Brake Upgrades, Advice, Experiences

[blueline]

A post and others' comments in the "What did you do with your 718 this week?" topic from J-Dub regarding intense (severe!) brake pad wear following multiple track-days.

https://www.carpokes.com/viewtopic.php? ... 258#p45252


One of J-Dub's photos from the post:

IMG_5926.jpeg (365.24 KiB) Viewed 1166 times

[WillyDaP]

Jeremy did have quite a few events on these pads, but this is an excellent illustration of why one should still check their brake pads often as well as explaining why PCA wants a good inspection prior to their events ( now good for two months instead of just one month last year ).

[blueline]

Jeremy did have quite a few events on these pads, but this is an excellent illustration of why one should still check their brake pads often as well as explaining why PCA wants a good inspection prior to their events ( now good for two months instead of just one month last year ).

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003QHSHMW?re ... tle_1&th=1

Screenshot_2025-05-16_20-02.png (434.35 KiB) Viewed 1141 times

[WillyDaP]

Thanks blueline, that pic made me realize I have not seen my pad gauge since the tornado hit my house last year. Yep, that tool was in my race trailer that flew away to Oz . Your picture jogged my old brain better than a bottle of Prevagen!

[J-Dub]

Today I replaced the rotor rings on my 2 piece, floating rotor, GiroDisc brake rotors. This is not a how to but just wanted to show you the overview of what it is like to replace, AP, Paragon and many others are going to be similar. Removal of the rotors from the car is no different than the stock one piece.

When you get the rotors on the bench you will find 10 fasteners. 5 look just like cap screws with washers, the other 5 are cap screws with a bridge and a stack of washers. GiroDisc instructions says that their kits have between 8 and 12 total fasteners depending on the size of the disc.

IMG_5927.jpeg (944.44 KiB) Viewed 1121 times

The captured nuts need to be removed. Here I have the screw in from the other side to pull it out but later realized it is easier to push them out while you are unscrewing the fastener.

IMG_5928.jpeg (778.46 KiB) Viewed 1121 times

The replacement rotor rings include new hardware and are organized so you cannot mix them up. Notice there are two fastener types and you alternate the holes as you install them.

IMG_5937.jpeg (902.07 KiB) Viewed 1121 times

Cleaned up the hub and now starting to install the new hardware

IMG_5938.jpeg (733.22 KiB) Viewed 1121 times

Notice the the hole in the rotor is actually a slot so that the rotor can grow/move as it heats up and cools down.

IMG_5939.jpeg (537.19 KiB) Viewed 1121 times

The instructions say to use high temperature thread locker. I purchased this one but later emailed them and they said any red thread locker would work.
https://www.vibra-tite.com/threadlocker ... eadlocker/

The one they say they use
https://www.mscdirect.com/product/detai ... v-_8&gQT=1

The washers used in the fastener kit is beveled, sort of cone shaped. This is so there is tension but the rotors can still move independent of the hub. It is important you do not over tighten the fasteners or the washers will be pushed flat and not be effective. They specify 60 inch pounds of torque, which is 5 foot pounds. The torque wrench I have lowest rating is 5 fl/lbs and I did not feel good about using that one as it at the edge of it rated range.

The fasteners use a 4mm hex head, which I have a 3/8" drive. All of the in/lb rated wrenches use 1/4" drive so I would also need an adapter to 3/8" drive. I ended up buying and liking this one.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D3D41DM2?re ... title&th=1

Recently I was trying to get through the rest of track season with the pads I had. I wore one of the front pads so thin a portion of the pad broke off of the backing plate. It was not until I got home for a brake inspection did the wear indicator alert light on the dash trigger. That inspired me to eliminate the wear sensor. I cut the two wires short, striped a bit of insulation, soldered them up, twisted the wires tight to the connector, added heat shrink and sealed the end of the heat shrink with RTV.

IMG_5941.jpeg (595.53 KiB) Viewed 1113 times

Heat! The Over Axle Pipes are right near the rear brake lines. Though I do have some home brew heat shields on the OAPs after I determined that the Jet Hot coating was not sufficient I decided to also add some heat shielding to the brake lines.

IMG_5942.jpeg (822.87 KiB) Viewed 1113 times

This is locally available heat sleeve that Velcro together but they have another version for half the price without the Velcro. To do it again I would skip the Velcro. Both are on the shelf at the local auto parts stores. After these pictures were taken I replaced the zip ties with stainless steel wire.
https://www.autozone.com/plumbing-hosin ... 110436_0_0

New rotors installed looking fresh. Note that it is not important which way the slots point but it is important which way the internal vanes go so that the air is drawn in the center of the brake rotor near the hub and slung out the edges, the vanes effectively create an air pump.

These hubs are early GiroDisc where they used a blue anodizing that faded quickly, they now use a black anodize that is resistant to fading. They offered to re-anodize these for me but I did not have the time. I hit these with oven cleaner and scotch brite pads till they mostly are just aluminum.

Rear

IMG_5943 rotated left.jpeg (339.34 KiB) Viewed 1102 times

Front

IMG_5944 rotated left.jpeg (309.7 KiB) Viewed 1102 times

@blueline @Tom The last three images got rotated upon posting, can you help me correct them?

Illustration better showing the hardware used during assembly

https://girodisc.com/content/instructio ... sembly.pdf

[blueline]

@J-Dub @Tom

I rotated the last two pics Jeremy using a fix which seems to have worked. Below is what I did - you might want to try it on the other pic that you want rotated to see if what I did works for you.

Right click and save photo ("save image as"). Right click saved jpeg file in Explorer and rotate it as desired (left for these two). I renamed them so as to not get confused and then added them to your post, deleting your originals.

Kind of convoluted but it's a temp workaround until this issue gets sorted.

[blueline]

Edit in progress


@blueline @Tom The last three images got rotated upon posting, can you help me correct them?

I rotated two of the pics Jeremy. See above post for more info,

Tim

[Tom]

Edit in progress


@blueline @Tom The last three images got rotated upon posting, can you help me correct them?

I rotated two of the pics Jeremy. See above post for more info,

Tim

Very much working on this rotated pic issue....

[J-Dub]

@blueline Thanks Tim! Nice fix!

[blueline]

From the May 2025 issue of Panorama: "Braking System Upgrades - Part 1" by Doug Neilson.

It's an excellent intro for those considering changes to their Porsche OEM brakes - street or track use. Part 1 covers brake fluid and pads.

Braking Sys Upgrades (part 1) - Panorama May 2025 Doug Neilson.pdf

(4.31 MiB) Downloaded 119 times