[dhc3]

Hello everyone,
I am considering tracking my 2017 BS. Car has 20" wheels. Manual trans, no PASM, sport chrono, otherwise totally stock. I have 20 years DE experience, 10 years PCA Instructor, mainly in a track prepped 87 911. My goal is to track the 718 a few times a year, basically in order to participate and stay somewhat fresh with my driving skills. I would plan to do 9/10ths but as you may know sometimes we just gotta push a bit more.
Plan to do brake fluid, possibly place track pads. Any pad recommendations? Anyone pushed these cars with stock pads?
How about tires re grip and tire wear?
Any other concerns, or suggestions or warnings?
I have set the 87 911 back to street prep, but another option would be to track that car. But with 217 HP it'll be the slowest car out there. Hmm...
Thanks.

 

[RussellHodgson]

I track my 718 CS. It is completely stock. I use Michelin Pilot 4S tires. I only push to about 8/10ths. I've never had any issues with brakes or tires, and can keep up with the average pace in a PCA white group. The brakes and tires both lasted 8 track days easily. Still a lot left in both the pads and tires after that.

 

[faizaan2000]

I track my 718 CS as well. Completely stock other than brake fluid. I have SPASM, PTV, Manual, no SC. Got 10k road miles + 4 events out of the first set of tires (needed to move the fronts onto the opposite wheel halfway through). Brakes still have a bit left but I don't like to run my pads down too far so will replace those as well. For me rear pads are wearing faster than fronts on track because of the PTV. Not going to put stickier tires because then I suspect the brakes may not hold up and this is a DD so don't want to constantly swap pads for track days. For reference I run in the intermediate run groups and try to drive around 9/10ths.

I've had the car at NJMP-T, Summit Point Main, Lime Rock, and Watkins Glen. The Glen's got lots of high speed braking zones that're hard on brakes but the stock setup held up fine. Tires do get greasy towards the end of a session if you're really pushing.

The front brakes on these cars need the caliper removed for pad changes, so replacing the brake caliper bolts with studs from Tarett engineering is probably a good idea. I'll be doing that but otherwise leaving the car alone (for now!).

 

[85Gold]

Racing fluid, since you are experienced I would do race pads. I’m a big fan of Ferodo DS1.11 pads. Clark at Apex performance is a good source at a great price but you need to call not email. Other than that I upgraded to Bridgestone RE-71R tires.

Peter

 

[RussellHodgson]

The front brakes on these cars need the caliper removed for pad changes, so replacing the brake caliper bolts with studs from Tarett engineering is probably a good idea. I'll be doing that but otherwise leaving the car alone (for now!).

What have you done for brake wear sensors? I used Suncoast to get pads and the sensors. But the sensors are ridiculously expensive. Is there anywhere to get them for less? For my 987 I could be a sebro brand sensors, but I havem't seen anything like that for the 718.

 

[nineball]

i am very similar to you. i spent the first 9 years on track in my '83 911 targa. moving to the cayman on track is going to put the biggest smile on your face and shave considerable time off your laps.



here is what i did to originally prep mine:


changed brake fluid to motul 660
set the camber to as much negative as i could
bought a set of 18" volk wheels
bought a set of nitto nt01 tires


i am an instructor and a pretty aggressive driver and with PTV i went through a set of rear pads in 2 weekends (3 day weekends). in one year i used one set of stock rotors, 2 sets of stock front pads and 3 sets of stock rear pads. at the end of last year i switched pads to girodisc s/s pads and they were a nice improvement (not that the stock brakes were bad in any way). i already ordered their 2 piece rotors for this season when i wear out the stock rotors i replaced last year (i have 7 or 8 events already scheduled).



i get about 5 events on my tires and they perform flawlessly provided i give them enough time to cool down between sessions. one time last year my club had a DE in conjunction with a local charity and i was tasked with giving rides to the charity workers. in addition to my own sessions i did about 2 hours straight only stopping to change passengers every 15 mins or so. that smoked my tires. they were done after 2 weekends.


this year i am also going to change over to wheel studs as well.



not really necessary but i bought a set of track mats from rennline and love them.

 

[autobahn]

Hello everyone,
I am considering tracking my 2017 BS. Car has 20" wheels. Manual trans, no PASM, sport chrono, otherwise totally stock. I have 20 years DE experience, 10 years PCA Instructor, mainly in a track prepped 87 911. My goal is to track the 718 a few times a year, basically in order to participate and stay somewhat fresh with my driving skills. I would plan to do 9/10ths but as you may know sometimes we just gotta push a bit more.
Plan to do brake fluid, possibly place track pads. Any pad recommendations? Anyone pushed these cars with stock pads?
How about tires re grip and tire wear?
Any other concerns, or suggestions or warnings?
I have set the 87 911 back to street prep, but another option would be to track that car. But with 217 HP it'll be the slowest car out there. Hmm...
Thanks.

I tracked my 718S on stock pads with Motul RBF600.

No issues with the pads at all, they provided confident, fade-free stopping at COTA all day long in the 105 degree Texas heat.

The stock tires are all not up for the task of hard track driving. I went to RE-71Rs and they performed well.

