It’s a tale as old as time. You order your high-dollar M car and forgot to check that one special, extremely expensive box for carbon ceramic brakes. There might be a work-around coming sooner than you think. A peek into the upcoming port- and dealer-installed accessories for the G90 and G99 M5 revealed that carbon ceramic brakes seem to be readily available for install after your car was built.
Carbon Ceramic Brakes Join the M Performance Part Catalog
Carbon ceramic brakes are normally an $8,500 option for the G90/G99 M5. And, while pricing isn’t mentioned, the product sheet stipulates the item as “M Performance Carbon Ceramic Brakes/MP Wheelset,” which could indicate that it’s part of a bundle with the M Performance wheels. That would obviously drive up costs significantly—considerably above the $8,500 you’d spend if you ordered the car with gold-painted brakes from the factory. If it’s a dealer-installed accessory, the people this likely will help out are those buying their cars secondhand.
Carbon ceramic brakes are lighter than equivalent steel systems. They also produce less brake dust and typically last much longer than steel brakes. It should also be noted that aftermarket and independent shops have been retrofitting BMW M CCBs for years and will likely continue to do so. So, in a way, you always had the option to do this. But now you can do it with the formal blessing of the BMW service department, which may or may not matter to you (and your warranty).
M Carbon Ceramics Won’t Be Cheap
Notably, retrofitting the components from independent shops (or doing the work yourself) typically costs between $16,000 and $20,000—perhaps giving a glimpse into just how pricy the set might be straight from the source. We’re not sure if carbon ceramic brakes will join the M Performance catalog for models outside the G90 and G99, but it seems likely. The product sheet also fails to indicate a release date or part number, so we’ll have to wait and see for specifics. The pricey brakes are just one way to spend some (more) money on your G90 or G99 M5. BMW has lots of other M5 M Performance Parts that they’ll happily sell you.
