Czinger's BrakeNode 3D-prints caliper, upright and fluid passages as one part

At Monterey Car Week in August 2026, Czinger put its BrakeNode into production on the new 21C Spyder: an integrated brake assembly combining the caliper, upright and passages for hydraulic fluid into a single structure made from Czinger's aluminum alloy. Bugatti had experimented with a 3D-printed brake caliper, but as far as Ars Technica knows it never left the prototype stage.

The node is the latest product of the direct-metal laser-sintering technology Czinger showed a decade ago as Divergent 3D — a platform the company demonstrated by building its own car, which won it automotive and aerospace clients. Free of body panels, the 21C's structure looks organic because material exists only where topology optimization requires it.

Versus a standard brake assembly the BrakeNode cuts unsprung mass by up to 30%; on the 21C Spyder the saving is 6 lbs (2.7 kg) because the previous car's printed upright was already class-leading. Servicing is redesigned too: a drain plug bleeds fluid, pads slot in at the top, and rotors tilt outward from the sides — no need to disconnect a caliper. The nodes are standard on the 30-unit Spyder run, optional on the 21C HDF and V Max, and retrofittable to existing 21Cs.

It moves 3D-printed car parts from showpieces to a production option, with retrofit support for existing owners.

The single-node design deletes the fasteners and interfaces where both the mass and the service complexity lived.

It demonstrates additive manufacturing's real advantage: not organic shapes for their own sake, but integrated function at lower unsprung mass.

Integration beats part-by-part optimization once manufacturing freedom exists: ask what the assembly's job is, not what its parts list says.

The BrakeNode debuted as standard equipment on the 21C Spyder (30 units), with options on the 21C HDF and V Max and retrofit for existing 21Cs.