Benefits of Special Tapes for Brake Shims Noise Reduction
Did you know that the sense of hearing is always active? You cannot shut your ears in the same way you can shut your eyes. Not only were acoustic warnings essential for survival in the past, but they also still play an important role today. However, there is an increasing number of sound sources today that make noise a serious problem.
Traffic and cars are such a source of noise. For those inside the vehicles, it is more about comfort but for those living close to busy roads, noise can quickly turn into noise pollution and cause severe health problems. Electric vehicles (EVs) are a significant step towards noise reduction as electric motors are significantly quieter than combustion engines. Nevertheless, there are other sources of noise like the squeaking, screeching or rattling of brakes.
In the following article, the focus will be on the advantages of using special tapes for reducing noise in brake systems, including how they work, innovative new technologies and the benefits they offer over traditional shims. Release the brakes and start your way to new sound destinations!
When trying to listen to your favorite album inside your vehicle, the squeaking and screeching caused by brakes can be annoying for passengers and the surroundings. Therefore, special adhesive brake shim tapes are designed for NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) control. By absorbing and dissipating vibration and sound waves, these tapes convert vibrational energy into heat for more enjoyable sounds.
The combination of pressure-sensitive adhesives and strong backing materials that provides structural support and resistance can improve the overall performance and durability of the system while providing a more comfortable and quiet driving experience for occupants and surroundings.
One of the biggest challenges in anti-squeak for brakes is that that some brake shim tapes perform well in low temperatures but their performance decreases with rising temperature. Other designs have the opposite problem, which means the difficulty lies in covering the entire temperature range, or at least the widest possible temperature.
Our engineers have found a way to design brake shim tapes with innovative adhesive technology that extends the temperature range to a maximum. But before looking at these special developments, let us delve deeper into the advantages special brake shim tapes can offer.
We have already touched on some advantages special tapes offer over traditional shims for brake noise reduction but as you will see from the following list, there are even more benefits and added values they provide, including:
- Greater noise reduction: Due to their tailored design, special tapes can provide more effective noise reduction than traditional shims, especially in high-performance or heavy-duty brake systems.
- Increased durability: Tailored material selection helps to maximize resistance to wear and tear compared with traditional shims, leading to longer service life and less maintenance.
- Improved performance: In addition to NVH control performance, innovative brake shim tapes can improve the entire brake system performance by reducing vibration, improving brake pad contact, and enhancing overall braking feel.
The biggest challenge is that all these positive features only come into their own in a limited temperature range. Now let us find out more about how our tape experts managed to make outstanding performance over a wide temperature range become reality. It is like adding a bonus track to a greatest hits album. Enjoy!
What is special about this “brake shim tape solutions bonus track” is that its purpose is not to be heard. Composed based on our unique UV curing technology and adhesive design, it was possible to create a symphony of features that orchestrates all temperature damping adhesive tape design and high-performance damping covering low, mid and high temperature windows in one product.
Several versions specially created for OEM audiences provide the highest acrylate adhesive performance in terms of peel adhesion, Iap shear and T-pull, highest acrylate damping performance and a high loss factor over a wide temperature damping window. Their liner selection allows for optimized processability, strong tear resistance and low release.
For aftermarket applications, special set-ups provide very good adhesive damping performance, competitive pricing and good adhesion on painted and rubber surfaces.
We have seen that innovative brake shim tape design can do more than optimize the overall performance of the brake system. It can have audible effects in reducing interior noise and the noise within surroundings and therefore help reduce or prevent noise pollution caused by traffic effectively. If you want to let your customers feel comfortable in their vehicles, get in touch with your tape experts for a new sound experience.