Hi All, I would like to share with users my upgrade of the front brakes, going from 349mm discs to 380mm discs with Brembo six piston calipers.
Original Land Rover parts may have different part numbers, the six piston Brembo caliper is present on many Land Rover, Range, Range Sport, Discovery V, Defender V8 models.
some codes are these: PART NO: 20A6470500 / 20A6470600 / LR139244
OTHER REF. NO. LR049115 / LR093886 / LR049117 / LR093886 .




The front braking system from chassis M2000001 is composed as follows, front suspension arm equal for all types of brakes, also looking at the discovery V model, all three types of brake (18,19,20") were installed on the same front arm.

another thing to consider is the sheet metal protection of the disc, on groupsets 18 it is different from the 19.20", so you have to either replace it or modify it by cutting a rear piece. You also need new caliper bolts, a wear sensor, and two protections on the axle shaft.


I was lucky, I found two almost new six-piston Brembo calipers, disassembled from a new Range Rover Sport L494, as the customer wanted them red.
I bought the original Brembo brake pads (huge!) and now I'm waiting for the 380 mm Brembo discs to arrive.

in addition to the calipers, you will need 380mm Brembo discs, Brembo code 09.C820.11, and Brembo brake pads. P44.023., again the air conveyors 2xLr039165, the new bolts for the calipers 4xLR033274.
this what I initially thought was needed.



Problem……the new front discs are noticeably thicker on the hub bearing plate. this leads to less wheel engagement .
the biggest problem remains that this thickness moves the disc outwards by 5 mm, in this way the caliper is no longer aligned with the brake disc.
for some, the solution could be to insert shims between the caliper support and the caliper itself.
I find this solution unsafe and problematic, the only solution is to replace the wheel hubs …….


I studied the fittings of all the defender l663, I can say with certainty that on all versions with 18 (249 front, 225 rear) or 19 (265 front and 250 rear) brakes to install the 380 mm front and 365 rear discs with Brembo six-piston front caliper, ALWAYS insert shims between the supports and the brake caliper.
the question is very simple, the disc of the 18", 19" systems has a thickness on the plate in contact with the hub of 2.5 mm, the disc, the 20" system has a thickness on the plate of 8mm, this leads to a deviation of 5,5 mm, caliper-support,
another problem remains that the wheel bolts, when inserting the 380 mm disc, will have a useful tightening of 5.5 mm less, and I don't know if this will cause problems...

I finally successfully completed the 380mm disc brake upgrade with Brembo six piston calipers.
LR147396 x2 hub correct.
LR100039 x8 bolt hub.


I decided to have the calipers painted by a professional with the original Land Rover Defender Brembo Blue specification. they are actually beautiful.
Second phase, I bought the two new 380mm original Brembo system front hubs/bearings.
Then I did a great job, removing the hubs was difficult, I used a joint extractor and with a lot of effort we replaced them.
Even bleeding was not easy, after the procedure that can only be done in service mode, (gap tool) you have to follow special rules, I had abs errors that didn't want to go away.....








finally I would like to talk about the bleeding of the brakes that made me suffer ....
it would be necessary to pressurize the system with a manual pump to be applied to the liquid tank, maximum pressure 3 bar.
some users in this way have made the bleeding, simply opening the valves starting from the brake furthest from the master cylinder.
But here's a problem....
the Defender system has valves downstream of the brake pedal master cylinder which are closed when the car is off. 26 and 27.
By giving pressure and opening the valves, only part of the system bleeds, the red one

putting the brakes in service mode, with a generic diagnostic tool, valves 26 and 27 open, giving pressure and pressing the brake pedal at the same time, the upper part of the system also bleeds.



this is my reflection, based on the fact that by opening the valves due to bleeding on the caliper and pressing the brake pedal without pressure on the system, the pedal does not go down, it remains hard.

 

All I gotta say is if taint broke don't fix it.... and now it's broke..


You may have to activate the ABS system but you'll most likely need a Land Rover service tool to complete the activation procedure ..

 

sorry I explained myself badly, I bled with service mode, and the machine is perfect 👍👍👍👍🤩

 

So tell me what your 60-0 stoping distance improvement is now [if any] and how many panic brake 60-0 stops can you make before brake fade kicks in ?

 

HI,
Honestly it was braking well even before the upgrade.
I don't feel the difference on my defender 90 in the 60 at 0 ..... with only the driver on board.
I feel a difference with the car loaded with four people, when I go down the mountain roads in the Dolomites Alps, here I feel a constant braking force.
I have heard that other users have had disc warping problems when using the car at full load.

 

With our rotors the last thing you want to do is get them hot and then douse them in cold water... Now I'm even happier I removed the rear seats out of my 90.
All the weight that peeps add to these trucks just taxes the systems, now add off road wheels with poor ventilation characteristics and a few more hundred pounds of off road gear.

Looking forward when the aftermarket starts producing products that "just add lightness"...

 

Wow!! Awesome work & post, @mmbanf .

 

What color code was used for the calipers? They look very good

 

Great info on the brake bleeding.

I just did mine a while ago without a diagnostic tool. Seems like I didn't bleed the outlined section. Ignorance was bliss. No I'll need to redo.

Which diagnostic tool did you use? Is it straight forward to put it in service mode.

Amazing work.

 

Could these be the most ominous words in any car-project write-up?