TMD Friction has outlined its commercial vehicle braking portfolio, positioning three aftermarket brands — Textar, Don, and Cobreq — alongside its original-equipment (OE) business to cover fleet operators across premium, value, and regional segments. The Leverkusen, Germany-based friction specialist reports that its products are fitted to more than 70 percent of European commercial vehicles with drum brakes and 55 percent with disc brakes at the factory level.
Highlights
- TMD Friction equips over 70% of European CVs with drum brakes and 55% with disc brakes at the OE level
- Aftermarket portfolio split into three brands: Textar (premium), Don (value, 90%+ EU CV parc coverage), and Cobreq (South America)
- Company supplies OE brake pads and linings to more than 30 global commercial vehicle manufacturers
- Drum brake linings are fully copper-free; CV brake pad transition is still underway
The Braking Load Behind Commercial Vehicles
A fully laden 40-tonne truck powered by a 340 kWh motor can accelerate from 0 to 80 km/h in 45 seconds, according to TMD Friction. Bringing that same truck back to a stop from 80 km/h requires roughly 3,300 kWh of braking power — nearly 10 times the motor’s output — concentrated on a few square centimeters of friction material. Combined with the annual mileage fleets accumulate, that load profile drives the technical requirements for CV friction products.
R&D Footprint and ECE-R90 Compliance
TMD Friction operates 21 facilities across 11 countries with more than 3,900 employees and four R&D centers. The company says new friction formulations are tested for up to 2,000 hours on dynamometers and 300,000 km on the road across a range of driving conditions.
Aftermarket products are also certified under ECE-R90, the European regulation that requires replacement parts to deliver a friction coefficient within 15 percent of the originally fitted component. TMD Friction states that its Textar CV range exceeds ECE-R90 through additional durability and performance testing.
Textar: OE-Derived Aftermarket
Textar is positioned as the premium aftermarket brand, with a commercial vehicle catalog covering more than 723 articles across brake pads, discs, linings, and wear indicators. TMD Friction manufactures Textar brake discs to OE specifications and pairs them with matched pad formulations. Textar executives have previously outlined the brand’s approach to commercial vehicle braking in interviews with The BRAKE Report, emphasizing Germany-based development and testing.
Don: Value Segment Coverage
Founded in 1881, Don offers a narrower product range with more standardized friction formulations, positioning the brand as a cost-conscious option for fleet operators. TMD Friction states that Don products cover more than 90 percent of the European commercial vehicle parc.
Cobreq: South American Aftermarket
Cobreq — short for Companhia Brasileira de Equipamentos — has produced brake friction in Brazil since 1962. The brand supplies CV brake pads and drum brake linings for the South American aftermarket, manufactured locally to European quality standards.
Electrification and Sustainability
TMD Friction began supplying friction materials to what it describes as Europe’s largest electric city bus manufacturer in 2011, and in 2022 became the leading OE supplier to a new generation of electric commercial vehicles. A lightweight backing plate introduced in 2013 reduced CV brake pad weight by 33 percent by substituting a lower-density underlayer for part of the steel structure.
The company has also been working to remove copper from its CV friction products: drum brake linings are fully copper-free, and the transition for brake pads is still ongoing. The effort is part of broader sustainability targets TMD Friction laid out in its inaugural ESG report.
Executive Perspective
“With our R&D expertise and nearly 150 years of brake friction manufacturing experience, OE manufacturers trust TMD Friction to deliver high-quality solutions for commercial vehicles for every vehicle application,” said Marco Loth, Vice President Global Product Management, Sales & Trade Marketing at TMD Friction. “In the aftermarket, between Textar, Don, and Cobreq, we offer unmatched CV car parc coverage around the world and can provide a solution for virtually every commercial vehicle customer and fleet.”
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