The Importance of Weight Saving in Car Design

It is commonly known that weight defines how your car behaves dynamically, with OEMs in a constant battle to remove weight from their vehicles. As new legislations require ever increasing electronic control, the weight of cars is consistently pushed upwards.

Vehicle dynamics is ultimately the management of mass in motion, the maths and physics behind movement. Braking zones, direction changes, and accelerations are a balance of grip and inertia as the tyres fight to control and work against the mass of your vehicle. The higher the mass of the car and the further that mass is positioned from the centre of the vehicle, the harder the suspension and tyres must work to maintain control.

Critically, weight influences dynamics differently depending on its location. Mass located far from the Centre of Mass (particularly around the wheels) has an increased effect because it contributes to both rotational inertia and the load the suspension must control. Brake pads have never been thought of as a way of reducing mass until now. Replacing steel backing plates with Tribol’s Fully Composite Brake pads saves up to 70% of the mass of OEM fit components. When that mass is reduced, the suspension can react more effectively to surface changes, improving mechanical grip and stability over bumps and kerbs. And this is before we dive into the other benefits: thermal insulation, immunity to corrosion and reduced CO2e at a component level.

Lightweighting is not just a consideration for the racetrack – it’s key to enabling cleaner, greener, safer mobility.

About the Author

Edward Lewis

Project Engineer, Tribol Braking

Ed is a Project Engineer at Tribol Braking, contributing to the development, prototyping, manufacturing, testing and validation of composite backing plate brake pad technology. He graduated with First Class honours in Automotive Engineering from the University of the West of England, where his dissertation focused on battery design for a hybrid Formula Student vehicle, maintaining cell temperatures through thermal optimisation and coolant management.

Edward has experience as a vehicle and powertrain engineer, working with OEMs on GT4 race cars, restomods, continuation vehicles and IVA programmes. He has also contributed to the design of high-voltage powertrains for advanced hypercar applications, utilising innovative materials.