[blackwasp]

Porsche surface coated brakes (PSCB) were first offered as a standard feature in the 2019 Porsche Cayenne Turbo. PSCB consists of brake rotors that are coated with a thin layer of tungsten carbide. This gives a unique mirror finish and a very smooth texture to them. Special brake pads are used as well. These brakes are claimed to offer better stopping power as well as reduced brake fade and brake dust. The calipers are painted in white. As they are coated, you'll find that they do not rust. Porsche also claims a 30% increase in rotor life.

In terms of pricing, these sit between the track-use carbon ceramic brakes and the regular cast iron brakes.



For the rotor, the iron is first heat treated and then galvanized. It is then sprayed on with a 100 micrometer layer of tungsten carbide - the same material that drill bits are made of. For the pads, Porsche had to develop something new as well. As the rotor surface is smooth, the engineers added some very hard materials to the pad - microscopic particles that penetrate the tungsten carbide coating. At low speeds, the whole pad covers the rotor, but as speeds increase, the hard components of the pad throw out their microscopic anchors, resulting in superior high speed braking performance. Porsche claims 90 percent less brake dust compared to a gray-iron brake. These brakes also don't show signs of fading up to 600 degree Celsius.



After about 6,000 km, the pads polish the discs to a shine, matching the colour of the calipers. The ten-piston fixed calipers in the front and the four-piston fixed calipers in the rear are finished in white to show off the brakes' minimal brake dust.



Cost wise, these are a US$ 3,500 option, but consider these as brakes that last 30% longer than usual and offer braking performance similar to those of the higher-end carbon ceramic units (US$ ~9,000). While not cheap, considering the performance benefits and vastly cheaper cost compared to carbon ceramic units, these brakes would be ideal for someone driving a sporty car and taking it to the track occasionally.

Here's an informative video on these brakes:

https://youtu.be/ZCj83_uF9dE

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Rehaan]

Amazing! The fact that they had the cojones to make the calipers white by default shows that they are walking the talk:

Originally Posted by blackwasp

Porsche claims a 90 percent less brake dust compared to a gray-iron brake.

While brake dust isn't a major upkeep problem we deal with in India (since our cars need to be washed daily anyway), in other countries where car cleaning is way more infrequent it certainly makes a bigger difference.

I remember looking out of a bus window when on a US highway, and noticing that despite every car on the highway looking well-kept and clean, the front wheels were always LOT darker / dirtier looking than the rear wheels.

Why? Brake dust!

The front wheels do most of the stopping, typically have larger pads & discs, and therefore generate way more brake dust than the rear wheels.


EDIT: Tried my best to find a picture of a car on the highway with dirty front wheels. Found this on Google Images, and was surprised to see the accompanying text:

source


PS - Also... Missed opportunity : Rotors that light up under hard braking! I mean, they're made of tungsten anyway

[saisree]

This just came in Engineering Explained FB feed and we have this already here. So, will this technology come to mass market and used by all the manufacturers.