DETROIT, Mich.–Porsche’s Australian technical representative says iron-disc brakes are preferable to ceramic-disc brakes for enthusiasts pushing their Porshe 911s at tracks on club days.
The remarks, first published in Wheels Magazine, and expanded upon in Autoblog, have taken some enthusiasts off-guard because ceramic-disc brakes have, as Autoblog wrote, been “promoted as an open-secret weapon on track days.”
Porsche’s Paul Watson, however, advises that ceramic-disc brakes are not recommended because they can degrade fast when drivers are hard on the brakes as they often are when visiting a track.
“When we first launched the discs we told people they’d last virtually for the life of the car and people were doing a number of track days and coming back to us saying ‘I’ve worn them out,” Watson told Wheels. “The issue isn’t about the pure performance value of carbon brakes, but the cost-vs-performance value compared to iron rotors.”
Autoblog notes that Brembo formerly promoted its SGL carbon ceramics as lasting 100,000 miles. But the company has altered its claim to say the brakes have a “four times longer lifetime and obviously less brake pad wear ” than cast-iron discs. Mileage will vary.
