Donna500

I'm hoping for some advice on whether it's time to let my 2006 Cayenne base go at 14 years. I bought it new in 2006, and it's been the most trouble-free and enjoyable car I've ever owned. It was my "soccer mom car," but now that I'm retired I don't drive it as much. It has just over 60K miles now and is in very good, garage-kept condition, so my thinking has been to just drive it until it won't go anymore. I've always serviced it at the dealer and have never had a mechanical issue except coil failure in 2015. I replaced the rear brakes and rotors last year for the first time, and they said the fronts will likely need it "next time," which is now. However, I see that front brakes and rotors can cost nearly $3K at the dealer. I do know a good local mechanic, so I think I can do a better with him than the dealer, but the cost is mostly the price of the rotors. It has not thrown any error messages so I know the front brake job is not urgent.

So, knowledgeable Cayenne folks, in your opinion is it worth it to invest $3K in a car worth $6K as a trade? Could it buy a few more years, or am I sitting on a ticking time bomb of expensive repairs, even though it only has 60K miles?

Mark7000

Front pads, rotors and sensors should not cost more than $600 to $800 in total, on a base Cayenne. You do not need to buy original Porsche parts. Plenty of high quality aftermarket ones out there. There is nothing "special" about them. Any shop can do them and the labor charge might be 1.5 to 2 hours total.

Kirill

Unless you trading for a brand new car - you may need to do brakes\tires\fluids on "new to you" vehicle.
If you like the car - just do breaks - should be $300 for rotors, $200 for pads, $30 for sensors and $200 for labor. My wife drove 2006 S for 12 months with "change brakes" message - and pads still had plenty left (but these were quality Porterfield r4s pads)
So - don't do anything until you see the warning - than order parts of internet and take it to non-dealer mechanic.

Marv

I agree with the others. I buy Cayenne rotors for my GT3 from Brake Performance, as do many other 996 GT3 owners that race their cars on the track. They cost less than $150 each.

I have also used the same company to buy rotors and pads for my 2006 Cayenne. One of the rotors had a fitment issue and they told me to trash it and sent a replacement out right of way. Great service.

The labor should be two hours or less. Clearly less than three or four beers. So, I would put the total tab at less than $600 at an independent shop, which is 1/5th the cost you cited.

I would go to Brake Performance and look up the parts you need so that you know what the true cost will be before having the work performed (get an estimate from them). That way you are at least an educated consumer.

As to whether it's time to say goodbye, only you can tell if switching rides is right. However, if you really like the car and it's not costing you too much to maintain it, then I would keep it. Damn, a 60,000 mile, one-owner trouble-free Cayenne for $6,000—I might just want to buy it!

GTorTT

You say it is the most trouble free and enjoyable car you have ever owned, I understand that and feel the same about my Cayenne. 60K miles isn't that much (mine has 106k), and the cost of a brake job, particularly at an independent shop isn't too painful. I would not let that be an indicator that it is time to move on. In my view, if the car is still running well, and given that you enjoy it, its probably worth far more to you in terms of utility value alone than the trade value would indicate.

I vote for not saying goodbye. Every time I think about a new car I think about the substantial cost, and I'm again satisfied with what I have.

phatz

Trade it in and move on

Quadcammer

keep it, front brakes are cheap.

Shawn Stanford

Don't be crazy: The truck is LONG paid for, the miles are low, and it's a great truck. My '05 base has 172k on it and it still runs as well as it did when I bought it 10 years and 90k miles ago.

You need to stop taking the truck to Porsche. There's absolutely no way a brake job should cost $3k on that car. There is nothing - NOTHING - special or wonderful about the Cayenne's braking system. It is very standard engineering, using parts shared by half a dozen other vehicles in the VAG lineup. If you can't do it yourself (Hint: You can!), take the truck to Firestone.

If you lived near me I'd do it for you. I don't think it would take more than an hour.

Donna500

Thanks for the advice, guys. I really appreciate opinions from people who know Porsches. It seems the worst problem is that I keep going to the dealer when it isn't necessary. A paid-for car is a wonderful thing.

