I know its not recommended. However, I replaced my first set of pads and rotors at 12,000 miles (about 4 years ago). I now have 18,000 miles and it just started again. Not sure what is going on but there is a problem. I drove it once this year once from storage to the house and didn't notice any problem. Had the Porsche dealer pick up the car for the recommended major service and when I got it back I noticed the steering wheel shake.

Any recommendations, Not sure if i am keeping the car long so I would prefer not to go eom unless the look is real noticeable.

Thanks.

 

Sounds to me like whoever drove the car for pick-up or delivery may have driven it hard and over-heated the brakes, causing the rotors to warp. I'd actually find someone with a Durametric and pull a DME log to also see what recent overrevs look like, and if there are any of these in the last hour or 2, go back to the dealer and make them aware that your car was abused by their employee, that they owe you new front rotors, and if overrevs are in any of the upper ranges, that you want them to cover any engine issues that show up in the next 100 hours and that they owe you a service credit for diminished value, as the car will be harder to sell now with overrevs, and possibly at a lower price than without them.

If the rotors are cross-drilled, you can't turn them as you lose the chamfer at the edges of the drilled holes and they will crack from hole to hole which creates a dangerous situation where a chunk can break off and lock-up the wheel. Also, if turning them enough to make them true again makes them fall below the minimum acceptable thickness, you have to replace them. Be aware that once they're turned, you've removed some of the metal that acts as a heat sync and they'll warp again sooner and with less heat than the last time. If the car is a c2 there was someone closing out a couple pairs of dba (disc brakes australia) 4000 series rotors a while back at a really good price if you can find that ad in the marketplace.

 

Petza914, Thanks for the good advice. Unless the DME log specifies a date they will blame me, I'm sure. They did pick-up and deliver back with about 200 miles round trip. I think, by the time I'm done fighting with them and getting little, if any, reimbursement I should just replace again. Also, based upon your advice I will just replace. I have a C2S so the DBA 4000's wont work but ill keep looking for a better alternative they the Porsche rotors..

Thanks again.

 

Overrevs are time coded. With a 200 mile round trip, anything in the last 3 hours should be attributable to when they had the car in their possession. I put dba 5000s on my wife's '05 C2S. They're a 2-piece design with alumimum hat and slotted, but I think more expensive than stock - so better, but not less expensive like you're looking for. www.topbrakes.com had a very good price on the pair of fronts back when I did this a few years ago.

 

Not so sure I'd blame the rotors - it could be - but it could also be just as likely that you have a flat spot on a tire or are out of balance due to the length of time the car sat idle. Both of these would also cause the steering to shake. Just my 2 cents but if your rotors are really warped you should also be getting a pulsating in the brake pedal (moving up/down on its own while pressed).

 

I appreciate the input. Steering wheel is stable from 0 - 100. Press the brake and the wheel oscillates 1/4". No feel in the seat so I'm quite sure its the fronts.

Any recommendations on brand?

 

Couple of things. One is the car didn't have to be driven inappropriately. The shake you experienced can come about -- my experience with my 2002 Golf TDi -- by a hard/emergency stop on rusty rotors.

In the case of my VW I washed the car then let it sit undriven a few days. Then I took the car out and without having to use the brakes any had to make an emergency stop from highway speed to avoid a collision with a car that pulled out in front of mine.

Not knowing this would be a problem and not being in a positioned to keep the car moving I left the brakes applied for a few seconds.

Afterwards I noticed the brakes pulsed when lightly applied. I tried a bedding in process -- the car had some miles on it but I don't recall the miles now but they weren't many and the car was past its break in period of that I'm sure, well, pretty sure.

I was unwilling to buy new rotors and the VW dealer didn't turn rotors. I found with experimentation I could avoid triggering the pulsing by being a bit more aggressive with my braking.

The pulsing stayed away except the few times I used light braking and the brakes were just fine -- wear wise -- when I sold the car with 140K miles on it. It was on its original brakes. The buyer was a light braker and she noticed right away and I told her she would have to either adapt a bit more aggressive braking style or have the brake rotors (and pads probably) with this many miles replaced. She bought the car after consulting with her mechanic about the brakes.

Ever since then I always drive my cars after car wash to dry the brakes before I put the car away. If the car gets a car wash when in for service I make sure to when I take the car out for a road test I use the brakes to scrub away the rust. (Sometimes the brakes are locked from rust and give a pop when driving away.)

When I leave the car outside in the rain I treat the car like it was just washed and drive the car in a way I can use the brakes as soon as possible a few times to dry them and remove any rust.

Works. My 996 Turbo front brakes never pulsed and lasted 120K+ miles. The rears are at 155K miles and still ok. My Boxster's brake life is so good I can't recall the miles I get out of the brakes.