 

[faizaan2000]

What have you done for brake wear sensors? I used Suncoast to get pads and the sensors. But the sensors are ridiculously expensive. Is there anywhere to get them for less? For my 987 I could be a sebro brand sensors, but I havem't seen anything like that for the 718.

For the first replacement I had actually triggered the sensors so I replaced them. Going forward, I'm just going to tie them aside as they're not really necessary if I'm regularly checking pads for track days anyway.

 

[RussellHodgson]

For the first replacement I had actually triggered the sensors so I replaced them. Going forward, I'm just going to tie them aside as they're not really necessary if I'm regularly checking pads for track days anyway.

Any suggestions on how to best tie them aside? I'm thinking of doing that as well, but don't want them to get caught in anything (brakes, or other moving bits.)


Thanks in advance.

 

[dhc3]

Thanks for your responses. I think I will track the Boxster and use Motul brake fluid. Still undecided as to whether to go directly to track pads or try to stay with stock. 1st event would be Road America. I have a tendency to brake hard and late, so track pads might be the answer. I have done lots of track days at RA, mainly as I mentioned in a prepped 87 911, but I've also done a few weekends in a 996 Turbo; the Turbo was stock with track pads and fluid. My main concern in tracking the Boxster is the body roll of stock suspension and tire wear with 20 inch tires. Definitely looking forward to experiencing the mid engine feel at speed.

 

[JCJ]

Here's my brake pad track experience: 6 days on stock pads, decent on rotors; 9 days on Pagid Yellows, hard on rotors; 11 days on Ferodo, decent on rotors (call Clark at Apex Performance).
Tires: Nitto NT01's w/18" wheels, one size wider front and rear from stock.
Alignment: Tarrett adjustable camber plates: 2.2 neg front and 1.7 neg rear, zero toe front

 

[dhc3]

Here's my brake pad track experience: 6 days on stock pads, decent on rotors; 9 days on Pagid Yellows, hard on rotors; 11 days on Ferodo, decent on rotors (call Clark at Apex Performance).
Tires: Nitto NT01's w/18" wheels, one size wider front and rear from stock.
Alignment: Tarrett adjustable camber plates: 2.2 neg front and 1.7 neg rear, zero toe front

JCJ did you feel you had solid braking with little fade with the stock pads?

 

[dhc3]

Any suggestions on how to best tie them aside? I'm thinking of doing that as well, but don't want them to get caught in anything (brakes, or other moving bits.)


Thanks in advance.

You can zip tie them back around brake line...

 

[RussellHodgson]

You can zip tie them back around brake line...

Do you have a picture of what this looks like?

 

[Semitone]

Here is my experience with the track in my 718 CGTS.

I broke the car in for the first 3000 miles. Then had two track events. One AutoX followed by HPDE a week later.

The AutoX event was very aggressive with multiple runs on a dedicated Auto X track. Didn't count how many runs but best guess is 25-30, maybe more. Not all timed. It was a lot of track time with runs about 1min. Car went through PCA inspection after AutoX for HPDE. HPDE was three 20 min runs. ( I sat out one session that was rain)

At 4000 miles one of my Michelin PS4S tires is toast. Serious chunking on outer edge of left front tire. ( Both events ran clockwise) Others are fine. Not sure exactly when the damage occurred. Could have been at Autox and missed at inspection, could have been at HPDE.

I left the camber at stock adjustment. Stock brakes performed like a champ with zero issues. No brake fade at any point Pads are still fine, both front and rear.

I'm hesitant to stick with the PS4S tires. I absolutely love them for the road but I am not sure if the chunking was a result of the stock camber, curbing on the track or other.

 

[nineball]

JCJ did you feel you had solid braking with little fade with the stock pads?

that was my take. they were very capable but i suggest upgrading to motul 660 for fluid. i would think you would need to be a very bad driver or a racer driving like it was a race to have the brakes fade out in a 30 minute or less session.

 

[JCJ]

I had no fade with stock brake pads. They don't slow you down quite as fast as the Pagid Yellows or Ferodos. I ran stock fluid first year with stock pads. I flushed and filled with ATE 200 at the beginning of the next season. No problems with either. ATE 200 and Motul 660 are good choices for reasonably priced fluids. No need to go to a tier 1 such as Castrol SRF, Endless RF-650 or Brembo HTC 64T

 

[Paul Thai]

Is it better to do Camber plates or GT3 Lower Control Arms? Do GT3 LCA’s work the same on a 718 Cayman as in 911’s and older Caymans?

 

[LittleBlueGT]

LCA push out the bottom of the wheel for more negative camber.

Camber plates pull in the top of the wheel for more negative camber.

Each has its use.

 

[InTgr8r]

I tracked my 718S on stock pads with Motul RBF600.

No issues with the pads at all, they provided confident, fade-free stopping at COTA all day long in the 105 degree Texas heat.

The stock tires are all not up for the task of hard track driving. I went to RE-71Rs and they performed well.

What sizes did you go with in the RE-71Rs??


My track wheels won't arrive for the first few events so want to use the stock 20" wheels temporarily.
I'm struggling to find sizes that aren't too far off the OE front/rear diameter ratios.