The trucking industry has never been short on suppliers willing to sell you something cheaper. Cheaper materials. Cheaper components. Cheaper brakes. There’s nothing unusual about competition putting pressure on prices. Fleets need to manage costs, and manufacturers need to compete for their business. But the China cheap problem has intensified [...]
Most people running trucks today have probably never heard of brake dumping. They know what parts cost. They know what a good bargain looks like. And they know that keeping a truck on the road means watching every dollar. We get it. But brakes aren’t just another line item on [...]
We build brake linings for a living. We know what goes into them. We know what it costs to do it right. We know what corners look like when they get cut. So when curiously cheap Chinese friction material enters the American heavy-duty truck aftermarket with almost no regulatory pushback, [...]
Quality in the U.S. heavy-duty truck brake market is something we’ve kept a close eye on for years. But the marketplace has become so focused on price that we feel it’s time to talk more openly about what’s happening – and specifically, the increased presence of cut-rate Chinese brake components [...]
There’s a moment every truck driver dreads. Traffic ahead stops suddenly. A curve tightens faster than expected. A sporty little convertible cuts them off. With little to no time to react, the only thing that matters in that split second is whether your brakes work. The load doesn’t. The schedule [...]
The battle for quality in the heavy-duty brake industry isn’t fought in a boardroom. It’s fought one purchase decision at a time. It isn’t a public spectacle. It isn’t covered on the front pages. It just plays out quietly in fleet offices, at parts counters, and in online shopping carts [...]
We talk about a lot of things in the heavy-duty trucking industry. Price. Brand names. Part numbers. Whether a brake fits a certain application, and so on. But one thing we don’t talk about nearly enough is what’s actually inside the friction material – the minerals, resins and other compounds [...]
