Brembo Brake Caliper Halves Bolt Torque

[Jeff in W.C.]

I rebuilt the Brembo calipers on my 1988 R100 RT. To cut to the chase, what should be the appropriate torque setting for the two bolts clamping the halves together.

Here’s what I’ve found so far….

I read through the included Brembo instructions and if I’m reading it right (they're not that clear), the two bolts clamping the two halves should be tightened to 50 nm or ±36.9 ft lb. This is not my area of expertise, but that seems high for an 8.8 M10 bolt that has a torque setting range of 25-39 nm to 18-29 ft lbs, according to Clymers. Snowbum’s sight indicates torque settings for the Brembo calipers with four bolts, but doesn’t seem to reference the older Brembo calipers with only two bolts. Brook Reams references the torque settings for the inner bolts indicated on Snowbum’s site. I have a repair manual for the airhead GS, and BMW doesn’t specify a different torque setting other than normal for the bolt type.

[barryh]

36.9ftlbs sounds high to me given it's an alloy thread in the caliper. I'd go for the lower figures given for the 4 bolt caliper. The worse it can do is leak - better than a stripped thread.

At least there are published figures fro Brembo. When I separated my Ate dual piston caliper there are no figures because Ate don't want you to split the caliper. I used a low figure of no more than 20 ftlbs and it has not leaked after 10 years of use. I even did a rough calculation to figure out how many tonnes of clamping force that produced and it was more than adequate.

[SteveD]

I used 22 ft/lbs.

[Jeff in W.C.]

Thanks. I've decided to go with 22 ft/lbs, since the few places I've seen 22 ft/lbs stated, none have indicated leaks.