Technical Identifying Brembo calipers - 595 or GP?

[mj2k]

Hi, this is probably a complete newbie post, but is there any easy way to tell if the Brembos I'm shortly to receive have come off an Abarth 500/595 or a Grande Punto?

They were a bargain find on Ebay and according to the ad came off a 595, but they're fixed disc rather than floating, which makes me wonder if maybe they were GP Brembos which had been made to fit with an adaptor...

If the latter, I'm not too worried though it would be a pain having to get an adaptor made up (does anyone sell them?) but it'd be useful to know just what I've let myself in for since I don't have a 500 yet to offer the Brembos up to for a test fitting.

 

[mj2k]

Judging by the looks of the brackets these really are 500 Abarth Brembos, but can anyone confirm if they do look like the real McCoy please?

 

[The Pretender]

Sa far i can see, they are the same as i have, on my 595 Turismo, but i have floating discs, 1.5 Kg lighter then solid discs.

 

[mj2k]

Thanks, if they are the right size floating discs are definitely on the cards, nothing makes a car feel livelier in the bends than shedding unsprung weight and rotating mass from the front wheels

 

[The Pretender]

Thanks, if they are the right size floating discs are definitely on the cards, nothing makes a car feel livelier in the bends than shedding unsprung weight and rotating mass from the front wheels

305mm

 

[Olliver]

You can meassure the piston diameter. 595 has 38mm, Punto, Mito have 40mm.

https://corner3motorsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Brembo-Seal.pdf

 

[mj2k]

Quick note for anyone interested - they were indeed 500 Brembos

And I did some weight measurements vs the original calipers:

Original:
Caliper mount: 2kg
Brake disc: 6kg
Caliper: 4kg
Total: 12kg

Brembo:
Brembo+mount: 5kg
2 piece disc: 6.5kg
Total: 11.5kg

So a total weight saving of 0.5kg unsprung weight per side, and no doubt a small increase in rotational mass because the disc is bigger. So no real unsprung weight savings to be had from fitting Brembos, but equally they won't make acceleration / handling worse through increasing rotational mass unless you go for 1 piece discs.

Braking balance will be shifted 8% more towards the front (which isn't good) but the brakes should feel sharper, stopping force increased and it'll get less brake fade due to the larger disc area and better heat transfer with the larger alloy calipers and larger 2 piece discs.

 

[Olliver]

Also interesting: https://www.fiatforum.com/threads/what-are-the-difference-between-brembo-brakes.486091/

 

[mj2k]

Also interesting: https://www.fiatforum.com/threads/what-are-the-difference-between-brembo-brakes.486091/

Definitely interesting, I used your findings in checking out whether the brembo upgrade was worth it from a weight perspective

I'm all for keeping unsprung weight and rotational mass low at the driven / steered wheels - it's a great help with making a car feel more agile since effectively it reduces the size of the great big gyroscope (the brake disc) trying to force the wheels to go in a straight line so I'd go for 2 piece discs every time, in the smallest size which allows decently improved braking without throwing the brake balance out of the window