Transformation #1 - The Brakes

After our initial once-over, Nick and I decided to address the braking system first. Everyone likes to go fast - however, we also like to stop!

As this is early in the game, we intend to upgrade the brakes to "BSX" level. This means the pads are "free" (we can use any pad we'd like), but we need to retain stock rotors and stock calipers. We can add brake cooling, but intend to do that later.

We ordered new brake rotors ("Zimmerman"), brake pads ("PBR Ultimates" - a good street/track pad that won't eat the rotors), brake lines ("ATE" rubber DOT-approved), and brake fluid ("ATE Blue") from Strasse USA Porsche Parts (if you give them a call, ask for "Gabe" and tell him Mike sent you!). The rubber pedal pads inside the cabin were also heavily worn, so we replaced those too (in hindsight that was dumb... because Nick threw them into the trash at the first track event to improve his heel-and-toe technique!).

Servicing the brake system was fairly simple. As everything was coming off, and the fluid would be replaced, we didn't have to worry about much. We did the fronts first, and the rears second. We did have a slight issue... When pulling off the caliper, one of the bolts was "galling" (seized) inside the aluminum mount. After slowly (I mean slowly) removing it, we had to re-cut the threads with a tap-and-die to clean the up. During re-assembly, we used high-temperature "anti-seize" on the bolts to prevent it from happening again.

Once everything was slapped back together, and the brakes bled (start with the right/rear, then left/rear, then front/right, and finally the front/left) it looked like new! Very nice.

A few notes: Even though the brake lines looked OK, they are the only "flexible" (read that as "wear item") in the hydraulic system outside of the master cylinder and calipers. They had 115,000 miles on them over the past decade. It would really suck to have one fail at speed, and they are inexpensive to replace... so better safe than sorry. Oh, why didn't we use stainless braided lines? In all honesty, I have braided steel lines on my 930, and I cannot tell the difference. The Boxster's brake lines are wrapped in a steel spring (you can see it in the pic above) for protection against debris damage anyhow.

- Mike