My front brake pads took quite a beating on a recent track day; so its time to switch them out. I am going to order parts from one of the OEM resellers but the extra parts have left me a bit confused.

If I want to change my front brake pads; do I need any of the following?

• Damping Pads
• Wear Sensor
• Caliper Kits

My brake pads have some life left in them and the sensor hasn't gone off .. I just want to change them before I start pushing it.

 

I have the Pagid Blue pads on my 4S. Braking power felt like it increased about 20% to 25% over stock, but they do squeal pretty loud when they heat up.

 

I am a first-time Porsche owner, and have not done my first track weekend pad switch yet, but I can respond from general experience.

The wear sensors should be fine, unless you have gotten a warning light, in which case at least one of them is fried and will need repacing. They just pull out of the top of each pad. Be careful and gently use a small screwdriver and/or pliers to get them out. I will cable-tie mine out of the way and leave them off. But, if you only change pads infrequently from street driving, they are probably worth maintaining.

I don't know for sure what the damping pads are in Porsche-speak. But, I expect they are stick-on pads that attach to the back of the pad to reduce squeal. You can replace them, or, use some anti-squeal compound that comes in both paste and spray-on.

The caliper kit might be a dust boot replacement kit, which I doubt you need. You can easily see if yours are torn or melted. It could also be a kit of replacement pins, cotter keys and anti-squeal springs. If so, you probably will not need them, and can re-use the old ones. (Although I'm sure the Porsche shop manual says you will immediately go blind if you don't replace them with new parts.) But, Murphy's law says if you don't buy them, then at least one will fly across the garage when you remove it, not to be found in your lifetime. So, you might want to buy a set or two and keep in reserve. They should be relatively inexpensive.

Maybe this will help; if not, full refunds are happily extended.

 

The pads do not come with damping pads, the caliper must be abused to be replaced, there are cotter pins and you might need a caliper expander to squeeze the new pads in place.