I have a mechanic doing the work for me and he took care of ordering the disks, so here is what I know: the AP rotors can replace the PCCB disks using the same calipers but we need to change the hats and pads obviously. I don't know if the parking brake will be operational, but I guess so since the disk have the same size. If you have steel rotors be careful because they are not the same size than the PCCB (380mm front and 350mm rear).

Another person on this forum switched to AP rotors and seem to enjoy them (see post #12 of this tread).

 

Sounds pretty good actually! Try getting 2000 miles out of iron rotors!

 

Do you know how much cost the replacement PCCB rotors ? Sounds like a stupid trap... 4,500$ each for the rear rotors !

So how much cost a iron disk ? 500$ right ? And you will get much more than 2,000 miles out of them for sure. Still sounds pretty good in your mind ???

 

The issue with the parking brake has to do with the hat/hub not the rotor. The parking brake uses the rear hat as the outside of a "drum" brake, with a pad assembly inside. I have not found many aftermarket rotors for the rear that will work with the parking brake intact.
Matt

 

I purchased a new 996 GT3 with PCCBs back on '04. I freaked out when I first heard of the wear issues with the brakes. I talked with Porsche and they had me switch pads.

I have 8,000 miles on the car, with 3000 of those on track. The rotors show so sign of wear at all.

I drive very fast (former professional driver) and love how they perform. I am a bit mechanically sympathetic with the car by making sure that I do not overheat the brakes.

I will always order this option....mostly because I hate cleaning brake dust. (LOL)

Side note: I checked the AC delete option so the car would be lighter. How bad an I going to get screwed when I sell this car???

 

You did only 3,000 miles since 2004... It's about 750 miles a year; may be you don't track it often enough to overheat the rotors ??? I use the pads specifically design for the PCCB rotors by Porsche and I buy them from the dealer.

Do you see the wear indicators on the surface of the disks (3 dots of the size of a dime) ? Mine start to warp after the dots appeared and I can feel vibrations in that back under hard braking now.

 

I took 2 years off due to a cross country move. I have no wear indicator spots showing yet. As a side note, when the brakes start to get hot I notice that they sound distinctly different.

 

Alcon makes a direct replacement iron setup for the PCCB rotors front and rear. More importantly the rear replacement iron rotor uses the stock Porsche PCCB hat which allows full use of the parking brake. I have this setup on my GT3 and it works/looks great. To my knowledge Alcon is the only vendor to offer this. Every other two piece rear rotor replacement eliminates the rear parking brake. The factory Porsche 997 cup car rear one piece rotor is also a direct replacement for the PCCB rotor. This option also allows the use of the parking brake at significant savings. Arlan Motorsports offers the Alcons here in the States. JZ Machtech in England for the rest of you guys.

 

Old guy-

This is off topic, but don't be scared of spine surgery. If you go to a surgeon that does whatever procedure you are having day in and day out, and he or she is in their 40s or 50s, you will probably be amazed at how much improvement there is (in most cases). I am not providing medical advice here, but take it from someone who knows...

This is one stupid thread, but at least we got some information on AP brakes and other ceramics. It all depends on how you drive at the track. We all brake differently, and ceramics cost more to replace. Big deal...

-Gerry

07 GT3RS

 

With all due respect, I think you are missing the point. It's not only that they cost more and not a big deal because you can afford it.

Porsche claims that not only they provide a better braking feel and do not fade, they add they are made of a special material that resist to overheat and last much more than cast iron. This is not true. These PCCB are a defective product and like any other defective product, the manufacturer should go back to their R&D department to find a solution and stop selling it.

In the meantime, if you don't care paying 10 times the cost of an equivalent product to show off the yellow calipers, it's up to you. No big deal...

 

I DID SWITCH TO AP RACING ROTORS IN MY RS. THEY WERE HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BY THE GUYS FROM FARNBACHER LOLES THAT TAKE CARE OF MY CAR. THEY WORK GREAT. NO ISSUES WITH THE PARKING BRAKE.

 

Thanks for the feedback Tocho.

It's really helpful and I'm happy my mecanic did the right choice ! Do you track your car a lot and how would the AP rotors compare to the PCCB in brake feel and durability ? Can you tell us why you switched to cast iron ? Any issues yourself with the PCCB and was your Porsche dealer helpful ?

It's a lot of questions but I think many forum participants would appreciate.

Thanks again,

 

I went for steel as I was going thru brake pads (in the PCCBs) very quickly and they were very expensive to replace. Eventually I would've needed to replace the rotors too and as you know they're stupid expensive as well. I took the AP Rotors on trial to the track and they felt great, at my level I dont think the weight makes a lot of difference and the cost-benefit was pretty obvious. The only downside is that the pads (Pagid greens) tend to squeal a lot and that can be annoying in the street but I can live with it. Year to date I've done about 20 track days.

 

We're talking about track miles, not street miles. PCCBs should last the lifetime of the car if it doesn't see the track.

IMO, you are either conserving the brakes, or not qualified to talk about brakes if you can get more than 1000 miles out of an iron rotor. To see 2-4x that lifetime with PCCBs seems pretty durable to me.

 

Did you switch the front and rears? And if you switched the rears, did the AP rotors use the PCCB hats or did they come with a new hat?
Thanks,
Matt