When it comes to upgrading your Porsche 944’s brakes, there are plenty of viable options out there spanning different budgets and complexity. But choosing which brake upgrade to go for can be a little more challenging than you might expect. Depending on whether your 944 is for the road, touring or the track can massively sway the type of brake upgrades you’ll require – as well as alter how much you’ll need to budget for.

So let’s dive in and find out exactly what type of brake upgrades you can do to your Porsche 944 whilst (ideally) not breaking the bank simultaneously.

 

 

Refreshing the brake system on a 944

Now, as much as this point might seem downright bizarre to put on a list of brake ‘upgrades’ – there’s a good reason so hear me out.

Sometimes the best way to overhaul your 944’s braking performance is simply to refresh the discs, pads, fluids and if necessary – the master cylinder. Despite the Porsche 944 being over 30 years old, the stock brakes are actually incredibly good. This is especially true on post-1985 cars where the car has a major facelift and the innovative BOSCH anti-lock braking system was introduced onto certain car models.

An argument can be made that for a bone stock 944, there isn’t any need for true brake ‘upgrades’ until you’re either chasing more power, or you’re turning your 944 into a track car.

So what should you replace?

 

 

Grab yourself some lovely new front and rear discs for around £300 (depending on if you go OEM or aftermarket, the price will vary). Then snap up some new pads, but be sure to check what pads you’ll need as the calipers are different depending on the model of Porsche 944 that you have.

Stock brake pads will cost you around £100 for the front and rear calipers – but if you’re looking for a little more stopping power, you could grab some performance brake pads instead which will cost you somewhere in the region of £200 (brand depending).

You can of course find a variety of options for discs and pads on our website – as well as a bundle kit if you want to save yourself a bit of cash.

 

By Daniel J. Leivick – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7059191

 

Once you’ve got some new discs and pads, it’s worth flushing out your brake system with brand-new DOT 4 fluid to ensure everything works as it should.

Just remember to bleed the brakes properly so that your brake pedal doesn’t resemble that of a soggy sponge.

Uprated brake discs & brake pads for your Porsche 944

As I briefly touched on earlier, you can improve the braking performance of your 944 by going a step beyond the traditional OEM replacements and fitting aftermarket discs and pads to help improve braking performance in a variety of conditions.

This is especially true if you’re planning on turning your 944 into a fast road/track car which naturally requires much heavier braking, more regularly.

So a super quick run-down on why aftermarket discs and pads might be the correct route for you to go down if you’re looking to add more power or track the car.

When braking, pads are putting pressure against the disc to create friction – this friction does a lovely job of slowing down the car, but also generates a tonne of heat. The more heat you generate on the brake discs or ‘rotor’ due to more pressure, the less effective your brakes will be.

This is known more commonly as brake fade. The reason for brake fade is mainly where the heat of the brake discs develops hard spots created by heat not being able to dissipate – in turn, making the pads less effective due to a lack of friction with the disc.

For this reason, drilled and grooved brake discs are often a common sight on high-performance cars as it allows for better heat dissipation and surface clearing.

Drilled discs will do a better job of allowing heat to escape whereas grooved discs will do a better job of keeping the brake surface clear.

A similar story goes for uprated brake pads for your Porsche 944.

Generally speaking, there are four different types of brake pads you can use:

• Stock brake pad – Perfect for daily driving and the odd Sunday drive.
• Street brake pad- A nice boost if you’re looking for a little more ‘bite’.
• Track brake pad – A harder pad compound will deal with higher brake temperatures.
• Race brake pad – Great performance with heat and hard braking, less effective at slower speeds.

For this reason, it’s important to understand what you’ll be using the car for 80% of the time.

If your car is getting regular track use, track pads are a great choice to reduce brake fade. Race pads are only really needed when you’re competing in motorsport with your Porsche 944.

You can take a look at uprated discs and brake pads on our website here to see what might be right for you.

 

 

Installing a Big brake kit for your Porsche 944

And finally, onto the reason many of you are probably reading this article – let’s talk about brake caliper changes.

First of all, it’s important to mention that caliper upgrades aren’t hugely necessary for your Porsche 944 unless you’re chasing high power figures, and regular track day use. That being said, a big brake kit can look very cool and are also functional – so if that’s what you’re looking for, let’s take a look at the options.

One of the more ‘common’ big brake kit upgrades on the 944 is swapping them out for the Porsche 993 Turbo brake calipers. Or ‘big red calipers’ as they’re affectionately known.

Porsche 933 brake calipers provide fantastic braking performance with four pistons. This type of upgrade is generally seen on track cars or medium to high-power street cars. They’re also not too pricey with aftermarket versions coming in at around £400.

 

 

But, and there is a very big ‘but’ with this… you must make sure your clearances are correct. Wheels, discs and suspension all play a part in just how big you can go with brake upgrades so it’s important you ensure any brake caliper swaps will fit.

You may need to use spacers, different hubs or custom fabrication to make sure the fitment is correct.

Another good point to make is that the likelihood of brake lines and hoses needing to be adapted is quite high in some cases – so taking a look into whether you want to upgrade to braided lines or stainless lines may be worthwhile.

You may lose the ability to have pad wear sensors. You may only be able to upgrade the front brake calipers depending on what model of 944 you have, so there’s the question of brake bias that needs to be considered changing.

If you’re going all out – you could even install Wilwood calipers on your Porsche which would transform the braking performance of your car dramatically on a track day.

There are rear caliper upgrades available that aren’t OEM, but these are generally more of a custom install rather than anything ‘off the shelf’ that you can purchase.

Mounting brackets are available for big brake kit upgrades, of which you can find on our website.

 

 

Another option which is a little more reasonable and ‘OEM’ is to upgrade your Porsche 944 to the MO30 option Brembo four-pot brake calipers that were a specification on KONI adjustable suspension equipped cars. This is a common swap which will give your 944 the edge while also having a lot of knowledge and support available due to it being an original factory option on the car.

 

 

Fun little fact, the Brembo four-pot brake calipers of the MO30 option are also the same calipers used on the Lamborghini Diablo. The more you know…

You can take a look at our full range of brake upgrades for your Porsche 944 right here in our store.

So, that’s it for our list of upgrading your Porsche 944’s brakes to get that extra stopping power. If you are looking to upgrade your brakes, be sure to check out our range of products right here at Design911.

Have your own suggestions on what you’ve used to upgrade your Porsche 944’s brake performance? Let us know by getting in touch with us on social media at @design911uk on the majority of all your favourite social media platforms.