Brake Upgrades, Advice, Experiences

[zooklm1]

Brake Hoses-?
I am planning on doing a PCA HPDE at Barber Motorsport Park (Leeds AL) in late July with my 86 944 turbo and need to do a brake fluid flush. This has reminded me that I probably should replace the rubber brake lines as I had one start leaking a couple years ago (and only replaced that specific hose). I know a lot of people like stainless steel braided hoses over rubber, but the car did come from the factory with rubber brake hoses. Any recommendations/experiences?
Thanks

[blueline]

First of all, that's great that you'll be at Barber! (I'm assuming that's the PCA-AL 2-day event there.) It would be nice if I could enter the event and meet you Lee but I've already signed up for a PTC event on the 26th. Anyway, have fun!

Brake lines - my gut feeling is to go with OEM-style but I have zero knowledge regarding what would be best for your 944 Turbo in that regard, so I'll let the ones who know better weigh in with their opinions. I will say that changing the lines for new lines of whatever type you choose is 1000% recommended. Definitely true for the flush too. An ultra high-quality, high-temp racing brake fluid is a must. Motul RBF 660 would be one of several good choices, assuming your car is suitable for non-silicone synthetic.

[Tom]

I bought stainless lines for mine, Troutman from Pelican, but when it came time to install them, I opted to use Porsche parts instead. Couldn't put my finger on it, but I had questions about the quality and ultimately they seemed like a solution in search of a problem. They're DOT approved and I'm sure fine, but figured one less thing to wonder about by using factory parts.

[J-Dub]

I have installed several sets of braided stainless lines as well as replaced with stock style lines many times. I agree with Tom that the quality of the aftermarket stainless lines seems to vary quite a bit. In one car I liked the stainless lines and in the other I went back to stock style as I did not trust the stainless lines.

Any rubber line that is 20 or more years old I would replace. If your 86 likely still has three of the OEM hoses on there I would get whatever you feel comfortable with but just replace them and do a full flush/bleed with new fluid.

[Maruscmn]

Going to throw in Spiegler Brake Lines. IMHO they are the best. Met with the owner years ago and he is a Motörhead. Worth checking them out. USA Made.

[zooklm1]

Thank you for the inputs. Yes on the PCA-AL 2-day event at Barber. I will give the Motul a try.

[blueline]

Here's a new thread started by @motoken regarding brakes and related on his 1986 944 Turbo.

Brake Improvements

[zooklm1]

The link to the 944 Turbo brake thread that blueline added remind me that I wanted to follow up on this thread. I did change my lines with OEM hoses and flushed with Motul 600. My existing pads were at 5 mm and the front rotors were 0.7 mm above the wear limit and rears 1.5 mm. I had a blast at The HPDE and want to go back for more sessions. While I was not overly fast nor really hard on the brakes, I will replace my pads and rotors both front and back. I think I will plan to do 2-3 HPDE events a year and might try some local autocross events. I have read a bunch of reviews about popular high performance street and track pads and would like input from Carpokes members. For rotors I am thinking sebro or Zimmermann.

[blueline]

Glad that you got the hoses changed Lee. Also, good to hear that you had fun at Barber - it's a fantastic track!

Regarding rotors, there are some posts earlier in this thread along with a few links back to others' entries on other threads regarding some of your questions. J-Dub and WillyDaP are using the excellent GiroDisc 2-piece rotors. I'm a hardcore fan of AP Racing's 2-piece J-hook rotors, pricey but so very good. Whatever rotors you get, if for track use, avoid drilled rotors as they will lead to premature cracking.

[zooklm1]

I saw the discussion on the 2 piece rotors and they sound great but I don’t think my skills currently exceed the capacity of the factory system and I would need to “invest” serious coin in a “Big Red” upgrade kit.
I see rotors with grooves and EBC sells a rotor with grooves and dimples. Do they really do much for braking performance?
I saw a lot of good discussion Ferodo DS3.12 but they seem to have an eye watering price. Anyone have a source at a lower price point? Does anyone have experience with Hawk BLACK OR DTC-30?
Thanks