Technology for Safety and Comfort
Your expectation: clean, quiet, smooth, responsive and durable brakes that are safe in a range of weather conditions from rain, sleet, and snow to searing heat. Our mission: to exceed your expectations. That’s what our Research and Development laboratory in Morrisville, Pennsylvania is all about. First we innovate, developing each new brake formulation based on more than 40 years of experience. Then, we scrutinize and refine using Chase and Inertia dynamometer tests, as well as Teves and on-road assessments.
We rapidly simulate initial trials on the Chase dynamometer which tells us how consistent our brake formulation is under a wide range of temperatures and pressures. Once results are predictable, we move on to the strenuous Inertia dynamometer test, simulating the braking of a vehicle as if you were driving it for miles, and miles and miles. But unlike you, it can run 24 hours a day. Every day. So, we can simulate performance over the brakes’ lifetime in a compressed time period, and under precisely controlled conditions. And we don’t just simulate driving along quiet roads on a mild, spring day. We measure the results of that panic stop you might need to make when a car runs a red light and crosses your path. We mimic the effects of the sauna-like heat and humidity of a Texas summer. Stopping power and durability come first, but we also obsess about brake squeaks and groans as well as minimizing wheel dust from the brakes. So we tweak our formulations until the brakes meet our exact safety standards, sounds barely register, and wheels are virtually spotless.
Finally we evaluate brakes where it really counts, on the road. Most manufacturers breeze right by this step because it devours time and money. But because your safety and comfort is at stake, we assess our brakes in an extreme mountain drag test on the steep, tortuous roads surrounding Jennerstown, Pennsylvania. Brakes are tested again and again in complete and partial stops, including seven dead stops from a speed of 50 miles per hour down a 10 to 12 degree grade …….in neutral. When tests are complete, we calibrate wear and tear on brake linings and rotors so we fully understand our brakes’ capabilities. Then we install our brakes in vehicles across the United States. We listen to the drivers’ feedback. Not until they tell us they love our brakes, do we introduce them.
In addition, these advanced testing procedures coupled with our all encompassing concern for the environment have enabled us to jump ahead of the industry and create EcoStop, the first eco-friendly brakes.
