9862.7 Brakes

[555fcm]

Hi,

Ive had my 986 2.7 FL for about 3 months now and have to say that I absolutley love it, however I do have one issue and that is that the brakes are crap. I previously had a BMW 118d M Sport and the works on that were far superior to that of the boxster.

Prior to me buying the boxster 6 onths previous the pads and discs had been changed all round. Does anyone have any suggesstions to make the braking power of this car better, or any suggesstions for new pads or callipers if necessary!

Many thanks

Frazer

 

[Mark_Bennett]

The brakes should be absolutely fantastic!

My bet is that they are corroded on the inside faces.

If you wash the car, then put it away without taking it for a drive to dry the brakes off, then they corrode like crazy - and the result is you get braking on one face only. Similar results if the car stands outside for days without driving, and the weather is wet. The surface rust on the outer faces isn't so bad as the wet dries off, but the more sheltered inner face can really corrode.

I'm really sorry if this is your situation, whover replaced them wold have done you a big favour if they had told you WHY they had to replace them...

 

[Black80XSA]

Firstly - did it have a brake fluid change at the 2 yearly intervals ?

Secondly - the Boxster brakes are very progressive - there is no initial overservoed bite that you get with VW/Audi and to a lesser extent BMWs - you generally have to push beyond half travel on the pedal to get siginificant retartdation. Find a safe spot and try a hard / emergency stop - you'll soon realise the power of Porsche brakes.

 

[Crazeemann]

Slightly off topic, but just wanted some quick advice.

We have one of the original 2.5 boxsters, just had the front discs and pads replaced at a nice £350, one day later we think there is a stone under one of our rear pads. The garage came out as my wife was driving it and got worried as the brake wear indicator light started to come on again. Obviously, as this was just after we had the discs and pads changed on the front we werent expecting this light to come on for a while.

I have checked the rear pads and there is at least 4000 miles left on them if not more, there is a scraping noise - and last time this happened to one of my cars it just dropped out eventually.

My question is - Should a stone under the pads be affecting the wear indicator? or have the garage not done something right when they changed the front ones?

 

[isysman]

If you want to go down this road, you know that the brake calipers and discs from a 3.2S Boxster or a 911 will fit on your boxster. Straight swap without any brackets etc. I did it with mine, I have a 986 2.5 and I swapped them out with the big reds and the cross drilled vented discs. It wasn't cheap, but I did it all round (rears needed some modifications with handbrake pads) front cost me £350 for calipers (which I repainted) and then £248 for the disc fitting kits (meaning all pads, brackets, caliper bolts, brake sensors etc to install)

 

[dougster]

I have recently bought a 3.2s having moved over from an M3 and I am extremely disappointed in the brakes. The previous owner (a female who disn't use it as she didn't like driving it so is unlikely to have hammered the brakes) put new discs and pads on it all round an that is what interested me in this thread.

I have started pushing the brakes harder and harder to see if they just need bedding in but I can see no significant improvement. I take the previous point of pushing them harder but the ABS cuts in just when something seems to be happening.

I am toying with the idea of stripping the brakes down to check decent pads have been fitted. Are there any common faults / maintenance issues with the brakes?

Does anyone have a particular preference of pad?

Any help / opinions are welcome

 

[Black80XSA]

OE spec Textar pads are the same as the Porsche ones, just don;t come in the Branded boxes. Who makes the discs is unknown - aftermarket OE spec discs are available from Zimmermann and Sebro - the former don't have the centre bells painted in zinc rich paint, the Sebro ones do. Both makes have been widely used by Boxster and 911 owners with no reported issues or loss of performance.

There are other pads available - Pagid fast road pads, EBC red and for hard road and track use EBC yeloows - all give soem squeal and don;t offer an awful lot more than the standard pads unless you drive particularly hard.

 

[channella]

Believe the discs are made by Brembo.

In terms of feel - I went through the same process of understanding how these brakes work with my first Boxster. They are very progressive, literally the harder you press the better you stop. But maybe it would help to check stopping distances. If you are stopping well, then you'll need to relearn to use brakes. Changing the brake fluid helps if it is at all suspect.

 

[dodge1979]

Hello to all..Ive only just joined up here but am finding it all very usefull to read! My 2002 2.7 boxster seems to be gaining some common faults..although they are not serious ones. With reference to the thread here...Ive never been impressed with te brakes in my boxster...although the fluid has been changed since my ownership and the discs and pads were changed literaly just before I bought the car a yr n a half ago, they never seem to be that sharp. The ABD works fine, Ive done the emergency stop test...the pad make is texar..Ive took them apart and cleaned and checked all pistons are moving freely etc.. However I also seem to have the loud 'click' noise at low speed, particularly when parking the vehicle, Ie going from forward to reversing into a space...Its so annoying! As I say, Ive stripped and cleaned all items and used copper ease to grease them but to no avail...any ideas?

thanks for any help! Darren