20 Frequently Asked Questions About Brake Pads

With the peak of automobile brake pad replacement approaching, many car owners have begun to know and purchase brake pads. However, everyone’s understanding of brake pads comes more from the recommendations and introductions of auto repair shops. However, due to their own interests, automobile owners Repair shops often consider problems from their own perspective, so a lot of information and concepts that car owners get are wrong. Of course, there are also smart consumers who will use the Baidu platform to seek more real knowledge and answers. The purpose of this article is to answer common questions on the market from a professional perspective and starting from the technical standards of the original vehicle equipment.

1. What is the original car package?

Answer: As the name suggests, original car accessories are what are originally installed on the car when it leaves the factory.

2. Are the products in the 4S store matched with the original car?

Answer: As far as brake pads are concerned, not all. What we call original vehicle equipment is referred to as OEM, while 4S stores refer to after-sales sales, referred to as OES. If possible, car owners can compare brake assemblies at 4S stores. The brake pads on them are from OEM, while the separately packaged brake pads are from OES. In theory, OES products should be produced by automobile OEM manufacturers, but in reality, many 4S store products do not come from OEM manufacturers.

3. What is the difference between original car matching and original factory matching?

Answer: Theoretically, these two are the same concept, and both refer to the car's factory-installed accessories. But in the actual auto parts after-sales market, original factory assembly is defined as synonymous with high imitation because it carries various automobile factory logos.

4. I want to buy the same one as the one installed on my original car. Can I just buy the one with the car logo at the auto repair shop?

Answer: I can only tell you that car logos are the property of the car factory. At present, the automobile manufacturer only authorizes its 4S stores or direct profit channels to use this trademark. Therefore, if the after-sales market has a car trademark, 99 is a high imitation. Of course, it is possible that the one you bought is the one.

5. Are high imitation products bad?

Answer: If it is good, it does not need to be copied.

6. Are brake pads not licensed by the state?

Answer: Yes. The state has always strictly controlled products such as brake pads that are of vital interest to citizens.

7. Does that mean that products produced under state license are qualified products that meet national standards?

Answer: The state-authorized production license inspection unit is Xi'an Xianyang Friction Materials Research Institute. The inspection program faces whether the company's samples meet the basic performance requirements, whether it has production equipment and preliminary process control capabilities, and whether it has the most basic inspection equipment such as a fixed-speed testing machine. If the conditions are met, the production license number will be authorized and online query service will be provided. There are currently close to 600 domestic companies that have obtained production licenses.

8. Many people say that whether the brake pads are genuine ones depends on the friction coefficient and other markings on the packaging. Is this accurate?

Answer: It can only be said to be a reference, because textual things do not increase the cost much, and everyone can implement it very easily. The state requires that brake pad packaging must be marked with executive standards, production license number, friction coefficient, manufacturer and other information. Nowadays, there are indeed many manufacturers whose packaging is all in English. They dare not write the production address and manufacturer, but only include the license number. These are all irregular. As a consumer, you can search "Production License Number Query" on Baidu, enter the national production license query system, enter the production license number on the product packaging, and you can identify whether the product is the same as the manufacturer marked on it, and you can also use this Judge product quality.

9. What are the differences between national standards and the original vehicle supporting standards of automobile manufacturers?

Answer: National industry standards are the template for all standards and the most basic standards. Automobile factory standards and control systems come from more than 100 years of automobile production technology and experience in Western countries, and their performance indicators and other requirements are higher than national standards. Therefore, in Western countries with mature automobile markets, everyone is more inclined to recognize automobile factory industry standards.

10. What are the requirements of automobile manufacturers for brake pads?

Answer: The basic requirements for brake pads of automobile manufacturers include 9 indicators. These 9 indicators must be met at the same time. Only in this way can the conditions for entering the automobile factory be met first in terms of technical indicators. Then, the automobile factory verifies the factory's process control capabilities in accordance with the TS16949 system audit standards. If this point reaches the standard, it can enter the automobile factory and become the original supporting brake pads of the automobile.

11. Which nine technical indicators do original car brake pads need to meet at the same time?

Answer: The friction coefficient should be stable, the service life should be long, the noise probability should be low, the brake disc wear should be small, the braking ability at high temperatures should be stable, the thermal expansion should be low, the compression rate should be qualified, the dust should be low, and the materials should be environmentally friendly.

12. Is the larger the friction coefficient of the brake pad, the better?

Answer: No. The friction coefficient of the brake pad is designed based on the weight inertia of the car itself. It takes into account several technical indicators such as speed, inertia, braking distance and comfort. The friction coefficient generally marked on the market is between 0.34 and 0.42. It is actually very simple to increase the friction coefficient, just add abrasive additive. The standard for judging the quality of brake pads by automobile manufacturers is not how big it is marked, but whether its friction coefficient remains stable under various extreme road conditions such as water splashing, winding mountain roads, and continuous sudden braking. Many products that appear to be marked with a very high friction coefficient will have their braking force drop rapidly or even lose their braking ability in the above-mentioned emergency situations. This phenomenon is not uncommon.

