As some of you can vouch, my car is a nice tidy example. It's a shiny low miles 4S, which has had lots of TLC to keep it on top. But despite this, there is one thing that I have never been happy with. The tired appearance of the brakes.
Look even worse with the wheels off. Ergh [X(]
The old brakes still had lots of meat on them, so I put this one off for as long as I was mentally able. But recently I snapped and took action. They had to be fully overhauled! and per my past track record, I knew I wouldn't stand for any of the old looking parts being reused. This despite many still being in good order and serviceable.
So I took the plunge and ordered up the following:
New Discs x 4
New Pads Front and Rear
Pad Shims
Wear Sensors
Stainless Wire Retainer Clips x 4
Back Plates x 4
Back Plate Bolts
Caliper Bolts (not cheap!)
I very nearly went for brand new calipers too. That was until I got news Porsche has put up prices on these over 100% in recent times [&o]
Unfortunately the rated Thomas was not available. So instead I set about trying to find a good company to fully rework my Calipers and make them as new, or better still better than new! The outfit I went for had good reviews, gave a detailed and prompt quotation, and had lots of high res pics of their previous jobs. Impressive, you're hired!
The 4S has the high pressure braking system per the Turbo, so you have to be a little more cautious than usual when setting about this type of work. Very basically, whatever you do don't power up the ignition. Doing so will start the brake assistance pump, so if you have any disconnected lines there will be a mess!
Following advice from a 993 guru with more time served than I. I removed the old pads and depressed the brake pedal about 2 inches. I then wedged the pedal in position so as to lock the fluid in the lines. Thus stopping much loss with the Calipers removed.
Official Porsche Tool employed
So off came the Calipers
Caliper Plates not quite lifting yet, but getting there
My Impact Screwdriver came in very handy to undo the disc mounting screws
Then the rest of the manky old parts
Felt a bit daft junking these, so they went to a good mate to be re-purposed
So my Calipers went off to the 'Specialist' who for the sake of this thread, and ongoing discussions shall remain nameless. There they stayed for longer than expected, only to return to me in a less than satisfactory state [>:]
So, back they went! and in the meantime I prepared everything else ready for their safe return.
The grey paint finish applied to the Discs was poor and unlikely to stand the test of time, and I decided I wanted them to look nice for as long as possible. So I ordered up a big can of 693 Aircraft Grey Military Heat Resistant Metal Paint.
I painted the disc bells and the edges with about 6 coats in my dedicated spray booth to the side of the ManCaveâ„¢
Finished items looking fresh
Hubs all got a good clean up with a wire brush drill attachment, and the new Back Plates installed all round.
Before
After
Hubs and wheel studs lightly coated in OptimolTA per Porsche guidelines. Discs installed torqued down with steel open ended nuts and checked for lateral runout with AP tool. All within 0.02mm of the permissible 0.09mm.
Then following yet more waiting [&:] my Calipers came back again. This time the finish was very good, with lovely stenciling of the Porsche script. But, I still wasn't satisfied. They had painted with silver Hammerite the pad retaining clips and the Caliper Plates [&:]
I couldn't find the strength to argue anymore, so set about paint stripping and polishing the parts. Hours and many pairs of gloves later they were perfect.
Note: some pics are dark and rubbish, because in the sheer frustration of it all, and with little time spare these days to do anything like this. I pulled a midnight to 2am shift on a school night to rebuild the car.
The tiredness the next day felt like a small cost Vs the reward though, as now finally I had great looking brakes and bar the bleeding, the nightmare and the mounting cost was behind me. Or so I thought....
Upon bleeding, with the help of my good friend and Porsche Specialist Mechanic. We found that 6 of the 8 bleed nipples were weeping fluid. This without any pressure added, and with all the nipples done up tight.
The 'Specialist' claims to never have had an issue with the parts they supply, and that the nipples given were of equivalent quality and size to the original parts. Now the last part may be true. They weren't made of cheese, as they did take a good snugging up without breaking. But, they leaked around the threads, so something wasn't right.
OPC Swindon to the rescue. They got some genuine parts in very quickly for me. Once compared it was obvious the equivalent parts were not so equivalent.
Another £50+ later and all was well.
Lovely fresh brakes all round, and a very smart looking 993 looking almost as good as it would have back in 1998 when it was passed to it's first owner.
The overall cost was a bit of a wallet basher. Of course I saved a lot doing work myself and obtaining parts from very helpful suppliers. But still, not a cheap job by any means.
With the miles I add though, it should last for many years to come.
Now to give them their dues, the 'Specialist' in this tale is clearly capable of great work. They just need to work on their quality control, customer contact, following of explicit instructions and being humble when they have messed up. I won't name them just yet, as I am giving them an opportunity to right some of their wrongs.
