According to ArvinMeritor's Commercial Vehicle Systems, “significant engineering enhancements” have been made to its Q Plus drum brakes.
The Q Plus offering now consists of larger 16.5 × 5-in. brakes on the front steering axle coupled with standard-size 16.5 × 7-in. brakes on the rear axles. Both brakes use proprietary Meritor MA210 lining material, which the company said provides greater stopping power and improved lining drum wear, as well as parking capability, compared to other materials.
Company engineers reported that testing done to FMVSS-121 procedures demonstrated that the enhanced brakes deliver “significantly more torque, resulting in greatly reduced stopping distances when compared to similar vehicles equipped with conventional front brakes.”
“The enhanced high-output Q Plus comes close to the shorter stopping distances associated with air disc brakes but without their higher cost,” said Rakesh Sachdev, vp & gm, Worldwide Braking Systems.
