So this coming season I want to get into autocross but before I do that I want to upgrade the front brakes. I want to do the Brembos swap. I have seen a lot of the Reman brembos which I'm thinking of getting. My question is are they any good? Are they original Brembo? Has anybody tried these? I've read that the A1 Cardone Reman Brembos aren't really Brembos has anybody used these

 

It's really hard to mess up a brake caliper. If the cylinder hone is good, piston is good, it's really just a couple rubber seals.

I've installed reman calipers on many cars, and typically I never have an issue with the caliper, it's the damn slide pins that rust up and seize, but this happens with new calipers as well.

The reman brembos aren't made by brembo, so there's the difference as well. There may be a difference in the quality if materials, especially if the housings are casting copies as I've seen on some other caliper types. Seals could be different and such. But the calipers themselves could be identical in performance. I doubt it will say Brembo though. Most likely the housing will be a bare casting devoid of any paint or marking.

I wouldn't lose sleep over it, but I'd rather pay extra for some nicer condition OE Brembo calipers vs a Reman. Only reason I'd go reman is #1) cost and #2) care more about function vs stating Brembo on the caliper

 

I would like to get oem Calipers but people are asking way too much for the oem Brembos. And I just want the stopping power cause I know that my brakes will fade after maybe 2 passes on the track I'm not really doing it for looks more for performance

 

Then you need better PADS not bigger BRAKES. Go with a performance compound recommended for your use by a professional.

 

Are you doing track driving or autocross? in autocross you barely use your brakes relative to on track. You should not be braking hard enough or frequently enough for you to experience brake fade in a less than a minute run.

If however you are tracking your car, then yes oe non brembos suck.

 

I actually heard a different story from Rockauto (where I bought them) and A1 Cardone. I heard they are actual Brembo brakes from customers who have returned them them for a core charge. And that the reason the Brembo logos are missing on the back is because they are remachined which flattens the logo out and any raised portion on the surface. Then they are sandblasted which is the finish you see them in.

Either way Brembo or not, they look identical and perform the same. The material is light weight aluminum like Brembos and they have 4 piston like Brembos. No one is saying, "Hey man take off you wheel so I can see the back of your caliper to verify those are Brembo's". There has been nothing performance or looks wise that say they aren't Brembo's.

I can't complain though. $300 for two 4 piston calipers and I had a bodyshop respray them in dark silver metallic (Mistubishi Color) with red Brembo decals. Mine look great:

 

Well for that price.... darn I would upgrade too.

 

I was just looking into this yesterday when I realized Cadillac ATS 4pot Brembos are only $120 brand new. Ended up going down an internet rabbit hole.

The A1-Cardone reman units on Rockauto have the Brembo emblem in the casting. So these look to be rebuilt OEM units (a true reman) with all the finishing/paint stripped off. Plus they're $141 each, so not bad.

If you have an 03-04 G35, then another option is to upgrade to 05+ brake calipers and rotors. 03-04 had a single piston caliper and 300mm rotors. 05+ have 2 piston calipers and a 320mm rotor. So very similar to the Brembo 324mm rotor, and there's a good selection of pads to choose from. Most everything I've read is that the Brembos aren't much of an upgrade if you have an 05+.

You can check the classifieds to see if anyone is selling their brakes after upgrading to G37 Akebono brakes.

 

Would they fit?

I know there is some interchangability with some of the calipers out there due to manufacturers who make the caliper having the OEMs design spindle hard mounts to conform to their caliper. So if there was some master Brembo interchange list, there might be a list of other makes that got the same identical casting as the G35.

As Brembo's are put on pretty much everything these days, the prices are going down. Problem is finding compatible units.

 

Deep rabbit hole yesterday, lol. Basically everything except the G35/350Z Brembos will require an adapter to fit different calipers (similar to Akebono kits) on our cars. I haven't found anyone who makes adapters for the Cadillac calipers. However, I came across someone who makes brackets to fit SRT8 Brembo front and rear calipers with G37 355mm F & 350mm R rotors (aka Akebono or sport rotors). They also make adapters to fit 6pot Porsche/Audi "17Z" calipers. If getting reman calipers, pads, and rotors from rockauto, plus the cost of adapters, you could essentially have a Brembo 4pot front and 4pot rear BBK for less than $1,200. That's about $600 less than Akebono kits from popular vendors. Or spend the extra $600 and get 6pot front calipers from an SRT8 or Porche Cayenne/Audi Q7. All using OEM parts (except for the adapter brackets of course).

Pic I found online with 6pot fronts:

 

Yeah I was looking into this a lot yesterday as my 05+ set up is disappointing. I ended up deciding to just buy some good pads. I hope for the best... we'll see how this goes!

AKEBONO STREET PERFORMANCE PAD

 

I never loved my 06's brakes at all. I tried a few different rotors, and a few different pads, and bled the hell out of the brakes and never really loved them. Plus I kept seizing rear caliper slide pins. Overall, 170K miles on that car and the brakes were just not that great for 12.6" front rotors and 3400 lbs.

In comparison, my current DD is 4400 lbs and 13" rotors and will such the eyeballs out of your head with little effort on the brakes. Just normal production car brakes. I never had that sort of confidence on the G's brakes at any point...plus they warped so easily it drove me mad.

 

In reference to the rear slider pins, have you had to replace your rear wheel bearings yet? When mine was going bad, I seized up and even had a bent slider pin, twice in the span of a few months. I think the failing bearing got the hub and caliper really hot causing the pins to fail. After replacing the bearings, haven't had an issue since.

Sorry for taking this topic along a left turn.

 

I'm driving the coupe so I hope for better... As they supposedly have a different setup.

 

Nope. never touched the rears. Mine were rusting up. Water was getting past the boots and gunking them up and rusting them solid giving me the famous soft pedal issue that I'd have to double pump the brake pedal to get around. Whenever my pedal started getting soft, that's when I knew I had a rear slide pin problem...again. Just couldn't keep water out of that lower pin boot no matter what I did