If you have any questions or comments about the job I will be happy to hear them.
Operation Brake Overhaul - Completed √
Look even worse with the wheels off. Ergh [X(]
The old brakes still had lots of meat on them, so I put this one off for as long as I was mentally able. But recently I snapped and took action. They had to be fully overhauled! and per my past track record, I knew I wouldn't stand for any of the old looking parts being reused. This despite many still being in good order and serviceable.
So I took the plunge and ordered up the following:
New Discs x 4
New Pads Front and Rear
Pad Shims
Wear Sensors
Stainless Wire Retainer Clips x 4
Back Plates x 4
Back Plate Bolts
Caliper Bolts (not cheap!)
I very nearly went for brand new calipers too. That was until I got news Porsche has put up prices on these over 100% in recent times [&o]
Unfortunately the rated Thomas was not available. So instead I set about trying to find a good company to fully rework my Calipers and make them as new, or better still better than new! The outfit I went for had good reviews, gave a detailed and prompt quotation, and had lots of high res pics of their previous jobs. Impressive, you're hired!
The 4S has the high pressure braking system per the Turbo, so you have to be a little more cautious than usual when setting about this type of work. Very basically, whatever you do don't power up the ignition. Doing so will start the brake assistance pump, so if you have any disconnected lines there will be a mess!
Following advice from a 993 guru with more time served than I. I removed the old pads and depressed the brake pedal about 2 inches. I then wedged the pedal in position so as to lock the fluid in the lines. Thus stopping much loss with the Calipers removed.
Official Porsche Tool employed
So off came the Calipers
Caliper Plates not quite lifting yet, but getting there
My Impact Screwdriver came in very handy to undo the disc mounting screws
Then the rest of the manky old parts
Felt a bit daft junking these, so they went to a good mate to be re-purposed
So my Calipers went off to the 'Specialist' who for the sake of this thread, and ongoing discussions shall remain nameless. There they stayed for longer than expected, only to return to me in a less than satisfactory state [>:]
So, back they went! and in the meantime I prepared everything else ready for their safe return.
The grey paint finish applied to the Discs was poor and unlikely to stand the test of time, and I decided I wanted them to look nice for as long as possible. So I ordered up a big can of 693 Aircraft Grey Military Heat Resistant Metal Paint.
I painted the disc bells and the edges with about 6 coats in my dedicated spray booth to the side of the ManCaveâ„¢
Finished items looking fresh
Hubs all got a good clean up with a wire brush drill attachment, and the new Back Plates installed all round.
Before
After
Hubs and wheel studs lightly coated in OptimolTA per Porsche guidelines. Discs installed torqued down with steel open ended nuts and checked for lateral runout with AP tool. All within 0.02mm of the permissible 0.09mm.
Then following yet more waiting [&:] my Calipers came back again. This time the finish was very good, with lovely stenciling of the Porsche script. But, I still wasn't satisfied. They had painted with silver Hammerite the pad retaining clips and the Caliper Plates [&:]
I couldn't find the strength to argue anymore, so set about paint stripping and polishing the parts. Hours and many pairs of gloves later they were perfect.
Note: some pics are dark and rubbish, because in the sheer frustration of it all, and with little time spare these days to do anything like this. I pulled a midnight to 2am shift on a school night to rebuild the car.
The tiredness the next day felt like a small cost Vs the reward though, as now finally I had great looking brakes and bar the bleeding, the nightmare and the mounting cost was behind me. Or so I thought....
Upon bleeding, with the help of my good friend and Porsche Specialist Mechanic. We found that 6 of the 8 bleed nipples were weeping fluid. This without any pressure added, and with all the nipples done up tight.
The 'Specialist' claims to never have had an issue with the parts they supply, and that the nipples given were of equivalent quality and size to the original parts. Now the last part may be true. They weren't made of cheese, as they did take a good snugging up without breaking. But, they leaked around the threads, so something wasn't right.
OPC Swindon to the rescue. They got some genuine parts in very quickly for me. Once compared it was obvious the equivalent parts were not so equivalent.
Another £50+ later and all was well.
Lovely fresh brakes all round, and a very smart looking 993 looking almost as good as it would have back in 1998 when it was passed to it's first owner.
The overall cost was a bit of a wallet basher. Of course I saved a lot doing work myself and obtaining parts from very helpful suppliers. But still, not a cheap job by any means.
With the miles I add though, it should last for many years to come.
Now to give them their dues, the 'Specialist' in this tale is clearly capable of great work. They just need to work on their quality control, customer contact, following of explicit instructions and being humble when they have messed up. I won't name them just yet, as I am giving them an opportunity to right some of their wrongs.
If you have any questions or comments about the job I will be happy to hear them.
Operation Brake Overhaul - Completed √
