MrSam,

I am sure you are mechanically inclined, based on you asking this. Me? I'm all thumbs but even if I was somewhat good mechanically; brakes is one thing I would leave to the experts. That's one function in your vehicle you really can't or shouldn't take a chance on. IMO

 

Yes you should definitely know what you are doing with brakes, for obvious reasons. That said, for those with the appropriate skills, brake pads are easy. Question for those actually driving their Macans (as opposed to foamers like me who are waiting for their build)--is brake dust a significant issue with the stock pads?

 

Yes, dust is ridiculous

 

@jjm quite so, and not only your wheels also your calipers.. bought this today to resolve it

 

I only have 200 miles on mine and so brake dust has not been an issue yet. But I have the 20" Spyder design wheels and with the color of them, it appears they will hide the dust nicely.

 

Just watched that video. I am surprised how easy it is, though I could never do it unfortunately. But the thing I don't understand, he said he left out the part where he compresses the piston. He used a C clamp on the top of the brake pad and the caliper. Once you squeeze it, can you then take the clamp off and the piston stays compressed?

 

@MDJAK, not brake related but do you have a body color spoiler or black? Was never able to find the answer to this. Yours would be the second S model delivered with body color among members I believe. There have been a bunch of Turbos.

 

Brakes are brakes. They're not difficult to change once you know what you're doing and/or have done it once. One of the easiest things you can do on your own, and none of the mess of an Oil change!

 

Very true. A good friend of mine was a Chevy mechanic years back. He laughed at me for going to the dealer to get my oil changed. Offered to do it for me. I took him up on it.


We were standing in his driveway. He drained the oil and then began to fill it back up. That's when I noticed oil running down his driveway. We were so busy talking he forgot to put the drain plug back in.


Good thing he had cats and so bags of kitty litter.


I haven't let him live it down to this day.

 

how much do ceramic rotors and pads cost? I know the porsche brand ones are ridiculously priced but are there other vendors that are cheaper and deliver similar results?

 

I've done lots of car repair work. Last weekend I helped my friend with his brakes. I had him do the physical stuff like take off the tires and put them back on, etc.

A week later he complained about rotation noise at low speeds. Ended up the 3 of the lugs were lose and about to fall off. Luckily he had hub caps to hold them on.

Lesson, check your work.

 

Oh geez ~~~~~

 

You might find the rears a little challenging. Porsche uses an Electronic Parking Brake (EPB) system and ECU from TRW on the rear. That requires a PIWIS Tester II to loosen, tighten and calibrate the new pads. Maybe eventually someone will come up with a work around or less proprietary method. It probably violates laws in some territories in locking maintenance to Porsche dealers.

EPB | TRW Automotive

There's quite a few posts on the internet about similar systems on Audi's and VW's and using a similar tool to reset the system.

Also, the terms Ceramic and Synthetic are hugely overused in marketing. They are abused just as much in paint treatments for example. I'd be pretty sure that the whole traction and stability system is programmed to expect a certain well controlled coefficient of friction.

Maybe there's a reason why Porsche "chose" to pollute the wheels with the claimed 3 times the dust that these wonder pads produce, or maybe they just know how to design cars a little better?

 

Hmmm. I was hoping the rears were simply normal floating calipers. I have no experience with the TRW system. Is there a link to a really good video of the procedure? How much for a PIWIS Tester II if required?

TIA

 

This, or a similar procedure would be for the front fixed calipers. Rather than use a c-clamp to compress, I'd probably just buy the compression tool to use for the fixed calipers as they're not that expensive.

I'm hoping that Hawk has or will have their HPS pads out for the Macan as I'm a big fan. Or their Performance Ceramic as this fellow uses though I think the Performance Ceramic needs to warm up a bit more to get optimal bite.

 

Still, the rears will outlast 2 sets of fronts i guess ? So you could still save one on out of 3 services ?

I have no idea what porsche charges for this, but if you try to buy the 'porsche' pads they are 4 times as expensive as others so I assume the service costs will be at least that + some workhours

 

I object to many things shared above...

I find Porsche sports car pads to be far superior to Hawk HPS, etc. I like customizing and improving my cars, but the reason I now buy Porsches is that the factory does MANY things right. I would track a Cayman on stock pads, I would NEVER do that with HPS pads.

I also find Porsche OE - Textar pads to be quite inexpensive when purchased from the right resellers, very competitive with Hawk.

