Discs could need replacing after 1 year, surely a joke.

[Guest]

Had my Boxster S almost 1 year now, just phoned up the dealer to get it booked in for a service and I was given a sort of heads up warning.

I was told that my discs may need replacing. Apparently quite common.

The backside of the discs get very pitted and corroded. I'd have thought a good blast down a favourite B-Road would sort that.

Has anybody else had this problem. Mine has done about 5000 miles and two trackdays, the discs look fine, loads of meat left on them.

 

[NicD]

I was told this at MOT time (so three years and 20,000 miles) and in fact did replace them before examing them closely.

In fact, should have simply emery papered the surface corrsion off the disks. would recomend you look at this.

I would guess your car sits idle for weeks at a time?

 

[Guest]

It sits from Monday to Friday afternoon while I'm away. But I use it friday nights and all weekend.

The discs were replaced when I bought the car, so these discs and pads only have 5000 miles on them and could need changing. Not a happy chappy.

I'll have a look on the backside's of them on Friday.

 

[Mark_Bennett]

Has the dealer seen the car - or did he just say this when you phoned to book it in?

[&:]

 

[Rotorhead]

There have been lots of threads about this, so it is common.

It tends to affect cars with drilled discs that are left standing for periods, especially if cleaned and garaged without drying the discs (through heat/braking). It is apparently mentioned in the hand book and it is a potential MOT failure.

However, at 5,000 miles, the discs can almost certainly be skimmed.

 

[Guest]

It was a friendly warning from the dealer. They haven't seen the car yet, but they said it is quite common so they now pre-warn people woth Boxster S'

Just wondered how common it was, if anybody has had what appear to be prefectly good disc's binned. Never had this on any other car, quite surprising.

The side of the disc I can see is perfect, I'd have thought the other side would be the same if the caliper puts the same pressure on both sides?

 

[NicD]

On my rears, the outside was good, the inner side was surface crazed, but could have been taken off by hand with emery paper.

 

[andy mac]

Do yourself a big favour and get your discs checked at a local garage. My OPC told me i had 500 miles left on rear discs and pads,so had them checked out and 8000 miles later my OPC has told me i only have 500 miles left on my rear discs and pads . Surprise, surprise. kind regards Andy Mac

 

[Guest]

Exactly... I was tpold all 4 corners needed doing... At a cost of £1650.

I laughed, ordered the hardware from ECP and did it myself. Really really easy, job, infact easier than Mrs Boxsterboys 106.

Until i pulled the back wheel, pads & discs off..... They were all fine! Still a good 20k on em (Ish [] !) Well thats what i told the OPC.. and blagged some goodies for the stilly mistake they made.

 

[Guest]

As mentioned, they haven't seen the car yet, so all could be well. It was just a warning really.

We shall see very shortly[]

 

[Bmac]

When you put your car into a main dealer they will always say the same things when it goes in for a service they will advise that you need new pads, discs or both or just a brake clean also they usually say you need new wiper blades and your tyre tread is low, This is how the make up there workshop hours if they advise these to everyone then some people just tell them to go ahead.. Having been in the motor trade 10 yrs with different franchises ( Sales) i can always tell people what the service dept are going to advise ( most of it not req !) Remember that when you go next time!
I bought my 51reg Boxster when it was 2yrs old it only had 11.5k on the clock and the prev owner ( 69yrs old) i bought it off had just serviced it at his local OPC they said it required front pads, rear pads/discs and 2 tyres total of £1500 and he paid it. The car was dry use only and kept in a heated garage and he always kept the hand brake off . OPC pulled his trousers down !!!

 

[Black80XSA]

S brakes are more prone to this - if they are left rusty after washing then thy are likely to pit, and even start to crack form the cross drilled holes. You should always go for a drive after washing the car and apply enough brakign pressure to build up hat in the discs and pads. Cracks of 5mm or more are an immediate MOT failure.

Its not difficult to change the discs yourself, and cheaper than paying £110 per hour labour. Failing that get you local specialist to do them.

 

[Guest]

I always take the car for at least a 10 mile drive after washing, cleans the breaks and helps dry the underneath of the car and any other dark places.

Plenty of almost emergency like stops. I'm always amazed when I get back at the amount of rust that's left on the inside of the wheels.

Actually most of the time the car needs another wash when it comes back in[]

It's not an OPC I go to, it's a well respected Specialist in the North. I've got a price for MOT, annual service and changing the discs (if required) of 650. Very reasonable I thought.