13. The brake pads can be guaranteed to last for 30,000 to 40,000 kilometers. Are these considered to be the standard of the original car?

Answer: It is very simple to achieve the service life of the brake pads alone. Just add more wear-increasing agent, and it is not difficult to achieve 100,000 kilometers. The formula of the original car ensures long life and will not have any negative impact on the disk, noise, etc. So, you can judge noise and disc wear, while comfort is also a connected specification.

14. If ceramic fiber is added to the formula, does it mean it is a ceramic formula?

Answer: No. Ceramic fiber is only one of the commonly used fibers for brake pads. There are also metal fibers, mineral fibers, wood fibers, aramid fibers, etc. Their function is to connect various fillers, just like the ones added to mud walls in rural areas. Like straw. It is true that many brands have borrowed the concept of ceramic fiber and grafted it on. The pure ceramic formula is completely two concepts.

15. Why are the brake pads making noise?

Answer: Noise is mainly caused by frequency resonance. If the natural frequencies of two materials or components are the same, resonance will easily occur. It is easy to solve the noise of the brake pad alone, it is easy to solve the service life alone, and it is also easy to solve the problem alone without damaging the disc. The difficult thing about brake pads is solving all 9 problems at the same time. And noise is just a problem that we can easily find. There are many factors that cause noise. The entire brake assembly system is the cause of noise. Improper selection of brake discs, severe disc wear, etc. will cause noise. In many cases, everyone has wronged the brake pads. During the research and development process, we did not have any skills to solve the noise problem. We relied on countless tests, comparisons and screenings. Today, we have supplied products to more than 20 automobile manufacturers such as Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz for 22 years, and we have only matured 1 or 2 formulas. . Therefore, good recipes are not made by patting your head, but by screening.

16. It feels hard if it contains more metal. If it is hard, it will definitely make more noise. The auto repair shop also said so, right?

Answer: No. Many of these statements are made by auto repair shops and are not scientific. The original American cars are mainly semi-metallic and contain a lot of metal. Have you heard a lot of noise? Noise is not directly related to softness and hardness. The grinding disc and noise just indicate that the product formula is immature and has nothing to do with the amount of metal. In fact, the metal materials in the formula mainly play the role of connecting filler and heat conduction. At the same time, their own hardness is not much different from that of the disc, so they will not cause major wear to the disc. It is not you who actually grinds the disc and increases the braking ability. The metals you see are the abrasive additive fillers that you can't see that are harder than the brake disc. They are actually emery, the same material as your common sandpaper and grinding wheels.

17. Why are there grooves on some plates? Are the brake pads very hard?

Answer: The country has standards for the hardness of Auto brake pads, which are basically between 35 and 70 Shore hardness. This hardness is not the main cause of wear on your brake discs. The wear-increasing agent in the brake pads is the main component of the worn disc. In all three formulas, the ones that cause the greatest wear to the disk are not the semi-metals with high metal content that we often see, but low metals with very little metal content, which are the ones with a lot of dust and large particles in appearance, such as ceramics. minimal wear. So why are the discs of Mercedes-Benz and BMWs that everyone sees very flat? The reason is that the brake pads supplied with the original car have very fine, uniform, and high-purity abrasive additives, so they wear the discs very evenly, similar to polishing with fine sandpaper. Everyone sees the grooves on the brake pads because the grinding agents inside them vary in size and purity, from soft to hard. Just like grinding a disc with a coarse grinding wheel, the surface of the disc will naturally become uneven. All of these will significantly reduce costs, but the effects are different. Therefore, the softness and hardness of the brake pads are not the cause of severe disc wear. The culprit is the low-cost wear-increasing agent.

18. Do the brake pads that come with the original car make no noise?

Answer: I can only say that the probability is extremely low. Because there are too many factors that produce noise, and the main ability of the brake pads is to maintain stable safe braking capabilities under various extreme road conditions.

19. The brake pads were installed fine at first, but why did they make noise later?

Answer: Since the brake pad and brake disc are a friction pair, it is recommended to compare the performance of the brake pad after 300 to 500 kilometers of use, because at this time, the brake pad and disc are basically running in. The noise that occurs during this period is sometimes not caused by the brake pads. And if noise occurs after being used for a long time, it is necessary to determine the problem with the brake pads.

20. How long do brake discs generally last?

Answer: Theoretically, three sets of brake pads require replacement of one set of brake discs. The approximate service life is 150,000 to 200,000 kilometers. If the brake pads you use are mostly low-metal formula or some inferior brake pads, the service life of the disc will be greatly reduced, about 10 to 15 kilometers is good. Of course, if you have been using pure ceramic formula, congratulations, your brake discs do not need to be replaced within 250,000 to 300,000 kilometers.