Whether choosing brake technology for yourself or helping customers choose what products are right for their next brake job, there are a few key factors to consider before making a decision. Drivers should find the right balance between top-quality pedal feel and affordable price, determine whether their vehicle use patterns demands any special brake coverage, consider the importance of a complete brake job, and find a brake manufacturer with a solid reputation that they trust. This article will provide more detail on each of these four tips, helping you to ensure that your (or your customer’s) next brake job is ideal in terms of cost, safety, reliability and comfort.
Priorities: Pedal feel or price?
The first key consideration is how the driver wants their new brakes to feel, as well as their price point. Whether you choose to prioritize a pedal feel identical to that of your car’s OE brakes, or choose to prioritize low cost, you should have an idea in mind of these two factors before making a brake purchase.
Top-of-the-line brake products from reputable brake manufacturers (more on that, later) can meet or exceed OE expectations, offering the same type of pedal feel as when the car was brand-new. Some manufacturers, such as GRI Engineering & Development, Inc. (GRIE), which offers the Bendix Brakes brand of automotive brake products, even specialize their top-quality brake product line, with a range of products that corresponds to OE brakes for each individual vehicle. In the Bendix Premium line, friction materials in each brake product has been tested against OE formulations to create a material that is comparable to – or sometimes even exceeding – the comfort and quality of the vehicle’s original brakes. Products like those in the Bendix Premium line offer the benefit of replicating OE quality without replicating the price tag of a dealership brake job.
If price is of greater concern than comfort equaling your vehicle’s original brakes, then it is better to choose a brake product that is proven safe, but is a more economical option. For drivers on the second, third, or even fourth set of replacement brakes for a vehicle, especially those who don’t put a lot of mileage onto their car, price is often the most important characteristic of an ideal brake product, aside from safety. In this case, using the same example of the Bendix Brakes brand, the driver would be better suited purchasing brake products from the Stop by Bendix line, which features mid-grade friction formulations. These products ensure driver safety at a lower cost.
Assess whether you need additional coverage
There are, of course, some cases in which standard friction formulations, designed with average drivers’ vehicle use in mind, don’t quite measure up in terms of safety or comfort. Drivers who need their vehicles to perform well in severe-duty applications like towing or hauling, and especially those who drive in mountainous regions, can benefit from more robust friction materials to meet their more robust braking needs. These brake products, often semi-metallic like the Bendix Fleet MetLok product line, can dissipate heat more easily and deliver more friction.
High friction and better heat dissipation are also especially important for fleet vehicles such as police cruisers and ambulances. These are not only heavier than other vehicles, but require the ability to brake more aggressively while still keeping drivers and passengers safe. In these types of applications, a harsher pedal feel is an acceptable tradeoff for safe, aggressive braking in any conditions.
Opt for the complete brake job
Regardless of the brake products you choose for your vehicle, it is essential that you perform or request a complete brake job when replacing any worn brake components. This means that when changing brake pads, rotors should either be replaced as well, or, if the rotors are still within specifications, should be thoroughly cleaned and resurfaced. New friction materials introduced in the last decade or so leave a thin film on the rotors, which helps to break in the new brakes, so to speak, leading to improved brake performance. Replacing brake pads but ignoring rotor surfaces impedes this critical material transfer, and can introduce problems such as noise, poor performance and premature wear.
In addition to pads and rotors, it is important to ensure that the caliper and caliper hardware, piston, seals, and other components are all working properly and are adequately lubricated. If they are not, they should be re-lubricated, repaired, or replaced. Even technology as minor as the brake abutment clips has become advanced over the last decade or so, with spring steel under tension that can wear out if not replaced. When you opt for a complete brake job, you can rest assured that every component of your braking system is in top shape, which, given that brake performance is critical to vehicle safety, is essential.
Find a reputable manufacturer
The final, and perhaps most important, tip to consider when choosing replacement brakes for your vehicle is to ensure that you purchase your brakes from a reputable manufacturer. Brakes are a safety-related product for your vehicle, as has already been discussed in this article, and it is important to be comfortable with your brake manufacturer. Each individual manufacturer creates and tests its own friction formulas, so there is a wide range of quality available on the market. It is important to choose a manufacturer with a long history of expertise so you can be confident that your brake technology is the best and safest available to you.
Take the example of GRIE and Bendix Brakes. Bendix has been a part of the automotive brake industry from nearly a century, and has a long history at the cutting edge of friction formulation and brake technology. Additionally, the brand now features an industry-leading latest generation of friction materials.
The Bendix product line is fully integrated from a manufacturing point of view – GRIE manufactures its own backing plates, hardware, shims, and more. Bendix is one of the only brands in the U.S. automotive brake marketplace with this level of manufacturing integration, and it means that GRIE control over the quality of the Bendix brand products at every step of manufacturing. Without relying on sub-suppliers, the Bendix brand includes the highest quality, safest products possible.
Bendix products are also at the cutting edge of environmental concerns for automotive brake technology, with copper eliminated from the friction formulations of the Premium line of top-quality brakes. While other manufacturers are waiting until regulations force them to remove copper from their friction formulations, GRIE is leading by example, creating non-metallic friction formulations that exceed OE expectations for the Bendix brand products.
Regardless of whether you choose a brake product for top performance and comfort or for its affordable price, whether your vehicles are used exclusively in average, undemanding applications or is towing trailers up mountains, it is critical that you choose the safest possible brake products, and ensure that those products are installed and maintained properly. With these tips, you can ensure a comfortable ride within your price range and keep your vehicle safe.