The wheels are coming of anyway for new tyres so they said I won't need to worry about the labour. Plus buying a new car from them in a few months could be helping.

 

[chrisbradley]

That sounds like a good price Simon - I presume it's Specialist Cars of Malton. You'll not need to borrow the emery paper then ! My OPC (Newcastle) charged me £500 for a basic annual service last year.
What car are you getting now - are you to be lost from the Box S fraternity ?

Chris
986 Boxster S Atlas Grey

 

[Guest]

Alright Chris[]

Got home about 14:00, jacked the car up. Backsides of the disc's were corrorded, but not too badly.

Took it for a good run, plenty of heavy braking. Jacked the car up again when I got in, disc's fine again.

I'd whole heartedly recomend all S owners to have a look at the back of there discs from time to time. Really surprised how rusty mine were after only 4 days in the garage. The front faces always look fine, that's what caught me out.

 

[Guest]

For Bmac. What's wrong with being 69 years old. It is better tha the alternative.

 

[Delbox]

Before the OPC can sell on my part-exchanged 987 Boxster S it is going to fit new pads and discs all round; the sales executive who collected the car from me thought that the brake performance was only 'adequate' on his return journey in the Boxster S to the OPC. Therefore, the brakes were checked and the solution identified.

The car was 15 months old, had 7400 miles recorded, had NOT been used on track days - and I always dried off the discs properly by driving to warm them up and disperse the water after washing the car. The cost, apparently, will be £1600; presumably, at the car's first service at 2 years old in November this year, the OPC would have identified the 'problem' and advised me to change them. I'm just glad that I'm not paying now!

I will be even more particular about drying off the discs on my new 997 C4S when it arrives later this month!

 

[Bmac]

Lawrence did not mean anything about him being in his sixties all i meant was he was a mature owner who didnt abuse it . Sorry if anyone picked me up wrong.

 

[Steve Brookes]

I've developed a theory that our discs wear much better when the car is used everyday than when it is frequently left standing for a few days each week.

Looking through the service receipts for my car (from previous owners) the discs have never been changed and the pads changed once. The car was serviced at an OPC at 48K miles when I got it and they commented that the discs and pads would be fine until the next service.

Now, last week was the first time that the car was left standing for a whole week while I went on hols. After 3 days use I can still see the outline of the pads on the disc where rust has formed. Until then they were always smooth and shiny. I believe that the rust on the disc surfaces will act, in conjunction with the pads, as an abrasive and cause wear. The moral being that a car left standing regularly will constantly suffer from 'rust abrasion' leading to much faster wear of the discs as some are seeing in this topic.

BTW I've found an independent that will fit original discs and pads for half the cost of an OPC when I'm ready to change in the next few months.

p.s. Porsche brakes are by far the best I've ever experienced on a car[]

 

[jw2015]

ORIGINAL: Delbox

Before the OPC can sell on my part-exchanged 987 Boxster S it is going to fit new pads and discs all round; the sales executive who collected the car from me thought that the brake performance was only 'adequate' on his return journey in the Boxster S to the OPC. Therefore, the brakes were checked and the solution identified.

The car was 15 months old, had 7400 miles recorded, had NOT been used on track days - and I always dried off the discs properly by driving to warm them up and disperse the water after washing the car

I would suspect that your brakes would probably have been perfect if taken out for some serious braking at high speeds. I had the exact same feeling with mine when I got it at 13months and 4500 miles on the clock. I posted here, saying the brakes didn't feel as good as they should (and I could hear the pads rubbing on the discs when I used them). Advice was to go out and do plenty of serious emergency stops from about 50 or 60 mph, down to just short of ABS kicking in, and then let them cool off with a bit of a drive and some normal light braking. This improved the brakes dramtically and got rid of the rubbing noise. Since I sometimes leave the car sitting for a few days at a time in bad weather, I find that I have to give the brakes this treatment on the odd occasion. Seems it's just basic maintenance of high performance brakes.

While on the subject of brakes, on my recent track experience I almost had a bit of a soiled pants moment, when I came back out onto the track after a 5 minute break. The pit lane allowed a reasonable build-up of speed to the first corner and I attacked it, only to find at the braking point that I had minimal brakes and had to work hard to slow it to a manageable speed. After that bit of hard braking they were fine again. Any ideas why this happened? It may have been raining while the car was sitting there for the 5 minutes but this felt much worse than wet brakes and they had been going great in the first session. The track isn't particularly hard on brakes either.