A brake pad starts as two separate pieces that are bonded into one: a stamped steel backing plate and a friction material made from a blended powder of fibers, fillers, and binding resin. The powder is poured onto the plate and fused to it under heat and pressure, then cured, ground to size, and tested before it ever reaches a vehicle.
The Backing Plate: From Steel Coil to Stamped Part
Manufacturing begins with large coils of steel. A stamping press cuts and forms each backing plate from the coil, and roughly half of the steel coil ends up as scrap that is recycled back into the supply chain. Pins, clips, and other retention hardware used on certain pad designs are machined onto the plate at this stage. The stamped plates then go through media blasting and washing to strip away oil, mill scale, and stamping burrs, because any residue left on the plate surface can weaken the bond to the friction material. Most pads also get a layer of adhesive applied to the plate face before the friction material goes on, which gives the molded material an extra mechanical grip in addition to the bond created during pressing.
Mixing the Friction Formula
Every brake pad brand works from its own friction formula, and the ingredients vary by pad type: organic pads lean on fibers and rubber compounds, semi-metallic pads add steel and iron particles for heat transfer and bite, and ceramic pads substitute ceramic fibers and fillers for a quieter, lower-dust blend. Whatever the recipe, the raw ingredients arrive as dry powders and are weighed out on scales in precise proportions before going into mixing equipment that blends them into a homogenous batch. Getting this mix uniform matters as much as getting the recipe right, since an uneven blend can cure unevenly and produce a pad that wears or bites inconsistently across its face. How semi-metallic and ceramic friction material compare covers the tradeoffs between these formulas in more depth.
Molding and Hot Pressing
The blended powder is typically pre-formed into a loose puck shape before final molding. That puck, along with the prepared backing plate, goes into a heated press, where heat and pressure are applied together in a process called hot pressing. In many molds, some of the friction material is forced through small holes machined into the backing plate itself, an approach called integral molding that locks the friction material to the plate mechanically rather than relying on adhesive alone. The combination of heat and pressure at this stage begins curing the resin binder, which is what holds the loose powder together as a solid block once it comes out of the press.
Curing, Post-Curing, and Scorching
After pressing, the pads go into an oven for a curing cycle that fully solidifies the resins and binders throughout the friction material, not just at the surface that touched the heated mold. Some manufacturers add a further post-curing step: a second heat treatment that eliminates bonding agents left uncured from the molding step and stabilizes the pad's composition all the way through. A related step some pad lines use is scorching, where the friction face is exposed to brief, intense heat that burns off residual gases and surface impurities. The purpose of both steps is the same: a pad that is not fully cured when it ships will finish curing on the car, during the first few hundred miles of driving, which is exactly what a bed-in or break-in period is compensating for. Burning off those uncured compounds and gases at the factory instead gives the pad more consistent bite and less noise from the first stop, and it reduces the risk of green fade, a temporary drop in stopping power caused by gases releasing from a not-quite-finished friction surface under hard initial braking.
Grinding, Chamfering, and the SAE Edge Code
A cured pad comes out of the oven thicker and rougher than its final spec, so it goes through a grinding step that brings it to the correct, consistent height. From there the pad gets its chamfers cut into the leading and trailing edges, and slots cut into the face on pads designed with them, both of which reduce noise and help manage heat and debris at the friction interface. Finished pads are also stamped with a friction identification code defined by SAE standard J866: a two-letter code where the first letter represents the pad's coefficient of friction at normal operating temperature and the second represents it at a higher operating temperature, with letters running from lower to higher friction. That code is stamped in small lettering directly on the edge of the friction material, which is why it is commonly called the edge code. What the brake pad edge code numbers and letters mean breaks down how to read it on a pad you're holding.
Backing Plate Coating and Final Quality Checks
Once the friction material is finished, most backing plates get a corrosion-resistant coating on the steel, since an uncoated plate rusting behind the friction material can eventually weaken the bond between the two. Finished pads are then run through quality checks, including compressibility testing on the friction material and random sample testing pulled from each production batch, before the batch is cleared to ship. A pad that fails these checks does not go out the door, which is part of why pad quality can vary noticeably between a reputable brand that runs this full process and a part with no verifiable testing behind it.
Why This Matters When You're Choosing a Pad
None of this is just manufacturing trivia. The backing plate's steel quality and coating affect how long it resists corrosion once it is bolted onto a rotor and exposed to road salt and moisture. The friction formula determines noise, dust, and pedal feel, which is why ceramic and semi-metallic pads behave differently on the same vehicle. Whether a pad was post-cured or scorched affects how it feels on day one versus after a proper break-in. And the edge code on the pad itself is the one piece of this whole process a buyer can actually read before installing it, which is why it is worth checking on a ceramic brake pad or semi-metallic pad set before you buy, not just the price.
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Shop Brake Pads & Kits →Frequently Asked Questions
Are all brake pads made the same way?
The core steps (stamping a backing plate, mixing a friction formula, molding it under heat and pressure, and curing it) are common across the industry, but the friction formula, whether a post-cure or scorch step is used, and the quality control behind each batch vary significantly by manufacturer.
What is the difference between curing and post-curing?
Curing in the oven after molding is what solidifies the resin binder enough for the pad to hold together. Post-curing is an additional heat treatment some manufacturers apply afterward specifically to finish off any bonding agents the first cure left incomplete, so the pad arrives fully cured rather than finishing the job during your first few hundred miles of driving.
Why do some pads need a break-in period and others don't?
A pad that was not post-cured or scorched at the factory still has some uncured material and trapped gas in the friction surface, and that finishes curing off during the vehicle's first hard stops, which is what a bed-in procedure is managing. A pad that was fully post-cured and scorched at the factory has less of that initial change in behavior.
What does the two-letter code on the edge of a brake pad mean?
It is a friction code defined by SAE J866, stamped on the edge of the friction material. The first letter describes the pad's coefficient of friction at normal operating temperature and the second describes it at higher operating temperature, so a technician can compare the heat behavior of two different pads without testing them.
Does the backing plate matter as much as the friction material?
Yes. The friction material does the stopping, but if the backing plate's coating fails and it corrodes, or the bond between the plate and the friction material was poor to begin with, the pad can fail structurally even if the friction compound itself is fine.
Why do some brake pads make more noise when new?
Noise right after installation is often tied to how fully the friction material was cured before it left the factory, along with whether the pads have been properly bedded in. Pads that were post-cured or scorched at the factory tend to need less bedding-in time before they quiet down.
Sources
- Tire Review - step-by-step brake pad manufacturing process: backing plate stamping and scrap rate, friction material mixing and molding, integral molding, oven curing, grinding, chamfering, scorching, coating, and batch quality testing.
- Dynamic Friction Company - what post-curing and scorching do to a molded brake pad, and their effect on break-in time and green fade.
- Tomorrow's Technician - the SAE J866 two-letter friction edge code format and where it is stamped on the pad.