Do I have to change rotors when doing brakes?
 

My brake light sensor just came on in my 2006 Boxster. I was pricing out things, and will probably call Pelican as well, but does everyone change out the rotors every time they do the brakes? At 100 per rotor...it's not cheap.
Car has 62k on it...no shimmying at all.
Anyone have a recomendation on the brakes...it seems I go around the corner and the wheels are covered in dust.

Do I have to replace the sensors, etc....? Anything else I'm missing besides brakes?

Hello - you definetly do not need to change the rotors every time you do a brake job. Are you going to be doing them yourself? If not, the shop will look at the rotor wear and are able to even them out if needed. Give us a call at 888-280-7799 and one of your Porsche parts specialist will be happy to give you some recommendations based on what you're looking for in the brakes (daily driving, some track, etc..). I've also included a link to the pads that we offer for your 2006.

Standard Brake Pads

Performance Brake Pads


-Dmitry

Have a good look at the rotors. Look for groove rings where the drilled holes are as well as carefully examine the rotors for cracks emanating from the drilled holes. If that is not in evidence, the last thing to do is go to the top of the rotor face and flick the top with your fingernail. If you can feel a lip, then the rotor may be worn enough to replace it. If it is fairly flush with the face of the rotor, you're only needing to replace pads.
Don't forget to flush fluid. Should be done every 2 years at a minimum.

Get a micrometer and take a measurement and compare to the minimum thickness in the manual, as well as what others have said here.

Can I admit to a little bit of heresy? On my 2003 @986 S I always did my brakes myself. I always looked the rotors over for cracks between the holes, and not finding any I got 100k out of my front rotors and will replace my rears when they come due sometime this summer. Car was never tracked, BTW.

My dealer when I first asked them about a brake job informed me that they always replaced rotors when they didn't brakes. While my replacement schedule was probably pushing it, replacing rotors with every pad change struck me as excessive

Carlos

Measure the rotor thickness and runout if you can. On a 987.1 Cayman the minimum rotor thickness is 26mm front, 22mm rear...I suspect the Boxster is the same.

The brake pad sensors come on way early in my opinion. After having gone through a painful pad change due to frozen dampers, I realized I could have just removed the sensors, zip-tied them up, and gone years on the pads that were currently in there. I would do exactly this and check the pads regularly until the thinnest one has less than 2mm of pad left.

The pads I bought were the best I found for low brake dust without reducing performance or increasing noise in my street car. I do not yet have the car back on the road.

If there's a lip on the outside edge, it's basically time for a new rotor.

Remember, the same lip is on the inside as well as the outside and that (obviously) this much wear has occurred on each side. Added together, that's almost always, then, the wear limit.

I would measure...My rear rotors have a very pronounced lip on both sides and they're still at 23.1mm. I do not know if they are original. The car has 80k miles.