Brake replacement for 2020 Taycan 4S

[WasserGKuehlt]

23.7K miles on my 2020 (40 months old) - the Suncoast chat technician said you can change just the pad but the dealer / brake shop said you “probably” have to change both…so I’m still unsure what the right answer is.

I agree with @Hirschaj - this is way too low of a mileage for disc replacement. I'm at 20k miles and the pads have lost 1-3mm at most (standard brakes, not P*CB). Even if you use the hydraulic brakes a lot, it would seem premature to replace the discs.

@Vercingetorix - you stated above that the PSCB system requires tandem replacement of pads and discs; any references you can share?

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[gtm]

Yes - replacing PSCB and rotors got me to $9300 non-dealership...does it matter if I have another brake installer put them on and save on non-Porsche dealership labor mark-up?

You can have anyone service your brakes without impacting any warranty coverage. That said they have to do a professional job. I would reach out to the local chapter of the Porsche club. There are plenty of Porsche specialists that could service your brakes. For that kind of money I'd take the car somewhere local and just have them do a brake inspection. Pull the wheels and check the friction material thickness on all the inner and outer pads. Half an hour of labor (+/-) to satisfy yourself that the work needs to be done. 24,000 miles seems like very low mileage to need front and rear brakes on an EV. It would be low on almost any ICE vehicle for that matter.

 

[Schlossj]

You can have anyone service your brakes without impacting any warranty coverage. That said they have to do a professional job. I would reach out to the local chapter of the Porsche club. There are plenty of Porsche specialists that could service your brakes. For that kind of money I'd take the car somewhere local and just have them do a brake inspection. Pull the wheels and check the friction material thickness on all the inner and outer pads. Half an hour of labor (+/-) to satisfy yourself that the work needs to be done. 24,000 miles seems like very low mileage to need front and rear brakes on an EV. It would be low on almost any ICE vehicle for that matter.

I will have them fully inspected first. I have had a brake “squeal” for a while while braking at very low speed (final few feet to a full stop). There’s also a light squeal sometimes at very low speed as the wheel rotates without braking. Seems to happen in very dry conditions. When the wheels are wet it goes away. Brakes have been flushed and it hasn’t fixed the problem. Dealership cannot see me for a month as they are inundated with Taycan work right now. So my original thread here was asking in the case I need brakes. But frankly it seems to me there’s something else going on - and at some point I thought I participated in a different thread about this problem. But since it hasn’t resolved itself, I’m having the brakes checked to rule that out. Any other thoughts from this esteemed crowd?

 

[Hirschaj]

I will have them fully inspected first. I have had a brake “squeal” for a while while braking at very low speed (final few feet to a full stop). There’s also a light squeal sometimes at very low speed as the wheel rotates without braking. Seems to happen in very dry conditions. When the wheels are wet it goes away. Brakes have been flushed and it hasn’t fixed the problem. Dealership cannot see me for a month as they are inundated with Taycan work right now. So my original thread here was asking in the case I need brakes. But frankly it seems to me there’s something else going on - and at some point I thought I participated in a different thread about this problem. But since it hasn’t resolved itself, I’m having the brakes checked to rule that out. Any other thoughts from this esteemed crowd?

There's a squealing noise that is mentioned in some other threads that sounds like a brake squeal but is actually something electronic. It happens on my car at certain low speeds and I mostly hear it when I'm in a parking garage with the windows rolled down. It happens during light acceleration and during light braking and has absolutely nothing to do with the mechanical brakes. Could this be the noise you are hearing?

Here's a long thread on this topic which heavily debates if it's brakes or electronics. This might not be related to your issue at all but then again, it might be. https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/squeaking-squealing-noise-outside-of-car.5011/

 

[whitex]

23.7K miles on my 2020 (40 months old) - the Suncoast chat technician said you can change just the pad but the dealer / brake shop said you “probably” have to change both…so I’m still unsure what the right answer is.

What made you think you need new brakes?

 

[Schlossj]

What made you think you need new brakes?

I’m not sure I do. But I’m collecting data in case I do.