And no pulsing.

Oh, for brake hardware I prefer the hardware the Porsche parts counter manager shoves over at me when I buy the brake parts at the dealer parts counter. The stuff fits, is an identical replacement for what was on the car and my experience is gives good service life. And with buying the hardware locally I can view the hardware on the counter and confirm all is well. The time I brought Boxster brake hardware by mail I had to return the rear rotors. They proved to be the wrong rotors. As I result I had to break the brake job up into two sessions doing the fronts first then after the correct rear rotors arrived doing to the rears.

 

Ok, now getting older and the memory is getting as bad as my.. oh well. I just remembered this has been an ongoing problem.

May 2008, 7,800 miles
Bought from Suncoast Porsche and drove home to NH.

June 2009, 11,500 miles
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...ed-rotors.html

May 2013, 15,000 miles
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...-pad-help.html

June 2017, 17,800 miles
Same problem today.


Looks like 4 years or 2800 - 3700 miles is the norm for replacing my rotors. Each time I went with oem.. Do they sell these things at Walmart, cant be much worse?


.

 

The common link is it appears you wash the car just before you put it away and then let the car sit a long time.

The presence of water won't warp the rotors but as I mentioned in my previous post if the brakes are not used in such a fashion to dry the brakes before the car is put away or to use the brakes in such a fashion when the car is driven again to remove the rust in a benign manner the brakes can develop a pulsing feel.

My preference is to avoid putting the car away even for a night or day with wet brakes.

So, my recommendation is to replace the rotors and possibly the pads if necessary. I'd use OEM or OE brake rotors/pads. Be sure you do a brake bedding in afterwards. The bedding in procedure I have found works for me over the years is to bring the car up to highway/freeway speed and then do a hard braking. Nothing severe but you want to slow the car pretty aggressively from speed from its high speed to about half. It is very important that you do *not* bring the car to a stop. After this hard braking quickly accelerate the car back up to speed and repeat. I have found that after 3 of these there is no real improvement so I stop at 3.

When you wash the car take the car out and drive it around and use the brakes to get them hot enough to dry the hardware. With my Boxster I can get the car moving in 1st or 2nd gear and apply the brakes and continue to drive down the road for a block or so and repeat this before I get the car into traffic. The Turbo when I try the above the DME cuts the throttle so with the Turbo I have to accelerate up to whatever the speed limit is then use the brakes to slow the car but not bring the car to a stop and repeat this a couple of times.

When you put the car away for the season then the brakes will be dry.

However, almost certainly the brakes will develop a bit of rust while the car sits so when you take the car out the first time be sure to give the brakes the same treatment as you did after you washed the car. Apply the brakes -- but avoid bringing the car to a stop -- to remove any rust build up and avoid the risk of pulsing brakes.

Once you have used the brakes to remove the rust then you can do with the brakes what you want.

When I bought my 2003 Turbo in 2009 with just 10K miles the previous/1st owner appeared to have spent more time washing the car than driving the car.

The holes in the front brake rotors were in many cases completely filled with dust/rust. The brakes did not pulse -- thank goodness -- but what I did was take a round file and removed the dust/rust build up. Then I just made sure every time the brakes were wet from a washing or being out in the weather to drive teh car in such a way to dry the brakes first thing.

The front brakes on my Turbo lasted to around 120K miles and never pulsed or exhibited any bad behavior. They just wore out. The rears are still good with over 155K miles on them.

 

I just replaced all 4 corners with pads and rotors and have 85k miles, sounds like you have something wrong, should not wear out that soon.

 

Hondoo (op):

A Porsche just sitting can cause a subtle rotor warp but as Porsche Tech suggested when we determine my '09 had the issue suggested :

"Just drive the car harder, the warp on the rears is quite subtle"

The excuse to brake hard did temporarily solve the issue. 15 moths later, last summer, I did the brakes and rotors; the pads were only 50% worn but the rotors were badly pitted after six years 34k miles. The Pcar was garage stored for five of those winters and driven three times in the snow (w/ winter tires) each winter just because it is a great all-wheeler.

Getting the rotor set screws out (see 1st pic): A Huge PIA as five of the eight screws had to be drilled out. This adds hours and hours of hell to the job.

Just did my BMW '11 3-series; pads & rotors in under 4 hours in the driveway.
Porsche could learn a thing from BMW IMHO on this bit of engineering.

Cheers,

Paul

 

When I get a new car, the first time the wheels are off for a tire rotation or new tire, I replace all those tapered rotor holding screws with stainless versions. Never have to deal with drilling them out or that issue.

 

Petza914,
That is a great and sad idea. A +$100k superior Pcar but they don't spend the $1.40 for such a set of screws. BMW uses a single hex screw but it isn't torque much hence turns quite easily.

Paul