With every new generation of vehicle, performance increases mean extra requirements are placed on braking components. Brake pads in particular are placed under extreme development pressure in order to keep pace with developing automotive technology and changing requirements. 

Bosch is at the cutting edge of developing braking technology. Dr. Gente, development engineer for brake-pad mixtures at the Bosch brake laboratory in Karlsruhe comments, “Dealing with pressure, particularly brake pressure, is our daily business. With pad demands increasing, it all comes down to determining which brake-pad formula best meets the requirements.”

The production procedures at Bosch are thus optimised with each new brake pad. A prime example of this is scorching, the last thermal processing step of high performance brake pads. Extremely high temperatures, of up to 600 °C, modify the chemical structure of the brake-pad surface thus reducing the bedding-in time.

Therefore, Bosch brake pads quickly provide safe and reliable braking performance. This high-temperature treatment is particularly important considering the high performance requirements on European roads. Unlike surface coatings, the scorching of Bosch brake pads ensures top braking behaviour in extreme braking situations, even long after the bedding in process.

Bosch also recognise that brake pad development is a broad field. In order to produce OE-quality brake pads, acoustic and comfort properties need to be optimised in addition to performance and wear behaviour. Although the requirements as such are already pretty high in this area, in terms of quality, Bosch “raises the bar even more” for its customers. While all brake-pad mixtures have to pass the ECE R 90 test standardised by the European Union, Bosch brake pads meet even much higher requirements. For this purpose, sophisticated test procedures are applied. Their sole objective is providing the customer with evidence of top performance in terms of safety and comfort.

Each brake pad that passes the stringent Bosch tests is equipped with the required selected accessories, depending on the vehicle model. In this manner, top performance is complemented by optimum comfort characteristics. 

Dr. Gente adds, “The overall quality has to be an outstanding one. Our customers in the aftermarket wouldn’t accept anything less. That’s what we call ‘Bosch quality.”

Bosch brake pads are available from stockist nationwide. To find out more visit: www.boschaftermarket.co.uk