Jim Clark, now retired from the brake industry, was there when Recommended Practice (RP) 628 was written, and he was there in Orlando again this week when a panel discussed aftermarket brake linings during ATA's Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) Annual Meeting.
"There's no federal regulation in the aftermarket," Clark says. "There's nothing there."
While OEM brake linings go through a battery of tests, including a dynamometer test and a vehicle stopping test, aftermarket products don't go through any federal testing or regulation. Some aftermarket companies will do dynamometer tests, Clark says, but few will do vehicle tests, citing expense.
Since 1995, Clark says 17 suppliers have submitted 117 linings for approval under RP628. Now, interest has waned, the panel says, and there are fewer and fewer products approved.
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"It cost about a million bucks to those lining suppliers, but their participation validated this entire RP," Clark says.
Suppliers' linings had a larger-than-desired spread in test results.
