Brembo Reflective Brake Discs Can Do More Than Prevent a Bad Hair Day

Well, Brembo is now doing something vaguely similar to its new brake discs, though not for any aesthetic benefits - those are just a cool by-product. The new rotor is called Greentive and will help you do much more than see the inside of your rims or fix that morning hair while checking the tire pressure.

According to Brembo - and it came up with it, so it should know - Greentive stands for "green" and "distinctive". If you were expecting "innovative" for the latter, join the club, but it seems the guys at Brembo have their synapses wired distinctively - see what I did there? - from the rest of us.

So, why green? Well, as it turns out, the main gain of this new braking surface is significantly lower wear. That means a longer life cycle for rotors and pads, which means the need to replace them will occur less frequently, which means fewer resources are consumed over the lifetime of the vehicle. Furthermore, the Greentive disc also reduces the levels of brake dust, resulting in a decrease in brake emissions, not to mention fewer trips to the carwash to clean those dirty rims.

The surface of the ring, obtained by applying a layer of special coating using High-Velocity-Oxy-Fuel technology, also provides increased corrosion resistance. We all know what brake discs tend to look like after long periods of rest. For EVs, though, with their regen braking, the conventional braking system can go days without being called into action despite intensive use of the vehicle. Since nobody likes a car with rusty rotors, this feature will likely be appreciated by EV drivers who enjoy one-pedal driving.

One final cool feature of the Greentive brake discs is the inclusion of the Brembo logo on their surface. The trick here is that the little visual element can be used as a very analog disc replacement sensor. Brembo doesn't say exactly how it's going to signal the extreme wear of the part, but you would probably know it when you see it.