[roll_the_dice]

So I have been wanting to upgrade my brakes and am in the process of figuring out which ones I want. Then I ran across a thread on the e90 side of things and one from another forum that used Cadillac CTS-V brembo calipers. They are either 4 or 6 pot like our M performance brakes, but are much much less expensive. On the E46 board and the e90 side, they found a company to make a custom bracket to hold the calipers to our specs. I contacted them and they said they were going to start doing this for F30 fitment this coming summer. You can buy these brakes for about half the amount of ours.

Thoughts?

I am not saying I am going to do this, but thought it might be an option. Here is a pic of some CTS-V calipers.

[RM7]

It's hard to tell, but those look like the rear calipers? Those are 4-pot, they don't look like the set that came with the 6-pot fronts either, maybe the oldest CTS-V model (before the 556hp supercharged one)? They do look like the calipers on my Camaro SS, but like I said without scale it's hard to tell if they are the fronts or the rear. The brembos on the SS were strong though, felt much better than my BMW ones. I think that maybe has something to do with the auto-braking with active cruise control/collision avoidance.

[roll_the_dice]

Originally Posted by JamesNoBrakes

It's hard to tell, but those look like the rear calipers? Those are 4-pot, they don't look like the set that came with the 6-pot fronts either, maybe the oldest CTS-V model (before the 556hp supercharged one)? They do look like the calipers on my Camaro SS, but like I said without scale it's hard to tell if they are the fronts or the rear. The brembos on the SS were strong though, felt much better than my BMW ones. I think that maybe has something to do with the auto-braking with active cruise control/collision avoidance.

Those were the front calipers for a 2004-2007 CTS-V. I was trying to compare apples to apples with 4 pot calipers that we have on the M performance brakes. Here are some 6 pot for the 2008-2012 CTS-V.



The 4 pot in the previous post sell for $300 for the pair...we can't sniff one caliper for that price.

I am just trying to think outside the box and come up with alternatives. Ido understand many if not most people would have a hard time putting brakes on a car that they were not designed for, however, they are Brembos and there are many Porsche brake retrofits for the E46 M3 and the E9x chassis.

[RM7]

Originally Posted by roll_the_dice

Those were the front calipers for a 2004-2007 CTS-V. I was trying to compare apples to apples with 4 pot calipers that we have on the M performance brakes. Here are some 6 pot for the 2008-2012 CTS-V.



The 4 pot in the previous post sell for $300 for the pair...we can't sniff one caliper for that price.

I am just trying to think outside the box and come up with alternatives. Ido understand many if not most people would have a hard time putting brakes on a car that they were not designed for, however, they are Brembos and there are many Porsche brake retrofits for the E46 M3 and the E9x chassis.

What makes brakes is mechanical advantage, which comes from a few places, one is the master cylinder to caliper piston ratio, and another is due to the size of the disc, as far as how far away from the hub you are applying the leverage. More pistons generally gives better modulation, which means you can take the brakes further and get more deceleration before lock-up. Due to these things, I doubt you'd see a big difference, except that pads can still affect your brakes significantly, giving you more stopping (but more heat) or less fade, depending on the compound. The mono-cast caliper housing increases power due to being stiffer, generally better at delivering power than the non-cast calipers you see on many base-equipment specs, like 3 and 5 series.

I've seen the Camaro SS brembos on quite a few different vehicles, it's a very common caliper, although I'm not sure if the mounts are always different. Like I said, they worked good, car about the same weight as my 428 with Msport brakes, but I doubt there'd be a huge difference over m-sport, unless you don't even have m-sport, then I guess it's a "what the heck, it's only money", but hard to say if it could be unsafe, you're basically becoming a test-subject now as far as forces and comparability.

[bateau]

Wouldn't you also have to upgrade rotors to fit the 6-pot fronts or 4-pot rears?

[roll_the_dice]

Originally Posted by bateau

Wouldn't you also have to upgrade rotors to fit the 6-pot fronts or 4-pot rears?

