Centric Helps San Jose Fire Department Find Better Solutions

Recently, we participated in a Public Fleet Supervisors (PFSA) meeting in Northern California.  We met City of San Jose, CA Fleet Manager Dan Sunseri. The very next day, Dan reached out to us and our distributor, asking if we would visit the shop to help locate front brakes for a “brush truck.”

Dan’s fleet had six 1988 F150 2wd pickups that were having some braking issues. Closer inspection of the vehicles revealed that the trucks had been fitted with Marmon Harrington front axles. Prior repairs had never been an issue for Dan because Marmon had plenty of spares, but now they could no longer get replacement brake parts for this obsolete front axle. It looked like the only solution was to change the entire axle on each vehicle at a cost of about $6,000 apiece!

Photos were provided to Centric’s Tech Line to see if there was possibly a better solution. The rotors and calipers were then shipped down to Centric for a closer look. Rotors were quickly located so the only issue was going to be the calipers. After a lot of research it was determined that these units could not be rebuilt as they were a non North American application. That’s when Tech got to work finding a suitable alternative.

After further exhaustive research, it was determined that the calipers in question were identical to ones being used on a German SUV.  Replacements were shipped back up and installed on one of the trucks for testing. Rocco Capossele (San Jose Equipment Maintenance Supervisor) says they are very happy with the solution.

Now the remaining fire trucks will be able to be kept in service, saving the city thousands of dollars.

2011 SEMA Show Shines Spotlight on Centric

Besides our Centric Parts President winning Person of theYear from the AIA, a number of vehicles wearing Centric, Power Slot and StopTech brake components took home honors at SEMA 2011, held in Las Vegas the first week of November. Although we are still a relatively young company, it was interesting to note the number of high profile projects that featured our products.

Take the yellow and blue Turner Motorsport Grand-Am GS Champion BMW M3, for instance. It was the vehicle we chose to display in our booth as it really represents what StopTech is all about. Building brake systems for high performance street use and production-based racing applications is our forte. Whether it was a street-driven sportscar or one that consistently wins races, we were the top choice for many show cars this year.

 

Very high profile vehicles wearing our brakes included the 1,004-hp Bisimoto Honda Civic Si that was best in class, the Mishimoto 370Z live art car project that had tons of celebrities and regular folks alike coloring on it with sharpies in one of the most visited interactive displays at the show and Mark Stielow's "Red Devil" Optima Ultimate Street Car Camaro.

 

The major manufacturers at the show also spotlighted some of our products. Mazda used our brakes on its 20th anniversary MX-5 Super20 concept, the best-in-class Scion iQ was the one done by Jon Sibal and it prominently featured our BBK, Toyota is using our brakes on its Daytona 500 Pace Car Camry, and Lexus showed off its new F-Sport GS, plus a Five Axis version of that all-new GS as well as a slick CT200h Hybrid - all wearing brakes done by StopTech.

Just up the steps from our own booth was the Ford display, which this year celebrated 100 years of Ford Racing. Amidst the legendary Ford powered race cars on display was a large selection of Ford Focus tuner cars and concepts. While every one of them had some great details, the two that got singled out by Ford in its design awards presentation were the two wearing StopTechs - the COBB Tuning race car and the Roush street car.

 

There was a huge selection of Mustangs at SEMA again this year, but a few that stood out were the new Petty Mustang, the design award-winning CorteX '66 Mustang Optima Ultimate Street Car in the massive Spectre booth, a Magnuson Supercharger Mustang, Paul Brown's World Challenge GTS championship winning car and the Trufiber Shelby GT500 Mustang - all wearing StopTech components.

 

Besides the awesome Turner BMW in our booth, we also had StopTech components on plenty of other notable show vehicles, including a grassroots NASA ST-2 E46 BMW M3 driven by Ron Ballard  plus a Formula Drift Nissan 350Z driven by up-and-comer Patrick Mordaunt, an old-school Bisimoto Porsche 911 Turbo, Hasport Motorsports Eibach CR-Z, a wicked looking AMS SR750 Porsche 997 Turbo, a slick Platte Forme E92 M3 street car, the old/new ICON Bronco and a Nissan Armada that drew eyes straight to its StopTech BBK due to its clean design and massive open wheels that spotlighted the brakes nicely.

2011 was another great year for StopTech, Power Slot and Centric Parts at SEMA. Besides all of the great show cars wearing our products, we also introduced our new line of high performance and racing brake fluid, our all-new StopTechwebsite, Centric high carbon rotors, and announced that our patented AeroRotorsare now 100 percent Made in the USA. Thanks to all of you who stopped by to say hello, and to all of you customers who made the choice to use Centric products on your street, track and show cars.

Centric Parts Releases First Catalog Developed Exclusively For Mexico

Centric Parts, a leading manufacturer and supplier of aftermarket brake components and systems for import and domestic cars as well as light and medium duty trucks, has just released its first catalog - Sistemas de Frenos Mexico  (Brake Systems Mexico) - developed exclusively for Mexico, an increasingly important automotive market.

“As an industry leader in cataloging, Centric prides itself on having the most up-to-date information available for customers in any market,” explained Centric Parts President, Dan Lelchuk. “The 2011 Brake Systems Mexico catalog builds on that reputation, while recognizing the importance of continually incorporating growing automotive markets.”

The award-winning catalog department has worked with Mexican customers and manufacturers to develop a Spanish-language catalog that covers makes and models exclusive to the Mexican market. This catalog serves as a supplement to Centric’s existing 2011 parts catalog, adding additional “National Model” vehicles to the application range. Makes and models not currently sold in the United States are included in the catalog, which covers models from Alfa Romeo, Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Dodge, FAW, Fiat, Ford, Honda, Isuzu, Land Rover, Mercedes Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Peugeot, Pontiac, Renault, Rover, Seat, Smart, Suzuki, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo.

Approximately 90 percent of the national models available in Mexico are covered in the 2011 Sistemas de Frenos Mexico catalog, with more being added as additional data becomes available. Gaining access to the national models can present unique challenges for Centric engineers who insist on meticulous measuring and analysis of every OEM part before a replacement can be developed. While many of the national models use existing part numbers from the immense Centric Parts catalog, nearly 100 new parts were added to the FMSI index as a result of this new project.

The market-leading 2011 Centric Parts Mexico catalog includes pads, shoes, discs, drums and hydraulic components for approximately 180 new applications. The catalog not only lists all part numbers, but also includes handy illustrations of nearly every part. Those familiar with the Centric Parts catalog will note that a “99” prefix identifies these new offerings in the catalog.

All of the parts offered in the 2011 Centric Parts Sistemas de Frenos Mexico catalog are available to order today.

For more information on the whole family of Centric Parts brake and clutch components, visit www.centricparts.com.