TMD Friction has created a customer support program aimed at reducing fleet maintenance costs by pushing brake relines out of a vehicle life cycle. The new program, called the “Textar Fleet Assistance Program,” was released Sunday at TMC’s Annual Meeting in Nashville.
“Brake relines are one of the highest maintenance costs a fleet experiences and there is limited technical guidance out there to assist a fleet in making the optimal lining selection,” says Tom Green, marketing director of TMD Friction North America. “The Textar Fleet Assistance Program has been developed to help fleets determine the different duty cycles within their fleet and select the appropriate grade of friction to minimize the maintenance expenses over the life of their vehicles.”
TMD says the program starts when a fleet manager fills out an information sheet that breaks down his vehicle population into smaller “mini fleets” that likely have different brake cycles. TMD engineers use the fleet’s information to calculate if life improvement from Textar linings would push relines out of the life cycles of each mini fleet and how many total relines would be saved, the company says.
Offered in the program are free, custom made lining wear gauges for drum and disc brakes for any fleet using Textar products.
“If a fleet will try Textar products as part of the program, TMD will supply free lining wear gauges that have been customized to the fleet’s brake cycles,” says Jim Clark, TMD director of engineering. “With these gauges, mechanics can avoid wasted linings that result when a lining is removed prematurely because the mechanic is not sure it will make it to the inspection.”
TMD Friction creates new engineering program
