Hushed Hardware

Premium brake offerings may be marketed as a solution to a wide variety of issues, such as the need to offer more aggressive stopping power for a trailer-towing SUV, but noise continues to be the overwhelming concern behind brake-related comebacks. That makes promises of a squeak-free stop the single largest contributor to premium brake sales.

“Noise is the paramount issue with consumers,” says Kevin O’Dowd, brand manager for Federal-Mogul’s Wagner Brake Products. “They want it to be as quiet as the original equipment.”

The choice of friction material plays one of the most important roles in ensuring the all-important quiet ride.

Ceramic formulas, which offer such things as a lighter-coloured brake dust to protect the appearance of rims, have been touted as a possible solution since they first began to emerge in the late 1990s. But some suppliers question any one-formula-fits-all approach.

O’Dowd suggests that the best options will match original equipment offerings, regardless of whether the friction material was based on a semi-metallic, ceramic, or low-steel formula. A heavier vehicle, for example, may still require semi-met friction material on rear brakes, and ceramic in front positions. “We will not use a ceramic formula where the OE has specified a semi-met,” he says.

“Ceramics are more and more going to be a popular term for people to consider,” adds Quing Zheng, president of NewTek Automotive Distribution. “[But] even now, the OEs use organic pads in the rear or even the front.”

Chemistry is just the beginning. Since heat and vibration tend to be the root cause of noise, the shape of the friction material is essential to ensure a proper fit and function, O’Dowd says. Premium products have also included other features to further address the noise. NewTek’s ThermoQuiet, for example, incorporates an integrally moulded insulator between the steel back and friction material, dissipating heat across the entire pad.

Rotors play their own role in a quieter ride, promoting another premium offering.

“Using a set of 21st century brake pads with rotors that aren’t smooth, true or thick enough is a prescription for trouble. Expect noise, rapid wear, erratic performance, pulsating pedals, and crabby customers if the rotors aren’t right,” states Bendix Brakes “Answerman” Jay Buckley in one report. “New rotors, for instance, should be ready for use as they come out of the box.”

Proof of a rotor’s role in a quiet brake system can be seen in the way that Federal-Mogul investigates any noise-related complaints. The company asks to see rotors as well as the related friction material.

“There’s a big difference between a good rotor and a bad rotor,” explains Peter Murnen, Federal-Mogul’s global director, friction. “It all comes down to metallurgy.”

Say what you will about the number of fins incorporated in a rotor to address heat (and that is important), but a key difference is the material from which the rotor is made, he says. Surface finish is also important, although it’s difficult to judge. (When the rotor is first out of the box, can you really tell the difference between one shiny piece of metal and another?)

The good news is that the ever-dropping price of rotors has helped to ensure that they’re replaced whenever friction material is swapped.

Meanwhile hardware components, including the seemingly simple caliper bolts, bushings, and clips, all play their own roles in the hushed sounds of a premium brake system. Rubber-coated products and “new age” metals all contribute to the improvements. Elite disc brake pads from Morse, for example, feature shims made with a layer of vulcanized rubber.

Want to find such hardware? You may need to look no further than the box that contains premium friction material. “You’ll start to see more and more friction manufacturers putting the hardware in the box with the friction,” O’Dowd observes.

“It creates a lot of convenience for the installer,” Zheng adds. Caliper offerings offer a perfect example of the value of convenience.

Semi-loaded calipers tend to run quieter than their bare counterparts, and they also tend to last twice as long, says Canamotive Remanufacturing general manager Greg Meleca. adding, “Our bare calipers used to be 2% on claimed defective rates.” In contrast, the comebacks on semi-loaded offerings have dropped below 1%.

“Springs can lose their tension. They can get rusted or corroded — all hardware should be replaced,” says Fenco Automotive Parts sales director Eric Liebovitz, noting how the replacements will help to prevent the premature seizure of calipers.

Still, there are differences between offerings of semi-loaded calipers, Liebovitz adds. Some will be missing caliper bolts, while others will be missing brackets. And with every missing piece, jobbers will need to stock shelves with yet another part.

“Everyone uses bare calipers just for the price savings,” Meleca explains. Sure, the semi-loaded calipers may cost about 10%, but that pales in comparison to the cost of sourcing the parts individually.

His plant foreman has also been able to shave about six to eight minutes from installation times because of the semi-loaded designs. That would be a sizeable saving for a garage that schedules 90 minutes to offer a complete brake job on a wheel end.

About 90% of Canamotive sales can be traced to the premium offerings; the fastest-moving options include models that come with mounting brackets for the front brakes on DaimlerChrysler vehicles, including the Concorde Intrepid, and rear brakes for the Ford Taurus.

Brake lubricants have themselves been promoted as premium products. Bendix CeramLube, for example, is sold with promises to dampen noise because it can withstand temperatures between minus 70 and 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit. In contrast, the company says that a refined petroleum-based product will cause rubber components to swell.

Despite all the offerings, there are limits to what any jobber can carry.

“If you carry too many lines, you have a storage inventory and a cash flow problem,” Zheng says, citing a truism of any warehouse. The choice of what to stock will be driven by local vehicle populations, but he also stresses the importance of talking to fellow jobbers to see what brands are selling, or to identify which options are readily available in the marketplace. It’s equally important to keep a close eye on marketing initiatives such as rebate programs, he says.

Despite all the work that goes into the product, the packaging itself can’t be forgotten, says Zheng. “It makes people understand this is a better product…in general, people still like to see a beautiful box and the nice parts and accessories in there.”

Marketing outside the aftermarket community can also play a role in related sales.

“We have and will continue to experiment and look at touching the consumer in some of our communications, and measuring how aware and how much consideration they have in the brands,” Federal-Mogul’s O’Dowd says. Consumer awareness will always play a role in what an installer will order.

Shops, meanwhile, will likely continue to look to jobbers for advice on brake-related offerings. “We work with a lot of buying groups and large retail jobber groups, and it’s the jobber groups who keep themselves informed as to what the options are in the marketplace, as well as to what their options are within their own companies,” Murnen says.

Ian Braunstein of Satisfied Brake says that jobbers, and technicians for that matter, should recognize that not all friction formulations are the same. And, neither is all brake pad construction.

“First of all, when we talk about ceramic,” which he says is on 65% of all new cars, “we aren’t talking about one formulation. We use a vehicle-specific approach to be able to work as an upgrade, but all relevant to the vehicle dynamic. This is for weight and stopping force, and even how the vehicle is being used,” such as for severe duty applications. “If you comprom
ise that by going too aggressive with your formulation, you will have noise.”

He agrees that items such as shims and pad and backing plate attachment are factors in noise reduction, but adds that it’s not always a question of aping original equipment construction.

“OE is not perfect. Ironically [brake manufacturers] tell the market that their products are as good as OE, but the fact is that OE doesn’t nail it every time. There are things that we can do to compensate for some of their shortcomings.”

Granted, the challenge isn’t an easy one. There is no aftermarket standard to which the replacement components must comply. There are the D3EA and Brake Manufacturers Council BEEP tests, but the only required tests for meeting FMVSS 105 and 135, as well as their Canadian counterparts, start and end with the vehicle manufacturer.

Jobbers largely need to rely on their own experience and research to determine which products will best meet the needs of their customers.

But they can be sure that customers will continue to look for such products. The only factor to slow the growth in premium brake sales seems to have been the recent surge in gasoline prices, O’Dowd says. At most, that slowdown seems to have been a temporary blip–since it appears that nothing will stop the consumer’s demand for a quiet brake.