During the 2020 992 series Porsche 911 launch in Australia, Wheels Magazine spoke to Paul Watson, the country's technical representative in Porsche. When the conversation was about carbon-ceramic brakes, Watson surprised his questioners with the statement that "if you do club days, we would always recommend iron discs." This is an unexpected consideration, given that carbon-ceramic rotors have been promoted as an open secret weapon for circuit days.
Watson explained that "ceramic discs can deteriorate if you brake hard" and that "heat-accumulated carbon fibers on the disc will deteriorate." However, rotor wear does not come from the rotor material.
The context of the Watson statement comes when he says: "When we first launched the discs, we told people they would practically last for the life of the car and that people did a number of trackdays and came back to us and said: "I've worn them out. & # 39; "It is not about the pure performance value of carbon brakes, but about the cost vs. performance value compared to iron rotors.
Brembo has been promoting its SGL carbon ceramic for 100,000 kilometers. The company has changed the wording on the page to say that they have "a four times longer service life and significantly less brake pad wear" than cast iron discs. Your kilometers would certainly vary.
A little time on a Porsche forum shows the anecdote from Watson. Forum discussions are at least five years about whether the Porsche Carbon Ceramic Brakes (PCCB) justify their new and replacement costs. Porsche asks $ 8,520 to put PCCB on the 992 911 series and $ 9,210 to choose them on the 911 GT3. A set of replacement rotors for the front axle costs $ 11,500. Aftermarket carbon brake kits, specially made for Porsche, and that can be refurbished, cost $ 14,949 in one case, $ 21,895 in another, or $ 29,000 from Brembo. And they require specific, expensive pads.
For the hardcore track, these are many cast-iron rotors. For example, the Brembo steel brake kit is one third of the price of the Brembo carbons; an AP Racing package is one fourth of the price. That's why some people recommend buying a set of Brembo discs and storing the PCCB's until an owner resells the car, and why YouTube is full of videos from Porsche owners who are carbon-ceramic swap. In that respect, carbon brakes are notoriously vulnerable. When the house fitter finishes the rotors, there is another mongo money repair.
Carbon brake sets are lighter, look cool and have to last much longer than cast iron discs on the road. They also do not create an inhibitor – a good thing for respondents from the J.D. Power survey and the fish. A document from Washington State University said that small amounts of copper from inhibitor kill salmon in the Pacific Northwest, as well as a study by the Ecological Society of America.
So when Wheels asked Watson to use carbon-ceramic brakes, he said, "People who don't want to clean their wheels don't leave any brake dust, so that's an advantage."