Company History

In 1961 the days of riveted linings, Eastern Suburbs Bonded Brakes was founded on an innovative idea, recycled bonded brake shoes, and a father and son involvement in the Australian Brake Industry began.

Both father* and son would walk thru Sydney's eastern suburbs calling in on garage's, brake suppliers and any one using brakes the response was the same it can't work. Bonding was not considered as an alternative to riveting.

This did not deter them as the process developed was proven to be safe and reliable and a far more efficient way to mass produce brake shoes. Riveting could not match the advantages and benefits of bonding. More importantly they were both visionaries with faith in new technology.

The lack of availability of brakes for many imported cars and motor cycles soon had car and motor cycle dealers using the bonded brakes. They would bring in the old brakes and in a few hours they were ready.

One day a customer arrived came with what he said was the first Japanese car imported into Australia and asked if we could make brakes for it. He was Arnold Glass the founder of Capitol Motors and the original Nissan importer.

By 1963 the quality of work and the previously unheard of "same day service" established our reputation as a quality on time supplier in brakes. It wasn't long before Boyded (Forbes St), Capital Motors, Arthur Rizzo, Europarts, Fiat, Grenville Motors, Lambretta, Nat Zonardo, Tom Byrne and many more became customers.

Business quickly grew and larger premises were needed and workers were hired. The first commercial site was in Paddington under the name of Central Brakes Service. In order to be noticed the building and delivery cars were all painted in yellow. It could have well been the first yellow building and cars in Sydney.

Business grew from word of mouth. Customers could rely on us to always have, the part in stock, the best service and the best price.

Always looking for new innovative ideas the company found a way to offer a turnaround service on serviceable brake parts before the brakes were even removed from the car. An investment in machinery, equipment and stock was needed. This included the purchase of thousands of brake drums which would then be machined and sized for an exchange service which no competitor had previously thought of. Parts to complete a brake job would be delivered within an hour of receiving a phone call.

At that time trade suppliers sold only one type of product. The vision to provide a one stop shop for repairers was now focused on.

The transition to clutches would offer both brakes and clutches from the on supplier. There were only two major clutch brands and they held a monopoly on the industry. The same innovative idea that made the company the leader in brakes was now to make it a leader in clutches. Development soon began on a clutch rebuilding plant in Sydney and further investment in machinery and stock was required. Thousands of discarded clutch units were purchased and recycled to create the only exchange clutch service in Australia. Two more clutch rebuilding plants were to follow 800m site in Newcastle and a 2000m site in Brisbane.

Automatic transmissions soon appeared on the roads realizing the potential in Automatic Transmissions a division was set up called CB Automatics and CATS which specialized in automatic transmissions. These Transmission centers appeared at each of the brake and clutch locations on the Australian East coast.

Central Brake Service and CB Automatics became the prominent leaders in Clutch, Brake and Automatic Transmissions. Each division began training staff in each of their respective and specialist fields.

Next were hydraulic cylinders. There were only two companies known to recycle hydraulic cylinders and both did it in brass sleeving. The acquisition of one of these companies allowed knowledge to be pooled resulting in the opening of a hydraulic cylinder recycling division. Further investment was required for machinery, equipment and stock. The company could now offer hydraulic cylinders cheaper than competitors selling new ones.

Not being satisfied with brass, research immediately began to find a better alternative, this led to the company being the first to develop the technology required to use stainless steel. The company could now offer a turnaround service on all types of hydraulic cylinders for heavy transport, industrial and mining applications as well as passenger cars. The company soon became a major supplier to the mining and industrial sectors of the industry.

The vision to become a one stop supplier was now a reality, the original founders had realized their ambitions.

Enquiries from the trade came from all over Australia and so did the visitors wanting to learn more about these new methods and ideas. From Perth WA came Tobi Carboni who with his manager Greg Nolan would learn how to set up their own brake and clutch business in WA. Carbon Brakes went on to become a household name in WA.

By the end of the seventies sweeping changes took place in the car industry. Smaller efficient cars were designed large brake shoes were replaced with downsized brake pads. Engineers were specifying friction materials that asbestos could not meet.

Anticipating the potential in this new technology research immediately began into developing non asbestos brakes. The idea was so new that at first most raw materials suppliers and brake factories around the world had no knowledge of non asbestos.

After considerable investment into research in 1983 using a multi cavity system non asbestos brake pads were made which met all the requirements of a brake pad well ahead if its time, responsive hot or cold, no dust, long life and no abnormal wear to rotors. It even had benefits over the leading brake company in Australia.

A few years later we were joined by another pioneer in this technology who went on to start his own brake manufacturing busines in Queensland.

Recognizing the importance that effective visual packaging has on sales the company was the first brake company in Australia to present brakes in a four-color high gloss box, the company was also first to show in bullet form the benefits and advantages in the product. This bullet form can today be found on almost all brake packaging.

About 1983 we aptly used the slogan "World Leader in non asbestos technology.

In 1995 a manufacturing arrangement was entered into with Ferodo to manufacture in Australia a select range of local references under their label. Their confidence in the company is a testament to the company's reliability and stringent quality control at every stage of production.

In 2001 Ampco/adb began to transfer the production of a select range of brake pads overseas. By the end of 2004 adb/ampco brake pads were being made overseas.

In 2004 adb brake pads were tested and certified by AMECA The Automotive Manufacturers Equipment Compliance of America in compliance with OEM VESC V-3 the Vehicle Equipment Safety Commission Regulation.

The company has now achieved some 40 years experience in servicing the automotive trade in Australia. We look forward to our next 40 years.

We remain an Australian Owned Company

The business of Australian Disc Brakes Pty Ltd (ABN 94 000 583 344) is a family business which commenced in Australia in 1960, and the company took over that business in 1967.

*Darko Nemanic who founded the company continued with one single minded vision to develop superior friction materials for industrial, mining and railways under the name of Australian Friction Materials aka Australian Brake Lining Co.(ABL). This superior technology in friction materials has led to producing some of the best friction materials in the world and is certified manufacturer and supplier to the Australian railways in NSW.

In 1991 ABL set up a brake manufacturing company in the Ukraine (DAFMI) Original Equipment (O.E.) supplier of brakes employing some thousand workers and a major supplier of brake pads in the Ukraine and Russia. See it on the web.