 

[irrelevant]

I can’t imagine how you‘d need new brakes at such low mileage on an EV that uses regenerative braking for 90% of the braking force.

I wouldn’t think twice about swapping the pads only (assuming they even require it). Rotors aren’t disposable unless they are damaged, though Porsche might be overly-proud of their “surface coated“ rotors. I can certainly clean brake dust once a year for $9,000 if the reason they want them changed is because the coating wears off.

For reference, our Taycan had a brake booster fail at around 1,800 miles. I made a video to demonstrate the sound it was making, and the dealer’s first response was “it’s normal for brakes of high performance cars to squeal”. While that can be true, it wasn’t related to our issue. Porsche must sell a lot of cars to people who don’t understand machines, with a comment like that.

I can see a shop dealing with a squealing brake complaint from a customer by saying “we can solve the issue by changing everything”’, when there isn’t really a problem to begin with.

Best wishes finding a reasonably-priced resolution for the issue. It might be as simple as understanding it isn’t an issue…I can’t really say without hearing what you are experiencing.

 

[whitex]

I’m not sure I do. But I’m collecting data in case I do.

As others have suggested, unless you've been heavily tracking your Taycan, it is unlikely that your brakes are worn out at such low mileage. I don't know whether you have some defect (e.g. brakes do not disengage all the way) or is the dealer looking to make extra money, but it would be odd for Porsche brakes to be worn out at this point, especially considering that Taycan is supposed to do 90% of daily braking via electric regen, so no brake wear at all.

Out of curiosity, how many tires have you gone through so far?

 

[Torv]

I'm expecting the worst - but will have it all inspected first - hopefully I can just replace pads...

How many miles is on your car? Do you tear ass around town or the track? My understanding is that you should get at least 60K miles out of the factory brakes.

 

[andix]

Which brakes?
PCCB, PSCB or just "normal" brakes?

 

[f1eng]

I would have thought the main non-cosmetic reason for the plated brakes was that the hard coating doesn't wear much. If the discs haven't worn through their plating changing discs should only be needed if the discs have distorted, unlikely on an EV that hardly uses friction brakes at all. unless lots of track days.
Weird.

 

[Schlossj]

I can’t imagine how you‘d need new brakes at such low mileage on an EV that uses regenerative braking for 90% of the braking force.

I wouldn’t think twice about swapping the pads only (assuming they even require it). Rotors aren’t disposable unless they are damaged, though Porsche might be overly-proud of their “surface coated“ rotors. I can certainly clean brake dust once a year for $9,000 if the reason they want them changed is because the coating wears off.

For reference, our Taycan had a brake booster fail at around 1,800 miles. I made a video to demonstrate the sound it was making, and the dealer’s first response was “it’s normal for brakes of high performance cars to squeal”. While that can be true, it wasn’t related to our issue. Porsche must sell a lot of cars to people who don’t understand machines, with a comment like that.

I can see a shop dealing with a squealing brake complaint from a customer by saying “we can solve the issue by changing everything”’, when there isn’t really a problem to begin with.

Best wishes finding a reasonably-priced resolution for the issue. It might be as simple as understanding it isn’t an issue…I can’t really say without hearing what you are experiencing.

I will have brakes inspected and report back! Thanks for all of the very helpful inputs here!

 

[Schlossj]

Which brakes?
PCCB, PSCB or just "normal" brakes?

PSCB

 

[Schlossj]

How many miles is on your car? Do you tear ass around town or the track? My understanding is that you should get at least 60K miles out of the factory brakes.

23.7K and no tracking or extreme “tear-assing”…

 

[Schlossj]

As others have suggested, unless you've been heavily tracking your Taycan, it is unlikely that your brakes are worn out at such low mileage. I don't know whether you have some defect (e.g. brakes do not disengage all the way) or is the dealer looking to make extra money, but it would be odd for Porsche brakes to be worn out at this point, especially considering that Taycan is supposed to do 90% of daily braking via electric regen, so no brake wear at all.

Out of curiosity, how many tires have you gone through so far?

Have only changed the fronts and really only because I lost one to a pot hole and the other was close enough to replacement depths.

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