I need some advice on this. My car is stock and I will be doing 3-4 track days a year at the most. I have bought some Castrol SRF fluid and want to put better pads in. I am happy enough to swap the stock pads out before the day, so I was looking at a set of yellow RS19s. However Vivid Racing suggest that I might be better off with RS29s, but they are much dearer. Should I buy the RS19s and swap them over when the need arises or should I buy the RS29s and run them all year round?

What does anybody suggest?

 

I started out my first year doing only 5 track days and still managed to destroy the front rotors. I bought a new set of front rotors the next year and ran Pagid balcks and destroyed those rotors big time. I switch the following year to Coleman rotors and aluminum hats and I have been running the same rotors with no signs of significant wear. The Pagid yellow fronts last me one season. I still have the same yellows in the back with 11 track days on them. I use the Castrol fluid. Even if are just starting out with Porsche Club DE days doing 4 only sessions a day and not driving too far on the edge, you will still go through front rotors really fast. We see this with the 996 turbos every year as its always a discussion in the pits.
I have found that the lack of a good LSD causes the biggest issue with my 996 turbo brakes. My co-worker and friend who also tracks the same car as me (2001 turbo) has a Guards club LSD and he does not have the braking issues that I have. My turbo’s PSM system does not like trail braking – it locks up right at the end of trail braking going into a corner when I am driving real hard. This forum actually gave me the knowledge to solve this issue so I unplug the PSM system from the anti-lock system and my brakes have been fine for the last two track days. When I ride in my buddy’s car with the LSD, he can keep PSM on, run even faster lap times than me with no PSM issues or braking issues. When I researched LSD on this forum, I also found others with this same conclusion about the LSD and the brakes.

 

But you have to be careful with adding an LSD to the mix on a 996TT car. We don't have the stock heat exchanger installed, so you have to come up with a fluid cooling solutiont. Ask the folks at GT Gears about this... HUGE heat concern for your gearbox.

Mike

 

great thread

 

Hey guys, great info here, but I did not see anything on the following issue:

Are 997 GT3 cup calipers compatible with 996 turbo uprights? These are normally paired with 380mm rotors. Do they work with the 350mm 997tt rotors?

Of course the cup calipers are overkill, but a set just 'fell off a truck' and I wanted to know if it's feasible.

 

With 15mm spacers and 380mm discs why not...?

 

So what you're saying is the following:

997 GT3 Cup = same mounting + spacer + same caliper + 380mm rotor
997 Turbo = same mounting + same caliper + 350mm rotor

correct?

 

Update: I spent the entire season with the PSM harness pulled out from under my brake reservoir for the issues it creates with braking. There were a few wet mornings where I would leave it connected and leave PSM on in the wet. When it dried out I would switch PSM off from inside the car and my system would continue to stab at my brakes. I would pull the harness for next run and braking is back to normal. I will be going into next season with same Coleman rotors and hopefully get one more season out of them. I have 20 track days on them and they are still looking good. The dimpled slots are starting to disappear but the dimples are not that deep. Coleman stated that going past the dimpled slots is normal and they are not the “end of life” indicator.

I have my car in the shop now getting the water issue fixed because a stupid glued in fitting blew on the track. I was running Water Wetter so the run group was happy but I was done. The water threw me pretty sideways but I saved it and drove off line back to the pits. With my motor and transmission out I am talking advantage of the situation and getting a guards LSD installed. Guards was really helpful and they worked with my shop (Cantrell Motorsports) to ensure I got the right LSD. Because my transmission has the 2nd gear warrantee fix, I need a 997 LSD is instead of the 996. I am also having a transmission cooler installed.

I will post back after a few track days next year and report out on how well the LSD works with PSM on for both handling and braking. I live in the Northwest and we run with a lot of changing conditions. Last year during the instructor training day it even snowed on us a little, it was not sticking but it was insane running on a track with snow coming down (but the turbos loved it!). We also have a new cool track opening next year. The Ride Motorsports park in Shelton Wa. (2.5 miles, 500 feet of elevation changes and a Laguna Seca type 80 foot drop) so looking forward to next year!

 

You can install turbo's discs to GT2/3 wheel carrier with a 1.5 mm spacer, but not vv.
I'm not sure about 997 GT3 Cup, but in 996 GT3 ( and Cup also ) calipers will bolt on. And 997 turbo's calipers are bolt on to 996 turbo/GT2/GT3 wheel carriers.
IIRC 380 mm discs are floating ones, so you can get the hats ( made ) with turbo's offset... Expensive? Maybe...

"how well the LSD works with PSM on for both handling and braking."

No problems with that, not at least with RWD. I have a LSD from a 996 Cup in my transmission. Drove the car through the last winter, 5 months of snow on ground.

 

Dude I'm glad that brake solution worked out for you... I'll probably get them to make up a set of floating rotors for my 97 M3 daily driver...

Mike

 

They are not directly compatible. The 996tt uprights are a 142mm bolt spacing (as are the 997TT and GT3 iron-disc cars). The 997 GT3 cup calipers are 225mm spacing. This is true of the following:

997TT PCCB
997GT3 and RS PCCB
997GT3 Cup
997GT2 and RS PCCB

The calipers from these cars with 225mm mount spacing are only for use with 380mm discs. On both GT3 variants using these calipers, there are specific uprights used that have been built to directly mount them. However, on the 997TT, there are adapter brackets to bolt them to the standard 142mm spacing uprights. Another interesting bit is that the calipers on both GT3 versions have smaller piston sizes than the 997TT PCCB calipers to provide a firmer pedal and also serve to shift the brake balance slightly rearward.

So, the answer is no, the 997GT3 Cup calipers will not bolt up to the 996tt for use with the 350mm discs.

 

Thanks for the info. So assuming I can balance the hydraulics, can I use an adapter to mount these on a 996tt upright?

 

You can use the adapter bracket from the 997TT PCCB to mount them on the car, but there is no factory Porsche disc option that will work with that other than the 997TT PCCB disc. The GT3 Cup disc offset is not correct. To use the GT3 Cup disc, you would need a custom adapter bracket.

Brembo has a 2-piece floating iron-disc replacement for the 997TT PCCB disc that has the correct dimensions, however. The part number for this is 102.9008A

 

Mark, I stand corrected. Actually yesterday I saw partially dismantled GT2 front suspension, and the wheel carrier looks really impressive.
Part number for that adapter bracket is 997 351 505 02 ( x2 ). Needs also 4x M12x1.5 bolts, 999 073 313 09.

 

Thanks for mentioning the GT2, I had forgotten to mention that in my original post. I edited it to include those models too in the list of cars with the direct mount 225mm spacing uprights.