Pillow

I agree with Shawn, if you are local to NoVA I would be happy to help as well. For dirt bag grease monkeys this is easy work.

I like FCP Euro for my parts as they also have a lifetime warranty for EOM quality parts. Just order online so you know you are getting the good OEM parts and take it to a local mom&pop shop to put on.

This is good opportunity to make sure the brake fluid is refreshed as well. A couple bottles of ATE200 and 30 minutes extra shop time.

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/vw-...-touareg-d955t
x2 https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/aud...arts-7l0907637
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/por...reg-7l6615301d
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/por...reg-7l6615302d
x2 https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/amb...-dot4-dotamber

Adding: estimate 200-250 shop time figuring a little over a 100 per hour and bill for 2 hours.

19psi

I highly doubt you need new rotors at 60K miles. I recently changed my pads at 60K and the rotors weren't close to being out of spec. Front Brembo pads (OEM) cost me $83.75 from Pelican and they came with the sensors. It took me less than 2 hours to do front AND rears. It's a simple job, no special tools are needed and any brake shop should be able to replace the pads while you wait.

jeff spahn

Yes. The brake pads on the Cayenne are super easy to do. Literally need a pair of pliers and c clamp to change the pads. Well maybe not easy but damn near.

RSbob

Find a good indy and stop wasting your money at the dealer and keep your ride. It would take cubic dollars to replace it with new or nearly new.

Lots of good videos if you want to try DIY. Did my first brake job a few years back and it was easier than I thought possible. Good DIY forum here too.

ScootCherHienie

Some shops will work with you on parts prices, other shops will just get the parts for 30% off at a Porsche dealer and charge you the same price as the dealership. There are 2 (and more!) web sites that can help you learn what you SHOULD pay for parts. There is no reason to replace rotors every time you replace brake pads. Most of the time, the rotors can be reused doing absolutely nothing to them. Some with deeper grooves from wear can be machined a little to smooth them out and reused--many (most) shops can resurface rotors rather than replace them. But the markup on Porsche parts is so high, the dealership will always replace everything they can. The 2 web sites are rockauto.com and pelicanparts.com (and as mentioned, there are others that specialize in Porsche parts also). Knowing prices these sites have for parts will help you and your local shop figure out what to order. Your V6 Cayenne likely has the same brake parts or very similar brake parts to the Volkswagen Touareg--which makes the suggestion to take the car to a Firestone (or Goodyear, whichever is close and well rated by custoemers on Yelp.com) NOT ridiculous. Ask for an estimate first and tell them you aren't interested in paying for Porsche branded parts just to make sure they get you aftermarket replacement parts that will be FINE for a daily drive.

The 2 web sites mentioned might have 4 or 6 or even more choices for brake rotors, for example. One will usually be the Porsche part so you can see the dealer price (or close to it) easily, then you also see replacements made by other companies, and usually mixed in there somewhere is precisely the same rotor on your car, made by the same company that made them for Porsche, but Porsche never touches the part, so there is a reasonable markup on the part that can save you 40% to 75% off Porsche dealer prices for the same parts. I got an alternator for $830 instead of the nearly $1600 dealer cost for exactly the same Hitachi alternator. So even if something does "go" on the old Cayenne, it's not necessarily going to be prohibitively expensive to repair if you use a good shop that knows German cars a bit. Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche share a LOT of SUV parts... but you'll pay the most for the part at a Porsche dealer.

Petza914

If it's just brakes, as already said, keep it. Nothing you can get as a newer car for close to what you can sell your Cayenne for will feel anything like the Cayenne. They'll all be Japanese, vanilla feeling and driving vehicles. 60,000 miles is nothing on one of these. Being a 2006 955 generation vehicle though, have you ever had the plastic coolant pipes changed. They dry out, crack and make a mess. This needs to be done on any 1st gen Cayenne so if that hasn't been done, get an Indy to quote it at the same time they're doing the brakes, but that one is more expensive and extensive so may change the cost/value position you're in.