Quote:
Originally Posted by HeelToe
I think this is key. My friend had CCB brakes on his porsche that he tracks a lot and he scrapped them due to cost and limited compatible pad options. Anecdotally people are suggesting the same here. Seems like great technology but not quite in it's prime yet - too costly and still in early generations and not mature.
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so here is the conundrum with carbon ceramic brakes.
brembo, porsche, vw group, bmw, mercedes all use the same manufacturer of ceramic rotors. they are a hybrid design. carbon lattice (structural only) with a friction layer and an aluminum semi-floating hub. this design minimizes the weight but they do not last long as the friction layer will wear down. there are no pad compounds with higher coefficient of friction because they will wear down the friction layer faster. in summary they are measurably lighter and for a street car average use will last longer.
a pure carbon ceramic rotor can be made and they do exist. but they are far more expensive than the hybrid design. we are talking cost of a new Mustang GT for rotors. also they have no weight advantage over a steel equivalent. the big benefit of them is they supposedly last a lifetime. As the pad wears down the material is transferred to the rotor. Still pads cost significantly more than mainstream because they are made in a much smaller quantity. The pads also wear out fairly quickly but not as fast as the pads on hybrid design. other than a truly longer life even when tracked, they also offer no performance benefit over a steel rotor.
technology will improve and these brakes will get cheaper. but we got a long way to go before that happens. steel is just far too cheap and simple. as far as the ceramic rotors being still immature. they only been around since mid-90's. on their 3rd generation now. sure they don't delaminate after one track outing like the first GT2's with them but now they are just usable only if you don't plan to actually use them hard and are very very careful and lucky... any serious porsche gt enthusiast that visits tracks regularly won't option ceramics in the first place. if they do happen to get a ceramic'd car then they are among the first things to get replaced. same for f8x. i suggest if you optioned them to try it out for yourself on the track once then to put them up on the shelf for rest of ownership. replace them for resale.