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porsche 944 calipers?

5K views 20 replies 9 participants last post by  byastremski 
#1 ·
well after seeing sucess with many of the members 4pot brake upgrades i was wondering if it would be possible to keep my 16in wheels and use 944 4 pot calipers the stock rotor deminsions are 304x32mm and they used 16in wheels stock
 
#4 ·
yes, but this is the 1988 porche 944 not the 996 911 which had smaller wheels stock 16 inch while still having 4 pot brembos (smaller though)
 
#6 · (Edited)
no the 944s i believe have smaller calipers, which is what im trying to confirm so they can fit on smaller wheels granted the braking performance will not be as good, but im trying to save 500 bucks for new rims

edit - and when i mean not as good i mean not as good as the giant 996 4 piston calipers
 
#7 ·
The 944 did have smaller calipers, but I'm not sure if they're radial mount -- which is what you'd need in order to fit adapters to them. Post a pic if you have one and I'll look...

The 993 front calipers will fit, as will the similar calipers used on the "base" model 996. The "Big Red" calipers found on the 993/996 Twin Turbo are way, way too big....

The major change from the 993 and 996 ones is that the 996 ones are "monoblock" construction. They're made from a single chunk of aluminum and are far stiffer than the two-piece models used on the 993. They're also much in demand by both Porsche and Audi guys, so finding them for decent money is almost impossible.

I have a pair of 996 rear calipers I'm trying to see will fit with the stock rotors on my wife's 9-5....
 
#8 ·
STANDARD FRONT BRAKES: The standard front brakes on the 944 S2 are taken directly from the '87 and on standard 944 Turbo. The pistons used in these 4-piston Brembo calipers are 36 and 40 mm in diameter (two each). The brake pad width is 98 mm, the same as that of the famous original 911 Turbo (model 930). The front rotors used with these standard calipers have a diameter of 298 mm (11.73 in) and a thickness of 28 mm (1.10 in).

M030 OPTION FRONT BRAKES: A 944 S2 equipped with the very rare M030 Sports Suspension option uses the same size front brakes as those used on the 1988 944 Turbo S or 1989 944 Turbo. These larger Brembo calipers first appeared on the 928 S4 so are routinely referred to as the "S4 brakes." The piston sizes are 36 and 44 mm and the corresponding brake pad width is a very substantial 132 mm. The front rotors used with these "S4" calipers have a diameter of 304 mm (11.97 in) and a thickness of 32 mm (1.26 in).

M030 cars use different steering knuckles and hubs. Different knuckles are required because the S4 caliper attaches using a radial mount as opposed to the axial mount for the standard caliper. Different hubs are used to accommodate the 4 mm increased thickness of the M030 rotor.
 
#11 ·
oh yeah, haha i did word that rather awkwardly, as for boxter calipers, they will fit with the right adapter, but youll most likely 17in wheels
 
#15 ·
byastremski said:
so i don't understand... the guy doing the brake upgrade... did he just get blank porsche rotors and drill them himself??? i realy wish he'd provide more info on this project...
The adapter shown allows the caliper to fit a Viggen rotor.

The calipers GenuineSaab sells for the Porsche brake upgrade will do the same, but to a 06 9-3 SS Aero rotor ....although I measured yesterday and saw that the brackets need some additional milling to be centered and perfect....
 
#16 ·
I guess my big question is why? Is this one of those jobs people do just to say they have the brakes? Granted, for the most part saab brakes are not the greatest, but they work pretty damn well when need be. Are you going to auto-x your car, time trial, nasa events? If not then I really do not see the benefit (wrong word) unless all you do on the street is get yourself in situations where you say to yourself "damn i wish i had better brakes". I know we have all said that at times, but.....

Anyhoo, sure i wish I had better brakes and I'm a f-ing crazy driver, but I'm not that crazy enough to spend god knows how much money and time on a project like that. All I'm saying is to really think about this.
Now if you have a machine like Mikes' and john's, etc, then off you go.
Peace out.
 
#17 ·
Most people with moderate power upgrades would be fine with an upgrade to 308mm Viggen/9-5 Aero brakes in the front and 300mm 9-5 Aero brakes in the rear.

With good pads and stainless brake lines, that should be enough for an auto-x or the occasional track day.
 
#19 ·
well ok... that being said... saabsavior makes a brake kit... it only fits the stock rotor size... with these smaller four piston calipers that they offer... will they give better stopping power than that of the viggen brakes??? i would love doing the porsche brakes but it seems like there is a lot of f^cking around involved and im not too pumped on that... granted it would be fun... but the saab is my daily driver... if i had another car to drive while mine was down... i'd be all for it...

so basically what im saying... im going to have 300+ hp and am going to want to do some auto-x... stopping/safety is a very important part of all of this to me... so i'd like to know if those brakes would be sufficient or should i go with doing a porsche upgrade???
 
#20 ·
byastremski said:
well ok... that being said... saabsavior makes a brake kit... it only fits the stock rotor size... with these smaller four piston calipers that they offer... will they give better stopping power than that of the viggen brakes??? i would love doing the porsche brakes but it seems like there is a lot of f^cking around involved and im not too pumped on that... granted it would be fun... but the saab is my daily driver... if i had another car to drive while mine was down... i'd be all for it...

so basically what im saying... im going to have 300+ hp and am going to want to do some auto-x... stopping/safety is a very important part of all of this to me... so i'd like to know if those brakes would be sufficient or should i go with doing a porsche upgrade???

The Saab Savior kit is a lot of money for not much of an upgrade. What realls helps stopping power is moving the gripping surface out away from the axle, so you have more leverage. The Saab Savior kit doesn't do that. The number of pistons can help give you a more even pressure across the surface of the pad, and keep brake fluid temps down, but the stock pads are almost the same size as the Wilwood pads....so you're not gaining much.

We actually have pretty decent stock brakes. I know people who have done auto-x and high-speed driving events on stock brakes and they've performed ok...for a while.

If you're doing auto-x, the amount of HP you'll have is a secondary factor because you won't be able to use much of it. Braking a 3,000 pound car quickly can be handled with the upgrades I mentioned and good pads.

If you're doing track days, you'll need the pads, lines and good fluid. That's where you'll give the brakes a true workout. That's where stock brakes will start to show fade after a few hot laps...
 
#21 ·
thanx for the explanation mike... i really would like to do a porsche brake upgrade... but it just sounds like a sh!t ton of work... as far as the rotors... with the 9-3ss 314mm rotors do those just fit direct??? i mean SS braided lines are a must in the near future... and i would like to do the whole kit but i can just see the potential for problems arising as far as caliper carriers and just making sure everything works the way it should...

but thanx for explaining the saab savior kit for me...
 
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