Carbon-ceramic brake discs are no longer a factory-only option. Here is what a carbon-ceramic big brake kit costs in the UK, which cars XYZ Racing builds them for, and when the upgrade makes sense.
Carbon-ceramic brakes used to be a tick-box on a supercar order form. Today you can specify them on an aftermarket big brake kit for a Maserati Levante, a BMW M3, a Porsche Cayenne or a Mercedes-AMG estate, built to your chassis number and shipped to your door. This guide covers what you are actually buying, what it costs, which cars it fits, and the honest answer to whether it is worth the money.
What a carbon-ceramic disc is
A carbon-ceramic disc is a carbon-fibre-reinforced silicon-carbide composite, usually written C/SiC. Carbon fibres give it strength and crack resistance. Silicon carbide gives it the hard, heat-tolerant friction surface. The result is a disc that weighs roughly half what a cast-iron disc of the same diameter weighs and keeps working at temperatures that would warp or crack iron.
Three properties matter on the road:
- Heat. Iron discs lose bite as they heat up and the pedal gets longer. Carbon-ceramic discs tolerate far higher surface temperatures with no fade, so the brake feels the same on the tenth hard stop as the first.
- Weight. A 421mm iron disc is a heavy thing to spin and to suspend. Halving it takes several kilograms off each corner, all of it unsprung and rotating, which is the weight the suspension and the engine feel most.
- Wear. Carbon-ceramic discs do not corrode and wear far more slowly than iron. On a road car a set will typically outlast several sets of pads, and there is almost no brake dust on the wheels.
What carbon-ceramic brakes cost
XYZ Racing carbon-ceramic rotors are a special-order option on the Hollow and Hollow Racing big brake kits. The price is set by disc diameter and is the same whichever car the kit is built for. Prices below are per axle, including VAT, and are added to the price of the caliper kit.
| Disc diameter | Carbon-ceramic rotors, per axle |
|---|---|
| 356mm | £13,000 |
| 380mm | £15,000 |
| 400mm | £17,000 |
| 421mm | £19,000 |
The caliper kit underneath, which includes two calipers, two discs, pads, braided lines and brackets, runs from around £2,200 per axle for a 356mm 6-pot to around £5,900 for a 421mm 8-pot, depending on the car. A full carbon-ceramic system on a large performance SUV, 421mm front and rear, therefore comes to roughly £48,000 at list before any package pricing.
For context, the factory carbon-ceramic option on a new performance car is typically £8,000 to £15,000 at the time of order and cannot be added afterwards. Replacement factory carbon-ceramic discs run to several thousand pounds each. A retrofit kit is the only way to get carbon-ceramic on a car that was not ordered with it.
Which cars can have carbon-ceramic brakes
Carbon-ceramic rotors are available on any XYZ Racing brake kit that carries a 356mm, 380mm, 400mm or 421mm disc size. That is almost every kit in the range. The 444mm 12-pot Monoblock is steel only.
In practice the cars that make the most sense are the ones with the most weight and speed to manage:
- Performance SUVs: Maserati Levante, Porsche Cayenne and Macan, BMW X5 M and X6 M, Mercedes-AMG GLE and GLC, Range Rover Sport SVR, Audi SQ7 and RS Q8, Lamborghini Urus.
- Fast saloons and estates: BMW M3 and M5, Mercedes-AMG C63 and E63, Audi RS4 and RS6, Maserati Ghibli and Quattroporte, Tesla Model S.
- Sports cars and GTs: Porsche 911 and 718, BMW M2 and M4, Nissan GT-R, Lexus LC and RC F, Maserati GranTurismo and MC20, Ferrari and Lamborghini models where the kit carries a carbon-capable size.
Every kit is built to the chassis number, so fitment is confirmed before anything is manufactured. Use the carbon-ceramic brake kit finder to see the kit and price for your car.
Is it worth it
Honest answer: it depends on what you ask of the brakes.
Worth it when:
- The car is heavy and fast. Two tonnes and 500 horsepower put more heat into a brake on one alpine descent than a hot hatch sees in a year. Fade is a safety problem, not a comfort one.
- You drive long descents or track days. Stelvio, Grossglockner, Nürburgring. Any place where you are braking hard from speed, again and again, with no time for the discs to cool.
- You keep the car. Carbon-ceramic discs on a road car can last the life of the car. Over ten years the running cost is lower than iron once you count the discs you would otherwise replace.
- Brake dust and corrosion annoy you. Carbon-ceramic discs do not rust and barely dust, which matters on light-coloured calipers and large wheels.
Not worth it when:
- The car is light and the driving is normal. A 1,300 kg hot hatch on the school run will never get an iron disc hot enough to fade. Spend the money on the caliper kit and good pads.
- You want cold bite above all else. Carbon-ceramic discs need a little heat to give their best. On a frosty morning the first stop can feel slightly softer than iron, which is why the pad compound matters.
- The budget is tight. A steel two-piece floating disc from the same kit is an excellent road brake at a fraction of the cost.
Pads, bedding and care
Carbon-ceramic rotors are supplied with their own matched carbon-ceramic brake pads from the XYZ factory. The Street, Sport and Racing compounds on the steel kits are not used; the pads that arrive with the rotors are the right ones. Bed the brakes in as instructed, avoid holding the pedal hard on a stationary car when the discs are very hot, and do not use acidic wheel cleaners on the discs. Beyond that there is nothing to do. The discs do not need machining and will not corrode.
How a carbon-ceramic order works
- Pick the kit for your car on the site, or request a written quote with your chassis number and wheel size.
- Full payment by bank transfer against our invoice.
- The XYZ factory draws up a build blueprint for the calipers and rotors to your chassis number and wheels. We send it to you so your installer can check it before anything is manufactured.
- Production takes 3 to 4 weeks after you approve the blueprint, plus around a week in transit to the UK.
- The kit arrives as a bolt-on assembly for your chosen workshop.
See carbon-ceramic brake kits by car Request a written quote