I don't think so but, I may be wrong. I don't pretend to know much about brakes other than I want them when I need them. However, I think for this experiment it would depend on how large the bracket is made. I "assumed" either the company making the bracket could tell me what size rotors to use or I could tell them what size rotors I wanted to use and then the bracket would be made accordingly. It may be easier to have this work with a radial mount caliper vs the post mount that the CTS-V and our BMW calipers mount. The picture below is a 4 pot rear Brembo caliper with a bracket made by Brembo to fit our brakes...thus meaning we should be able to take any radial mount caliper and make it work with a structurally sound bracket that fits our mounting system. These calipers use 345x28mm rotors which are the standard size for rear M performance brakes.

The question I also have is if we upgrade to 6 pot front and 4 pot rear is their coding for that already in the system or is it a custom coding? I don't know squat about coding either. I am just an idea man. I like coming up with ideas and having other (smarter) people figure out the how do we do it.

[bateau]

Problem with the pictured brembo set is that it's radial mounted on that bracket with studs. GM calipers on eBay etc are going to have GM mounting holes built into the caliper body

The idea is intriguing, but what's your application for big brakes? Are you tracking the car or just for show? Blue "2NH" M brakes can be had for $1300 on e-bay for complete setup (rotors, pads, calipers).

CTS-V has 380mm fronts and 365mm rears. Camaro ZL1 shows 370mm front with 6-pot and 365 mm in the rear with 4-pot. The biggest rotors we can get for our cars from BMW are 370mm fronts and 345 rears. Once oversized rotors are involved the prices skyrocket.

[roll_the_dice]

Originally Posted by bateau

Problem with the pictured brembo set is that it's radial mounted on that bracket with studs. GM calipers on eBay etc are going to have GM mounting holes built into the caliper body

The idea is intriguing, but what's your application for big brakes? Are you tracking the car or just for show? Blue "2NH" M brakes can be had for $1300 on e-bay for complete setup (rotors, pads, calipers).

CTS-V has 380mm fronts and 365mm rears. Camaro ZL1 shows 370mm front with 6-pot and 365 mm in the rear with 4-pot. The biggest rotors we can get for our cars from BMW are 370mm fronts and 345 rears. Once oversized rotors are involved the prices skyrocket.

The above pictured Brembo brake is made for our car with that mounting bracket. From what I was told, the bracket makes it a post mount. Without the bracket it is a radial mount...so exactly opposite of what I originally thought. But I see your point and maybe Porsche brakes are a better choice since they can have a bracket made easier to use studs and post mount.

I occasionally track the car, but some will be for aesthetics. I don't particularly like the looks of the blue 2NH brakes...not the blue, but the style. I like the look of these M performance E88 calipers. They are radial mount with a bracket just like the Brembos above.



Now with all that said, I purchased and am waiting to be delivered some 335 front brakes (gray) and 345x30 rotors. I am going to powder coat them, but am also looking at other options that will give me better braking and better aesthetics. Just trying to see what else I can do and don't like to be limited.

[awmenard]

Originally Posted by roll_the_dice

The above pictured Brembo brake is made for our car with that mounting bracket. From what I was told, the bracket makes it a post mount. Without the bracket it is a radial mount...so exactly opposite of what I originally thought. But I see your point and maybe Porsche brakes are a better choice since they can have a bracket made easier to use studs and post mount.

I occasionally track the car, but some will be for aesthetics. I don't particularly like the looks of the blue 2NH brakes...not the blue, but the style. I like the look of these M performance E88 calipers. They are radial mount with a bracket just like the Brembos above.



Now with all that said, I purchased and am waiting to be delivered some 335 front brakes (gray) and 345x30 rotors. I am going to powder coat them, but am also looking at other options that will give me better braking and better aesthetics. Just trying to see what else I can do and don't like to be limited.

So I've came across videos on YouTube about this brake upgrade, did you pull the trigger on those?

Did you get more information on the bracket?

[cfm56d7b]

What's your budget for the brakes upgrade? Brembo or AP Racing 6-piston front / 4-piston rear brakes average $3.5K per axle. My humble suggestion is to select brakes designed and engineered for your vehicle. If you haven't had a chance to explore AP Racing brakes technology, it's a good first step before committing to a specific course of action.

[roll_the_dice]

Originally Posted by awmenard

So I've came across videos on YouTube about this brake upgrade, did you pull the trigger on those?

Did you get more information on the bracket?

I talked to a few people and thought we could make it happen, but I ended up finding a good deal on a complete set of M Performance brakes and did those instead. I still think this would work with the correct bracket.