Brembo brakes are iconic, as well as being the go-to brand for performance carmakers. The Italian brake system specialist has been around since 1961 and started working with Alfa Romeo in 1964. Through the 1980s, Brembo also supplied brakes for BMW, Chrysler, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Nissan. The company also makes braking systems for Formula 1, MotoGP, IndyCar, and Formula E teams.

Brembo has now struck up a partnership with General Motors Performance Engineering and released a new performance brake upgrade kit for GM's lineup of full-size trucks and SUVs.

That means you can now get a Brembo brake system upgrade for the Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Silverado, Tahoe, Suburban, and GMC Sierra, Yukon, and Yukon XL. According to Brembo, GM challenged its engineers to design a 6-piston caliper that would fit within 20 different wheel profiles. That allows the kit to fit in a wide variety of GM production and accessory wheels and meant that Brembo had to develop a unique compact fixed aluminum, six-piston caliper. Brembo says that the biggest challenge, amongst the many, was cooling. The team also had to take into account the vehicles being used on-road, off-road, and for towing.

"This unique 6-piston red caliper wraps around a large, vented rotor that not only looks great and fills the wheel opening, but also contributes to optimized braking and better control when hauling loads or pulling a trailer. Together with GM, these packages have been validated for quality and performance, as well as for ease of installation by the local dealer or for the do-it-yourself mechanic."

The kit consists of six-piston front brakes with 16-inch Duralife steel rotors that give an 84 percent increase in brake pad area and a 42 percent increase in rotor area over the stock brakes. According to Brembo, the package can be installed by a dealer but includes all the necessary hardware and instructions for a do-it-yourself installation.