The aftermarket of Europe has dozens and dozens of brake pad brands, ranging from premium to low cost. When you buy this safety critical component, how can you be sure that the price you pay is for a product that justifies it, not just a brand and marketing? Let us introduce you to the world of TMD Friction, and show you what goes into every box of Textar brake pads.

Textar brake pads are manufactured by TMD Friction, developing and delivering the brake friction that people rely on the world over.

In fact, TMD Friction is one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of brake friction, with over one million individual pieces rolling off their production lines every single day. The company owns factories on four continents, and each year TMD Friction invests tens of millions of Euros into research, development and testing, to bring new and more effective friction that meets the requirements of different vehicles, and the needs of every local marketplace too.

The success of TMD Friction is built on technical excellence, innovation and expertise in materials science. The company has a proud history of bringing new technology and ideas to the market, and has been responsible for many of the major advances in braking over the past 100 years, including carbon ceramic disc brakes in 2000, and continues to lead the way with revolutionary technologies like regenerative braking and KERS.

Working closely with many of the biggest automotive brands on the planet, TMD are supplying brakes to cars from Opel Corsa, to Mercedes C-Class, to new Porsche Panamera up to the challenge of braking the Bugatti Veyron and almost every other supercar in the world. TMD Friction is developing braking solutions to meet the environmental and performance challenges of tomorrow; as original equipment engineered for a new era of super-efficient passenger cars, for the vehicle aftermarket through trusted brand names like Textar and Mintex – ultimately to provide a better experience for the millions of customers who rely on TMD Friction products every day.

Now you have been introduced to the company and the technology behind the Textar brand. Let’s take you through the development cycle for one project with BMW, and let you see it’s not just brake pads in a Textar box.

TMD Friction is the solus supplier for the rear axle brake friction on the new BMW 5 Series and a major supplier of front axle friction for this model. A dynamic partnership and innovative approach to product development has created a fast track to achieving outstanding performance and successful O.E. approval. Follow us on the journey.

Stage 1 – Pre-development

Collaborating closely with BMW development engineers, the new material was tested on the previous 5 series, using the current running design, to provide a direct comparison with existing BMW approved material.

TMD Friction produced a sample batch of material, using a specially contoured pad shape, enabling them to run tests at a very early stage of the development process, using dynamometers equipped with a prototype of the new brake system.

Low quantities of sample brake pads were manufactured, using prototype tools and under conditions that closely simulate series production. These pads were rigorously tested on dynamometers for noise, performance and HTT (High Temperature Test with 900 degrees at maximum speed), prior to AMS brake distance tests, vehicle prototype track testing, and endurance tests run by BMW.

An initial quantity of pads were produced using series production tools. Process, Quality, Production and Application Engineers worked closely to ensure that the product matched the agreed properties. Extensive testing took place using both dynamometers and the new BMW 5 series vehicle.

Millions of brake pads are produced to exact parameters in TMD Friction’s state of the art production facilities. The finishing process is fully automated and quality checking is carried out using the latest technology, before batch sign-off and delivery to BMW.

Following the vehicle launch, TMD Friction’s manufacturing plants supply the aftermarket product programme with the same O.E. specification brake pads for distribution through its Textar brand.

We have shown you the incredible investment in time and resource that goes into every set of Textar brake pads, with more than €20M invested every year in research and development alone, millions of test kilometers driven on road, state of the art dynamometer and analysis equipment and hundreds of years of accumulated know how and experience.

Now compare a set of Textar brake pads to an aftermarket competitor, many of whom have no own manufacturing or engineering, many of whom purchase friction from factories in low cost countries and box in Europe, and ask yourself the question, when you fit brake pads to your customers cars, whose hands are you putting their safety into?