife was long and narrow and sufficiently blunt to not damage anything. At the same time, it was sharp enough to pry out the pad from the glue.

After that I pushed in new brake pads. Per Porsche recommendation, I should have used a new pad vibration damper. But I had not ordered it yet, therefore, I used the old one. However, I used a new clip, new bolt/retaining pin and a new cotter pin. I bought this brake hardware for $30 from Pelican Parts. I guess next time I'll try Sunset Imports.

Here are pictures with new brake wear sensor and new pads installed:

More pictures coming in next post.

[ravis]

Here is one more picture with new pads installed:

A couple of other things. I used a $125 jack that I had bought from Costco for this job. It worked beautifully. I used the jack points in front of the rear wheels to lift the car (this lifts the front too) and then placed jack stands under the front jack points behind the front wheels. You will notice from the picture below that I used hockey pucks to protect the jack points. Generally, I place hockey pucks on jack stands too.

Once again I want to thank Loren and several others who helped me do finish this job!

Best regards,

- Ravi

[Loren]

Excellent photos - thanks for adding them! :thumbup:

[bbooth]

Thanks for a great article.

I still wonder how the front vibration dampers (No. 6) are oriented. The pictures for the front calibers are oriented for right front and the picture for the vibration damper is sideways. Which end of the vibration damper is topmost: smaller weight on top or larger weight on top?

I re-edit:

I changed my front rotors and pads and include these two photos. The vibration dampers for the LEFT wheel are shown here. The larger piston is on the top of the caliper and the smaller is an the lower. Also, the glue does not stick too well, so it is not a problem to stick the vibration dampers onto the pads. They will rearrange themselves when you first step on the bake pedal.

Edited October 5, 2009 by bbooth

[Lerxst]

Just finished my front pads and rotors. Dealership wanted $350+ tax for labour. Following the instructions in this thread, it went pretty smoothly.

I ended up reusing the old dampers. The dealership said I wouldn't need new ones, but it took a good 20 minutes to get them clean. I also used Quiet Brake with success... no squealing.

The dealership gave me the wrong sensors and was closed till Monday, so I bypassed the sensors by soldering the two wires together securing them with success... no warning lights.

bbooth... I don't remember the orientation of the dampers, but there's only one way that they'll fit into the pistons.

Thanks to Loren and the rest of the contributors.

[SA321]

I am looking at parts list and for 2003 C4S it lists two different break pads with different numbers and different prices (f.e. rear 996.352.949.03 and 996.352.939.03, front 996.351.949.12 and 996.352.949.03) what is the difference? what do i need? tks

[Loren]

I am looking at parts list and for 2003 C4S it lists two different break pads with different numbers and different prices (f.e. rear 996.352.949.03 and 996.352.939.03, front 996.351.949.12 and 996.352.949.03) what is the difference? what do i need? tks

For a 2003 C4S front brake pads you need: 996.351.949.12

For a 2003 C4S rear brake pads you need: 996.352.949.03

996.352.949.03 and 996.352.939.03 are for a C2 (which has smaller brakes).

[surfer161]

Thanks, Loren and everyone else for your posts. 

I did rear pads on my 2002 c4s, well, at least one side.  i will do the other side next weekend.  got real cold in my garage. 

the hardest part was removing the squeal dampeners, especially from the inside pad.  It was hard to see the edges to get a blade underneath them.  But, after a while, i was able to get the old ones out. 

i tried replacing the wear sensor, but i could not remove the wire from the connector behind the shock.  So, i used the old one, which seems to be working fine. 

any suggestions to help remove the old sensor wire.  on my 993, the sensor wire was pushed into a socket.  here it seems to be held in by a cap of some sort. 

thanks

surfer161

[cab713]

Just completed front pads and rotors. The DIY and link to bombay digital helped a ton. I just drove the car around the block and have a squeak at low speed that goes away when pressure is applied to the brakes. Any idea as to what I can do?

[Loren]

Did you use adhesive on the vibration dampers?

[cab713]

I replaced them with new ones. I followed the directions on pumping the brakes several times for each brake after the new rotor and pads were installed. I also pumped the brakes several times prior to my test drive. Since I put the vibration dampers in prior to the pads, I assumed that they would stick after the first few pumps.

I started thinking about this after I got back and posted. Wondered if they needed a bit more encouragement to stick. I went back out just now and pumped them about 6-8 times. Pulled down my driveway stopping several times. Pumped them 7-8 more times prior to my next drive around the block and there is no squeak now.

I do have a sound when I apply the brakes that could be the sound of the rotors and pads trying to seat or hydraulics. It's a slight whirring sound that starts midway through slow speed braking (coming to a stop) and stops once I come to a full stop. I check my fluid levels and all is good there. I didn't touch the bleeder valves during the whole process so I don't think there is air in the lines.

I have a feeling the sound will go away during the seating 125 miles of driving. I'll post back if/when it does.

Thanks Loren!

[masq]

I recently did my second brake job in years and realized that you could probably get away with buying no more than 2 brake wear sensors (as long as you didn't drive more than maybe 500 miles after the brake wear light first came on. Both times I did the job, I only had to replace one that triggered the wear light.

I'm also sure that you don't have to replace the vibration dampers. Same with the repair kits. Not buying these items will save you about $250 for the pad replacement, so you may want to just take a peek in to the calipers to see if you really have to buy these items... but you probably want to get them replaced if you drive your car *extra* aggressively.

In all, I could have gotten away with just replacing the pads for the front and rear Mintex pads for about $70 dollars for my daily driver that doesn't get many chances to get driven hard.

Edited May 3, 2010 by masq

[musclehedz101]

You posted a 997-1 question in the 996 area - which could be why you not replies.

Guess I got thrown because I started looking in the 997-1 Maintenance forums, and there were only two topics, both unrelated to brakes. There's a wealth of stuff in the 997-1 forums; I just didn't bother to go beyond the first coupla pages.

I'll mic my rotors this weekend, and I also need to find the minimum pad thicknesses before I attend a local high performance driving class in May.

For a 997-1 S:

New pad thickness should be 12.0 mm both front and rear.

Minimum wear thickness 2 mm.

Personally, I would would not a track a car with less than 4 mm.

Are these the same specs for a 2007 997.1 C4S?

[Loren]

You posted a 997-1 question in the 996 area - which could be why you not replies.

Guess I got thrown because I started looking in the 997-1 Maintenance forums, and there were only two topics, both unrelated to brakes. There's a wealth of stuff in the 997-1 forums; I just didn't bother to go beyond the first coupla pages.

I'll mic my rotors this weekend, and I also need to find the minimum pad thicknesses before I attend a local high performance driving class in May.

For a 997-1 S:

New pad thickness should be 12.0 mm both front and rear.

Minimum wear thickness 2 mm.

Personally, I would would not a track a car with less than 4 mm.

Are these the same specs for a 2007 997.1 C4S?

Yes.

[redcab]

Do you have any opinion about the quality / value of various manufacturers of pads and rotors?

I'm a suburbia driver, not planning to track the car (a 2001 C2 Cab)

On the Penguin site, I see these manufacturers... price points vary widely. I don't want "cheap" quality, but I am willing to live with cheap $ !

In addition to "genuine porsche" (always the most expensive) there is:

for pads:

Textar

Mintex

Akebono

ATE

for rotors:

Balo

Zimmerman

Sebro

Thanks!