If you’re reading this, there may be a chance that you’re not completely happy with your stock brakes. If you plan on doing any significant performance driving, it would be a good idea to upgrade your brakes to Brembo Brakes.
Brembo Brake Kits aren’t cheap, but you really need to consider the fact that these kits includes the cost of a caliper rebuild, new brake lines, and new disks, the cost of this becomes a little more reasonable.
Some of the benefits that you’ll find in a new Brembo Brake System are:
You’ll have over 20-30% shorter distances depending on the road conditions. The faster you’re driving, the greater the improvements.
Better consistency when it comes to stopping. Your standard brake system can stop a vehicle very well a couple times, but once the brake fluid begins to heat up, the performance decreases, which means the stops get longer. With Brembo Brakes, they will give your vehicle consistent stops.
Bigger brake disks cause heat, which may cause the brakes to fail. Each component in Brembo Brakes is designed for performance, which uses the proper cooling of the system. Brembo brakes are better equipped to prevent overheating than your standard stock brakes.
With Brembo Brakes, you’ll be able to brake harder and still keep control. This big brake system works extremely well with the BMW Anti Lock Brake System.
The big brake kits usually only come with the equipment to replace the front brakes. The reason why is because front brakes perform about 80% of the stopping motion. If you added high performance brakes in the back of your vehicle, the brakes could actually cause the rear brakes to lock up too soon. This may result in losing control of your vehicle.
Brembo Brakes is one of the leading brake system manufacturers in the world and is also an OEM supplier to some of the best cars on the market, such as Ferrari and Porsche.
The Brembo Monoblock Kit includes everything that you would need for the installation process. This kit includes 2 calipers, 2 brake lines, 2 rotors, 2 brackets and 2 sets of pads and clips. You can have their calipers painted in black or red. It’s too bad that Brembo’s are hidden behind the wheel. Brembo Brakes always means top performance.
If you have the Brembo Monoblock Kit, be sure to plan ahead and make sure that your car has 17” wheels or larger. Not all 17” wheels will allow the calipers to fit, so be sure that your wheel combination will work with this brake system. We strongly advise that if you’re not completely comfortable with adding your own brakes to your vehicle, consult an auto mechanic. Brakes are important and we want our readers to stay safe.
So now you want to install the new brake system. First thing you’ll want to do is loosen the lug nuts on your wheels and raise the front of the vehicle. You should also raise the back of your vehicle just to check your rear brakes too.
Now be sure to remove both front wheels. Now with the wheels off, disconnect the brake pad sensor. Disconnect the brake caliper. Be sure to tie the caliper up so it’s out of the way, but don’t disconnect the brake lines yet. Be sure that there is no tension on the brake lines. You don’t want to make it a habit to hang the caliper by the brake hose. Now go ahead and remove the bracket that holds the caliper onto the strut.
You’ll want to remove the screw that holds the brake disk to the hub. The disk should slip right off. If it doesn’t, you might have to tap it with a small rubber mallet. Depending on the vehicle, you might have to remove your anti-lock brake sensor dust shield. Some of the shields are put on there with bolts, while others may press fitted or riveted and may possibly have to be cut off. Be sure to clean up and dust or debris in this area too.
Once you have the dust shield taken off, your strut should go back together. Now take the Brembo caliper mounting bracket and put it onto the strut assembly.
Once you have the bracket in place, add the rotor on the spindle. There is a left and right rotor and they are usually stamped to avoid confusion. Use the brake disk locating and mounting bolt to secure the disks to the hub. The holes need to line up with the spindle. You can use a spare lug nut to hold them into place temporarily.
The brake pads should already be assembled in the caliper, but if not, remove the 2 pins by tapping them out with a little hammer. Then you insert the pads and replace the pins. Then it’s time to add the new caliper to the mounting bracket. When you mount the calipers to the spindle, you will always want the arrows pointing up.
Before you disconnect the brake lines, try fitting your wheel back on to make sure that you have no problems when the wheel is completely mounted. Take the caliper and cover it with a piece of tape to make sure you don’t scrape up the paint while putting on your wheel. Tighten down the lug nuts and spin the wheel. Make sure the wheels don’t scrape or rub up against the other brakes.
Once you know that the wheels turn without a problem, take the tires off again and attach the brake hose to the caliper. You’ll route the brake line into the rubber grommet that secures it to the strut.
Disconnect the rubber hose fro the steel hard line that attaches the hose to the braking system. Use a flare nut wrench and not a steel hard line to the hose. Quickly add the new lines so brake fluid doesn’t lead out. Once you have them attached, clean up the spilled brake fluid. Make sure you remove it from the paint as soon as possible. Brake fluid is actually not good for the paint. Once you complete the install, you’ll need to bleed the brakes. Once you bleed the brakes, put the wheels back on, lower the vehicle and tighten the lug nuts.
Now for the fun part! The brake system needs to be broken in. Pump the brakes several times and make sure that you have firm pressure on the brakes. Try holding the brakes while someone tries to push the car.
Now drive the car to a deserted spot and try about 20 stops from with light pressure on the brakes. This is going to increase the temperature of the brake pads, the caliper and the rotors. This helps with the pads and brakes. Now drive around without using the brakes to let the pads cool off. Remember to use your emergency brakes in case if something goes wrong.
Now pull over and check out the brake disks. They should look blue/gray across the pads. If the pads aren’t this color, continue stopping and going until the pads are at this color all the way through.