"Having worked in retail service sales, the biggest mistake that I saw people making was that they predetermined what the person could afford rather than showing them what would work best for their vehicle and situation and then letting the customer decide," Gilliland said.

 
"It builds a level of trust with the customer because you are really showing them what their needs are and helping them find a product that will help them," he said.

For instance, Gilliland said, for a fleet customer, identifying a product that will reduce service intervals and therefore cut the number of days that vehicle is out of service has a real value.  "To keep that vehicle on the road is extremely valuable," he said.  "Telling him that you can put this product on and he'll be able to skip the next three brake change intervals makes you a hero."

Gilliland said his experience in the industry stretches back more than 40 years, when he was hired by Airheart Products Inc. in 1967.  He said the company was then the undisputed leader in high-performance braking systems.

Already an experienced designer, Gilliland said he was mentored by Co-owner Frank Airheart and, with his support, designed a series of quick-change calipers that were the forerunners of those still used in the industry today.  The "lobster claw" caliper design was run on 28 of the 32 cars in the 1971 Indianapolis 500 and in the NASCAR series from 1971 to 1988, he said.

The company was also called on to design systems for everything from agricultural equipment to the original Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) trains in San Francisco and Disneyland's Autopia cars, Gilliland said.  "It was fun because you never knew what you would be working on next," he said.

Following Airheart's purchase by Hurst Performance in 1969, Gilliland said he was promoted to sales manager and remained with the company for another six years.  During the next 20 years, he would work as a sales manager at an automotive dealership, for an aftermarket brake repair chain, and again as the sales manager for a performance brake products company before founding The Brake Man in 1993, he said.

While racecar braking systems account for about 75 percent of the company's sales, Gilliland said the fastest-growing area is a brake kit designed for customers with 3/4-ton to 2-ton pickups and vans used for heavy loads, such as ambulances and service vehicles, or vehicles that frequently tow trailers.

The products are designed to last longer while also improving braking distances, Gilliland said.  The company's Storm Brake Kits include performance calipers, oversized, thermally processed rotors, and specially formulated pads.  It also sells Super Brakes, which are direct replacement versions of its thermally processed rotors and precured pads for those fleets that are unable to upgrade calipers because of insurance concerns, he said.

The thermal processing involves heat cycling the rotor to stabilize the material and relieve internal stress, Gilliland said.  "It's our secret sauce, shall we say."

Following the process, Gilliland said the rotor is reground.  "Basically what you are getting is a brand new used rotor that has already been to that temperature, so the longevity of it is enhanced because it is already normalized," he said.

The process begins with a high-quality rotor, Gilliland said, adding that "all rotors are not created equal."  For instance, he said, rotors should be left in their molds for at least 48 hours after they are cast to allow them to cool gradually, but the demands of mass production often lead to them being removed earlier, causing inconsistencies such as cold shuts, voids, and porosity.  When the rotor is then heated by use, the inconsistencies can cause warping and cracks, he said.

 A typical failure can be seen on many Ford and Chevrolet vans that are operating in cold climates, Gilliland said.  In many cases, the stock rotors on those vehicles begin delaminating in the vane area at the center of the rotor, he said, which disrupts the flow of air through the rotor -- its primary cooling process.

 The rotor's purpose and design are often misunderstood by consumers searching for improved performance, Gilliland said. "There are a lot of fallacies about brakes that make people buy products that are almost guaranteed to fail," he said.

For instance, Gilliland said, consumers often consider cross-drilled rotors to be a performance option.  "Cross drilling a rotor significantly reduces the life of the rotor and the ability of the rotor to cool its core temperature and is never a good idea," he said.

Gilliland said that when cross-drilling of rotors first became popular 40 years ago, the typical coefficient of friction offered by a brake pad was .3, and cross-drilling created a cheese-grater effect that increased the coefficient.  Today, he said, the coefficient of friction is often .6, and the addition of cross-drilling drives it even higher, resulting in pad and rotor temperatures that cause failures.  In addition, he said, the cross-drilling creates natural stress risers, which increase the possibility of a crack.

"Think of the caliper as the faucet and the rotor as the drain," Gilliland said, adding that the caliper provides the braking force and the rotor dissipates the heat caused during the braking process.  "The rotor has to be a big enough drain to keep the pad and rotors within the thermal range of the products.  The only reason we go to a larger rotor is to be able to reduce the heat generated by the pad. 

 
"Using the rotor diameter to achieve higher torque is not a good choice because the rotating mass has a negative affect on the vehicle performance," Gilliland said.  "Improving the caliper performance with higher line pressures or pad performance with materials offering a higher coefficient of friction and higher temperature ranges are better approaches to improved braking performance.

"It should be remembered that modifications like larger rotor diameters can void factory warranties," he said.  "By using a stock size with better performing products, we are making improvements to the vehicle that offer the best solution for increasing performance without affecting factory warranties."

Whether it is a street car being run in autocross events on the weekend or an ambulance responding to an accident scene, the braking performance determines how the vehicle is driven.  "We all measure our vehicles by how fast they accelerate, but we really drive them based on how comfortable they feel, which is directly related to braking," he said. 

 
"How many street rods sit at home because people aren't comfortable driving them?" he said.  "They don't dare take them on the highway, or, if they do, they leave 10 car lengths between them and the next vehicle."

Longevity is the second part of the equation, Gilliland said.  As an example, he said the company has been demonstrating the products to the Ventura County Fire Department.  The brigade commander's 1-ton Ford pickup, loaded with heavy utility boxes, had been ruining a set of stock pads and rotors every 5,000 miles, he said, but with the Super Brake products, the pads were not changed until 24,000 miles, and the rotors were still well within specs.

Gilliland said that Gold Coast Ambulance Co. has chosen to use the Super Brake option on all of its ambulances because of the proven improvements in performance and durability.

Gilliland said the company can apply the thermal process to the rotors for almost any vehicle and is willing to stock and drop-ship inventory when a demand has been demonstrated.  The cost is about 30 to 40 percent higher than a traditional rotor, he said, adding that the company has three tiers of pricing for retail customers, dealers, and warehouse distributors. 

"We are not a retail outlet," Gilliland said.  "We want to find the local guru and have him sell it and be encouraged by having it fly off the shelves.  We're looking for more of those types of people.  We're finding that for people with fleet accounts, it really makes them a star with their customers and differentiates them from their competitors."