Brembo Had To Design Its Most Powerful Caliper Ever Because American Trucks Are Getting Too Heavy

The United States market is not following the footsteps of reasonable countries that recognize the existential threat posed by human-caused climate change, despite several consecutive years of record-breaking heat and natural disasters. And since the Trump Administration has eliminated all greenhouse gas standards for light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles and heavy-duty engines, automakers are continuing to make bigger, heavier, and more powerful trucks than ever before. Without regulations to force their hand, or profit incentives to drive the development of smaller and cheaper vehicles, the needle keeps moving in the opposite direction. 

Even the electric vehicles, which are meant to cause less environmental harm than their petroleum-burning counterparts, are steamrolling American roads with curb weights upwards of 9,000 pounds, so Italian brake manufacturer Brembo unveiled its most powerful caliper ever, the Boldika.

The Boldika marks Brembo's first foray into the heavy duty pickup and large SUV segment, and it's launching first on the Chevrolet Silverado EV RST Stars and Steel Edition. It's a relatively straightforward embiggened six-piston caliper that has some clever tweaks to bulk it up enough to stop a speeding five-ton wall of truck, with nearly 6,300 lb-ft of braking torque.

When compared to Brembo's other six-piston calipers, the Boldika uses a unique three-piece construction: the inner piece where the caliper attaches to the vehicle's hardware, which is a cast-iron central bridge, and two aluminum outer halves, connected by four bolts rather than the usual two. The Boldika maximizes brake pad surface area, which Brembo says increases braking performance and pad life, and they are designed to fit on vehicles with 20-inch wheels or larger. Naturally, bigger brakes weigh more, and these calipers weigh about 31 pounds each, which is roughly twice the weight of Brembo's standard six-piston calipers.

Brembo North America CEO Stéphane Rolland said, "Brembo's new caliper is an adaptable new solution for large trucks and SUVs regardless of powertrain, bringing Brembo braking performance to new segments such as heavy-duty pickup trucks."

Boldika calipers will be available in different colors, and though they will launch on the Chevrolet Silverado EV RST (which weighs in at about 9,000 pounds) in Torch Red with Chevrolet and Brembo co-branding, they will soon make their way onto other hefty haulers. Oh, and the... shall we say interesting name draws inspiration from the words 'bold' and 'like,' apparently, and is pronounced bohl-DEE-kah, so no dick jokes, please.