Large but light – Brembo releases high-end brake caliper line

Braking systems designer and manufacturer Brembo has presented a new family of aluminium calipers for high-end cars at the IAA show in Frankfurt. The new fixed caliper range, available in 17-inch (5.9 kilogrammes), 18-inch (7.7 kilogrammes) and 19-inch (8 kilogrammes) versions, is particularly aimed cars with a high braking disc surface. Such discs usually require generously-sized, but heavy calipers – however Brembo says its new caliper, which only recently went into production, combines a size optimised for discs with high braking surfaces with remarkable lightness.

To achieve this combination of size and lightness, Brembo has devoted more than 100,000 development hours to the project since late 2011. The distinctive feature of this caliper is a new shape, centred on five openings: two at the front, which are between 16 and 22 cm², and three on the bridges, with an area between 7 and 11 cm². This Brembo-patented solution ensures a mass reduction of nearly eight per cent with additional mass savings in material at the points in the caliper subject to the least stress. Such a significant weight reduction in a vehicle’s unsprung contributes to savings in fuel consumption and pollutant emissions, and Brembo says the use of the five openings does not result in any loss in the braking system’s performance.

Brembo has also paid attention to aesthetics – through a co-design approach with each OEM customer, Brembo will implement solutions that are specifically tailored to individual car models in order to complement each manufacturer’s different design style.