Understanding How Brakes Work

Besides Shorter Stopping Distance, What Else Would You Improve about the Way Your Brakes Perform?

·         Reduce the amount of ugly black brake dust that appears on your wheels?

·         Reduce or eliminate that annoying squeal as you pull up to the toll booth?

·         Reduce the amount of pedal pressure required to bring your vehicle to a stop?

·         Improve the ability to stop at the maximum level even after repetitive stops?

Brakes work by converting kinetic energy (forward motion) into thermal energy (heat). The friction between the stationary brake pad and rotating disk or drum as it slides past the pad convert the motion of the wheel and tire into heat, much the way rubbing your hands together on a cold day will warm them up. Bringing your car to a stop generates enough heat at each wheel to boil a liter of water in about 7 seconds. Brake temperatures can reach around 500°F during normal everyday use, and can reach up to 1000°F under heavy or repetitive braking.

The brake disk or drum is designed to work like a heat sink, and absorbs as much as 80% of the heat generated during stopping. Fortunately, it also makes a good radiator, cooling as it spins through the air on the way to the next stop.

The front brakes do most of the work as the vehicle's weight pushes forward while stopping. Therefore, many vehicles are equipped with disc brakes on the front axle and drum brakes on the rear. A disc brake's superior performance is largely due to its ability to generate friction as the brake calipers force the pads to clamp against the rotors. The brake rotors are cleaned and dried by the brake pads dragging across them and the entire brake system is exposed to the air for efficient cooling. The advantages of rear drum brakes are lower cost and the ability to easily integrate a mechanical emergency/parking brake system.

Most Original Equipment brake pads are made of many different compounds, and try to achieve a compromise between stopping power, low noise, dusting and long wear. Gone is asbestos, now replaced with modern friction materials.

OEM -- original equipment manufacturer

Vehicle manufacturers understand that there is little reason to spend millions of dollars developing the ride and handling qualities of a new vehicle's suspension if they are going to omit integrating the influence of its Original Equipment tires. This has resulted in either completely new tire designs or fine-tuned versions of existing designs being engineered for every new car and light truck from the beginning of the vehicle's development process.

There was a time in America when it was thought that the only reasons a vehicle manufacturer chose Original Equipment tires were "how wide were the whitewalls" and "which manufacturer would sell their bias ply tires for the lowest price." Well even if that had been true, times have changed and neither whitewalls nor cheap bias ply tires are used on vehicles today.

Part of the reason for this is because tire comfort and tire performance directly correlate with the driver's overall vehicle satisfaction. Original Equipment tires play an integral role in achieving the vehicle's desired comfort and performance capabilities, and greatly influence the vehicle's personality. And as vehicles have evolved, so have OE tires. For the most part, today's vehicles are lighter, more fuel-efficient and more responsive than those built a decade ago. This has caused corresponding reductions in tire weight and rolling resistance, while enhancing the tire's handling capabilities.

A tire's characteristics can be represented graphically in a "spider" chart (see below). These charts provide a visual means of presenting multiple performance characteristics to allow direct comparison of an existing tire's capabilities (usually established at the 100 level as a baseline) to the targets and/or realized performance levels for a new tire.

While the tire manufacturer's ultimate goal is to develop technology that allows them to expand the new tire's entire comfort and performance envelope in all directions compared to the original tire, frequently they are only able to expand the tire's capabilities in several areas without causing compromises that would result in less performance in other areas. This type of analysis allows confirmation of the accomplished improvements and any resulting compromises.

Starting from the same original tire would result in identifying different goals for a tire intended for a luxury coupe vs. a tire intended for a true sports car. Which is the better tire? In reality, neither of them is better; but they are both different. Most importantly, both would be tuned to meet the desired personality of the car. However, if misapplied, the driver would experience a loss of performance if the luxury coupe tire was installed on the sports car, or a loss of comfort if the sports car tire were installed on the luxury coupe.

Maintaining high customer satisfaction is key to vehicle and tire manufacturers alike. Vehicle manufacturers benefit from higher vehicle satisfaction ratings, and tire manufacturers that have high levels of driver satisfaction also have the highest percentage of drivers who report that they intend to buy that same tire brand in the future. Among year-one owners, more than 60 percent of the drivers on OE Michelin report that they plan to repurchase Michelin tires in the future, the highest repurchase intention of all tire brands.

Additionally, the vehicle manufacturers have learned that if the driver is satisfied with their tires they are also likely to be satisfied with their vehicle, increasing their intent to repurchase the same brand of vehicle in the future.

Goodyear develops concept tires for Lexus UX concept car

Lexus has introduced its UX concept car, fitted with Goodyear Urban Crossover concept tires.

The spokes of the rim flow smoothly into the sidewall design of the tire, creating one unique feature consistent with the rest of the car.

The sections of the sidewall, seamlessly integrated in the wheel, give the tire its urban crossover look, while the tread pattern gives the tire a dynamic appearance. The tire’s design is created using Goodyear’s hi-tech laser carving technique.

It incorporates state-of-the-art features including Goodyear’s sound comfort technology, which uses an open-cell polyurethane foam element attached to the inner surface of the tire. This technology dampens the tire cavity resonance sound peak that is generated when the tire rolls over a surface, enabling the vehicle’s cabin to be extremely quiet.

This has been combined with the company’s chip-in-tire technology, which sends vital information to the car’s onboard computer, enhancing the stability and performance of the car when cornering and braking.

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Mr.Goma Team

For a hundred years, General Motors was defined by its brands: Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, GMC, Cadillac; Saturn, Saab, and Hummer later joined the portfolio.

But the lead-up to the financial crisis and the Great Recession, driving GM into bankruptcy, saw Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Saturn vanish, while Hummer and Saab faded away.

This was actually a plus for GM, as supporting all those brands had become a drag on the business. Since coming out of bankruptcy, however, GM has discovered that it can develop new brands without having to promote them and market them as such.

On Friday, the automaker's Buick division announced that it had created a new sub-brand, "Avenir." That's the French world for "future," and it takes it cue from a concept car that Buick unveiled in 2015.

"Through the first half of 2016, Buick has been the industry's fastest-growing major international brand, and Avenir is key to future growth and delivering on the high expectations of new customers coming to our showrooms," Duncan Aldred, Buick's boss, said in a statement.

"Avenir will be Buick's signature. The highest expression of the luxury experiences we're delivering now and in the future."

The carmaker says Avenir vehicles "will add distinct touches to Buick's timeless, sculpted designs, including a three-dimensional mesh grille, large-diameter wheels, and unique trim finishes." Interiors will also be upgraded.

The inspiration for this brand-within-a-brand idea at Buick has come from its stablemate GMC. Dealers often sell both brands, and the Denali designation for GMC vehicles has become a de facto premium nameplate, with sales prices approaching those traditionally captured by better-known luxury brands such as Range Rover.

Creating Avenir as a sub-brand also avoids GM's perpetual problem of brand management. The automaker has always struggled with a business model that required brands to capture customers in different market segments, but that also eventually sees the lines between those brands blur.

It's probably better to think of Avenir as a sort of super-trim-level, with premium pricing attached. The move also proves decisively that Buick is back. GM considered killing the brand — the original GM marque — as the Great Recession loomed. GM's China business depended on Buick, however, so the brand had to be fixed at home. The arrival of a new crossover SUV, Enclave, rescued sales at an opportune moment.

The creation of Avenir is a good indication that Buick will be around a lot longer.