The rear electronic parking brake is going to be a problem. Some electronic tool will be needed.

Changing pads and rotors is very simple, and a good way to save money on a mechanic. Unlike changing oil which is messy! I understand the fear of messing up your brakes, but there really isnt that much that can go wrong unless you are changing the caliper or lines.

 

Agree with this 100%. After my first few DE's with the Macan and chewing through the pads my Service techs and I had a long discussion around aftermarket or OE. We all mutually agreed that while the wear and heat cycles were clear and visible that most importantly the brakes kept biting lap after lap after lap providing me with complete confidence. No brake fade ever even under the most grueling conditions. None of us thought any aftermarket short of a full Brembo kit although we already run six piston 360mm aluminum monobloc would hold up better than OE. In fact, we didn't even think anything could hold up TO the OE... Quite frankly, I already outbrake most into corners in a crossover, the brakes even on the S are outstanding!! Best brakes I have owned, including aftermarkets other than my bike which runs a race Brembo monobloc setup with custom Brembo master cylinder and ABS....

 

any detail procedure on achieving this

 

For the front calipers you're gonna need a 14 mm trip square bit. It's similar to a Trox, but has more points. Pepboys has that tool. Rears are like any other car.

 

Swapping out fixed caliper (i.e. Brembo) brake pads is fairly easy to do.... I do it regularly in my C7 to/from the track. The caliper's pistons can be pushed in by hand... if not, then you can also use a brake piston compressor tool. I also bleed my brakes with a power pump bleeder... another easy task to do.

Just take your time to learn the procedures and double check your work. And what a benefit it is nowadays to have youtube vids to learn from. It's not rocket science to change pads especially with the monoblock calipers. I'll be doing the same on the Porsche when the time comes to change pads.

Another good investment is a quality torque wrench to accurately tighten wheel lugs. I use a calibrated digital one and again it's another no brainer task anyone can do.

 

Hi,

For the rear brake pads , you should use the Autel mot Pro EU 908 or the TRW Easycheck

in order to release the handbrake motor, then change the pads, and to finish by the reprograming and resetting of the electric handbrake, otherwise you might have errors messages

 

Hello ,

Just to mention that I found our brakes pads references on Textar.com

Have a look

JM

 

how many miles are you getting before changing out your brakes?

 

Thanks a lot for all this info guys, so much to learn. This is my first Porsche and my first car that I would look into maintaining myself.
I was under the impression that anytime you changed brake pads you were also supposed to change the rotors. Is this not true? and if so, when should I be changing the rotors?

 

It's recommended. It is better to consult with your mechanic first to see what he says based on the inspection.

For example, I went in to do my oil change just a few days ago and I asked the same question. After my mechanic inspected my front & rear brakes, he told me my front are wearing normally (30-40% pads left based on 23,000 miles or 38,000 km in service and he projects them to last til around 50,000km or 30,000 miles) but would likely need pads replacement. So I asked what about the rotors, he recommends me to replace them as well because having new pads and worn rotors may accelerate the wear on the new pads as the rotors may cut into the new pad materials faster than expected. He mentioned there are aftermarket rotors that are OEM, just not branded under Porsche, like Zimmerman for instance. They are only a couple hundred per rotor anyway.

 

As long as the rotor has min thickness and doesn't have grooves or other issues, it is good to go.

 

Thanks a lot guys.

 

tools for pushing brembo piston back

please find the photo of the tool which is made for 4 piston

I will do a modification by adding 2 metal plates of 3mm thick
and 165 mm long where the corner would be cut to finish at 40mm

The original plates are 115mm X 60 mm

 

dismantling brembo front brakes

here are the photos how it looks like

 

here are the photos how it looks like

I'm finding very little online to serve as an aid in replacng the brake pads in my 2015 Macan Turbo. The front Brembo 6 piston calipers on the Macan aren't similar to the calipers of other Porsche's used in video examples. Jeanmarie97 is the only posting that shows the Macan front caliper. I assume that the caliper must first be removed as the pads are removed from the bottom. Clips at the top of the caliper are replaced after the pads are taken out? Can someone better explain the calibration that is required for the single piston rear brake caliper after the new pads are installed? Does this calibration require a Windows system computer for the operation?

 

adding pictures of macan s front brake pads

 

state of brake pads after 4000 kms

really in a bad shape