F10 BMW M5 spotted with carbon brakes
It seems that BMW M5 customers have found what’s possibly the most important bit of the options list and the Bavarians have already delivered a car with it.
I’m talking about the option to have carbon ceramic brake disks on your crazy fast four door sedan. These are quite the necessary option since the car is quite heavy.
F10 BMW M5 ceramic brakes
The F10 BMW M5 may have the necessary grunt to move its bulk around at high speed but stopping from that could be tricky on steel brakes.
Now that we’ve clarified as to why the carbon ceramic brakes are important, let’s sort out what’s going on with this particular one.
While it has been delivered, it’s not exactly your typical customer car. According to the spotter, the car belongs to a BMW Driving Center.
F10 BMW M5 ceramic brakes
We know the F10 BMW M5 should be getting carbon ceramic brakes starting this year so maybe this is one of the final test bed models before BMW actually starts sending them off to the customers.
Alongside the key difference of them working under much tougher conditions, the carbon brakes are slightly larger and much lighter.
The rear disks remain the same but the front ones grow from 400 mm to 410 mm. They also shave 42.8 lbs off the final weight.
F10 BMW M5 ceramic brakes
It may sound like too little difference to notice but that’s a huge difference in terms of un-sprung weight and could make driving the M5 even more pleasurable.
As seen on luxury4play
July 6th, 2012 at 2:15 am
Wait a minute! Let’s break down your quotes…
“I’m talking about the option to have carbon ceramic brake disks on your crazy fast four door sedan. These are quite the necessary option since the car is quite heavy.”
“The F10 BMW M5 may have the necessary grunt to move its bulk around at high speed but stopping from that could be tricky on steel brakes.”
WRONG! Ceramic Composite Carbon Fibre Disc Brakes are not necessary for this new F10 M5, regardless of the current or curb weight. The BMW AG M Group has engineered this F10 M5 to maintain and manage safe and durable braking or as the racer community would say, “stopping distance.”
Indeed, the F10 M5 is quite heavy. The F10 M5 currently sits at around / about 4122 lbs. or 1870kg. Now back to the quotes you mentioned, the necessary need for Ceramic Composite Carbon Fibre Disc Brakes. Not necessarily true.
Here’s two reasons to take this option:
1. If you regularly track the car and drive at high speeds, which include hard breaking; should a owner / racer even consider this option. This is because of what is know as ‘Break Fade and lack of Stopping Power – if you rely on the standard Cast Iron setup.”
2. If you just wanna have / show “Ceramic Composite Carbon Fibre Disc Brakes!” It’s so cool to have them and say you have them. Show all your friends and talk gear talk…
Honestly, it’s a waste of money unless you are doing OPTION 1 I mentioned above. Yes, your weight will be reduced a mere 42.8 lbs. and guess what, you’ll never notice it unless you are on the track running that F10 M5 hard… Here’s what this OP doesn’t tell you. At low temperatures, the Ceramic Composite Carbon Fibre Disk Brakes do not perform well. This is one reason why BMW AG M Group uses Cast Iron Brake Discs.
Generally, Cast Iron Brake Discs will perform to design specifications for normal drive, wear and tear but for racing, you’ll need to upgrade if you are looking to shave off tenths of seconds on your lap times.
Good LUCK!
July 21st, 2012 at 3:30 am
The standard brakes on the F10 M5 are as good as they can be but they can’t take the stress of being tracked brilliantly. After about a couple of hours of abuse the pads just give up. Though the disks themselves can take the heat from stopping such a considerable weight, the pads do suffer quite quickly.
Don’t think carbon brakes don’t have their own issues. The low temperature hesitation in response is something you quickly learn to live with. The typical carbon brakes on factory cars can still be prone to failures and “cooking” but it’s less likely than with a regular setup.