Been reading a lot of posts in the 6speed and rennlist forums on the PCCB and its performance on the track. There seems to lack of agreement whether the pads should be changed to the (Porsche Motorsport) p50 pads before attempting to run the car at the track or are the OEM pads good enough for the occasional DE driver (say 5 times a year)?

Some recommend changing to steel rotors altogether. This seems reasonable if I will track the car every other weekend, but for the occasional DE driver I think the PCCB OEM pads will suffice. I don't think Porsche will design a brake system that is not trackable. Any recommendations based on experience would be appreciated.

 

I've done 6 DE's on PCCBs and stock pads without trouble. Bleed/change the fluid frequently, but no problem with stock set up.

 

Cooking PCCB recipe: with properly heated bakes, raise the speed of your car to 180km/hr, brake as hard as you can to 85km/hr (without locking the wheels). Turn the hair pin, accelerate as hard as your car can to 210km/hr and brake as hard as you can to 110km/hr (again without locking the wheels) then complete Tremblant Circuit. Do that 12 times with P40 pads installed and your front rotors will be well done!!
I was lapping 1m55sec - 2min with a 997 and 997.2 GT3 on slick are doing between 1min40 to 1min50.

See for yourself the picture.

80 shillings is the most competent on this topic, try to find his post. Be careful the majority of the posts speaking against PCCB are from people who don't have PCCB on their cars.

To add on the previous post, never wear your pads over 50%, don't track P40 pads (unless your realy slow), put P50 in front if you lap PSM Off, P50 front and back if you lap PSM on, change the font brake ducts to GT2's and put GT3's back brake ducts. You can see the duct difference on the second picture.

 

Sorry the ducts picture did not followed???

 

I did the Alpes for 4 days - mountains up and down without any problem. My companion without PCCB got very envy.I think occasional is absolut OK.
If you care a bit for the PCCB they are the best brakes. But, the technology is still young, thus PCCB is more sensitive than steel brakes. If you know how, it is very easy to destroy them.
Never, never drive your pads too long, if the check brakes light comes on: Stop and change pads immediately.
When you go on the track, take care no foreign material is on the disk, dust, sand, stones, etc. This happens when you have to drive beside the track.
Simply wash the disk every 4 weeks with normal water to remove sticks and stones (no joke).

 

Thanks for the all the input above.

I also read 80shillings' post which were also informative.

Would it be practical then to swap to the p50 pads at the track then swap back to the OEM p40 after track weekend? BTW, is there a DIY on changing pads on the 997.1 TT? (the ones I have seen are for the Cayman and does not show what to do with the sensors and pins).

 

Very good and informative thread. Bears repeating that from the discussions I've read on PCCB, the common theme seems to be that it's the overheated and/or overused pad that causes damage to PCCB rotor (i.e. the rotor itself is not the problem)?

While iron brake fades and forces drivers to stop, PCCB does not fade as much and car continues to be driven well after the critical max operating temp has been passed. Pad eventually is cooked and it's this damaged pad that destroys the PCCB rotor. So ironcially PCCB's strength (lack of fade) is what causes its damage at the track.

It is from the above common theme that other recommendations we see here are drawn: change pad early (35-40k regardless of how it looks), washes the disc if dirty, stops immediately when brake light goes on, turn off PSM, etc.

 

You can keep the P50, just keep in mind that if you have the GT2 brake duct while driving in heavy rain, the first 20 ft (while driving at 60 miles/hr) with de foot on the brake pedal you'll have zero braking power!!
It did it with the P40-3, so with P50 should be worst but manageable.