Federal-Mogul R&D delves into steel quality
Motor Age: You spend a lot of time researching materials, and there is a science that goes into making quality parts. Why is the quality of steel important to the integrity of parts?
Byrnes: If you look at a suspension part, ball joint or tie rod, the most important part of it is probably the stud, and all studs are made out of steel. In today's global market, steel is coming from all over the world. And I think a lot of people assume that steel from anywhere in the world is all the same. But we've been doing a lot of testing here at FM and found that it's not. We've found there's a big variation in fatigue strength of steels from all over the world, not just from the United States like it used to be.Motor Age: What does that difference mean for an aftermarket part?
Byrnes: We look at a stud as a safety item and we want to make sure it has structural integrity. So we do everything we can making sure that the geometry is designed right and that the material and the heat treat is correct so that it is made equal to or better than the OE, because the OE actually designed the car and they built the part to be used on that car and it has to have certain structural integrity. And we're sure that our part meets or exceeds that structural integrity.
Motor Age: When a technician looks at a part, they might not be able to see a difference. What can they do in the bay or when they're ordering a part to make sure they're getting a quality part?
Byrnes: That's where it is extremely hard, because you cannot see these things with the naked eye. So you have to trust your supplier. You have to go with somebody who you know is doing all the due diligence to make sure that all of this is being carried out. These are things that you can't see unless you do all kinds of testing.