Bugatti turned to 3D-printing to make stronger, lighter brake calipers out of titanium. The 3D-printed caliper is still at the prototype stage, and it’s being torture-tested ahead of its official release. It can withstand rotor temperatures of nearly 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit without warping or melting.
Bugatti doesn’t do anything normally.
From the way it builds cars to the way it handles recalls, the French automaker does everything in a grandiose and elaborate way. So, it doesn’t surprise us that Bugatti has reinvented the manufacturing process for a crucial part most drivers ignore until they really need it.
Though it might look like an ordinary brake caliper, Bugatti claims this supersized chunk of metal is the world’s first caliper produced using a 3D printer. It’s also made from titanium (the same stuff used in the SR-71 Blackbird jet), and Bugatti proudly points out it is the largest 3D-printed component ever made from that material. It works just like a normal caliper, it’s bolted to the wheel hub and it pushes pads against a spinning rotor to slow down the car, but the prototype titanium caliper is stronger and about 40 percent lighter than the aluminum part fitted to the 1,500-horsepower Chiron.
