Standard cast iron brakes vs ceramic coated

[Yorkshirepuds]

Getting close to locking my 4S Cross Turismo spec and am hovering over the PSCB option. I've specced the 21" Cross Turismo design wheels so the discs and callipers will be relatively visible... just a couple of questions to you folks with real life experience of these cars:

1. Has anyone experienced any cosmetic issues with corrosion on the cast iron brakes from underuse (ie. when regen does virtually all the work)?

2. Is brake dust from the cast iron discs reduced enough by regen to make little or no difference between the cast iron discs and surface coated discs with respect to keeping the wheels clean?

Thanks chaps!

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[oalsaker]

PSCBs are coated in tungsten carbide, FYI.

 

[Yorkshirepuds]

PSCBs are coated in tungsten carbide, FYI.

Apologies, I meant to put 'Surface Coated'... Don't think I can edit the title.

 

[tigerbalm]

My reasoning for optioning the PSCB was to reduce rotor rust because of limited use due to regen.

 

[Yorkshirepuds]

That is one of my concerns also... had you heard that rust is a known issue with the standard cast iron discs?

 

[daveo4EV]

90% of braking is handled by regen according to Porsche- the car also “knows” how much it’s been driven and Porsche will use the friction brakes after long periods of idle to “clean” the rotors

the only reason to option PSCB is to further reduce the wheels getitng dirty from brake dust - but again remember the Taycan uses the friction brakes very rarely - unless you’re tracking it or driving in a very very spirited fashion like all the time…

EV with good regen (Tesla, Taycan, Bolt, otheres) brake pads and rotors are considered 250,000 mile or more items

at this point in time from a functional point of view any brakes beyond the stock standard Iron/Red-caliper brakes are purely cosmetic and only offer mild increases in functionality and emotional improvement.

in day to day use they are used soooooo much less than an ICE car they are probably un-necessary - but Porsche will retain them as a profit center and for consistency with options across the product line.

 

[Genau]

Porsche has at least a partial solution to the concern of iron rotor corrosion. From the Good to Know app:

Bedding in and cleaning the brakes

The vehicle has a braking recuperation system that feeds most of the braking energy back into the high-voltage battery. In order to bed in the wheel brake, the recuperation system is deactivated briefly on new vehicles or after changing the brake pads and this reduces the range. To assist in cleaning the brakes, the recuperation system is deactivated for a short time after standstill times of more than 6 hours. The recuperation system is activated again automatically afterwards.

Vehicles without Porsche Ceramic Composite Brake (PCCB)

Even though the brake disks consist of alloyed gray cast iron, they will unavoidably start to corrode if the car is parked for an extended period. The brakes will tend to rub as a result. The nature, extent and effects of corrosion depend on the amount of time the vehicle was parked, whether road salt or grit was spread and whether grease-dissolving agents were used in car washes.

If the braking comfort is noticeably impaired, it is recommended having the brake system checked by experts at an authorized Porsche dealer.

 

[daveo4EV]

oh also the friction brakes are used when the battery is nearly full or can’t accept a charge (temperature related) - so friction brakes are there to “fill in the gap” when regen is not up to the task for some reason - this again leads to uncommon usage but still necessary on the vehicle.

once I get past my Porsche marketing lizard brain conditioning with regards to PCCB’s (they’ve really done a number on me) no one needs anything more than Porsche’s excellent iron rotor red-caliper brakes - the brake pedal feel and repeatability you are experiencing is courtesy of Porsche vehicle systems software group - and you don’t know what is going on behind the “pedal” - nor do you need to know - but the fact is MOST of the time the vehicle is being slowed by converting kinetic energy (vehicle motion) to AC power from the motors being “retarded” and converted from consumption entities to electrical generation entities - there by slowing the vehicle…no friction brakes required (other than as a ”backup system”).

 

[TAYC4S]

Getting close to locking my 4S Cross Turismo spec and am hovering over the PSCB option. I've specced the 21" Cross Turismo design wheels so the discs and callipers will be relatively visible... just a couple of questions to you folks with real life experience of these cars:

1. Has anyone experienced any cosmetic issues with corrosion on the cast iron brakes from underuse (ie. when regen does virtually all the work)?

2. Is brake dust from the cast iron discs reduced enough by regen to make little or no difference between the cast iron discs and surface coated discs with respect to keeping the wheels clean?

Thanks chaps!

Not noticed any discolouration with standard brakes and also hardly any dust because of the regen braking but I also clean the wheels weekly anyway...

what I would say though is it’s a heavy car and scrubbing off high speed even with regen and normal braking certainly makes you aware of the weight you are trying to stop. I would prefer slightly stronger brakes but not sure if PSCB would give you that. It is also not needed for Normal or even heavy footed driving IMO.

 

[Yorkshirepuds]

Brilliant... thanks for all those replies. I think that's swung me to stick with the standard brakes and saved me a couple of grand! I'm going Crayon so the red callipers will complement that too

 

[Mike in CA]

once I get past my Porsche marketing lizard brain conditioning with regards to PCCB’s (they’ve really done a number on me).....

Let's hear it for lizard brain conditioning!

 

[Yorkshirepuds]

Interestingly (well, interesting to me at least!), I just did a search on UK Porsche finder for all used Taycan 4S's and out of the 24 cars available only 5 had standard brakes, the other 19 all had PSCBs. If that's a representative sample then it looks like its a popular option.

 

[Mtljckt]

Brilliant... thanks for all those replies. I think that's swung me to stick with the standard brakes and saved me a couple of grand! I'm going Crayon so the red callipers will complement that too

I'm just about to order my CT in Crayon and your comment makes perfect sense.
I'm wondering how many people upgrade due to calipers colour or them being included in a package. That would explain the larger pecentage.

 

[Tay Tay]

Interestingly (well, interesting to me at least!), I just did a search on UK Porsche finder for all used Taycan 4S's and out of the 24 cars available only 5 had standard brakes, the other 19 all had PSCBs. If that's a representative sample then it looks like its a popular option.

Almost like people who sell their cars after one year are the sort that don’t care about being frugal with money....

 

[Doc B]

Interestingly (well, interesting to me at least!), I just did a search on UK Porsche finder for all used Taycan 4S's and out of the 24 cars available only 5 had standard brakes, the other 19 all had PSCBs. If that's a representative sample then it looks like its a popular option.

I’d imagine most of those are MY2020s - the MY2020 PSCBs has bigger calipers than the MY2021 PSCBs, so that may also have swung the decision for those buyers to upgrade.

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