Ferodo: The Brand That Invented the Modern Brake Lining

History

Ferodo was founded in 1897 by Herbert Frood (1864–1931), an English businessman who began experimenting with friction materials for horse-drawn carriage brakes near his home in Combs, Derbyshire. Frood's name is embedded in the brand itself: "Ferodo" is built from the letters of "Frood" with an additional "E" added for his wife Elizabeth. Manufacturing began at Gorton in 1901 before moving to a purpose-built factory in Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, in 1902, which remained the brand's historic home for decades and later added a second UK plant in Caernarfon, Wales, in 1964. Frood is widely credited as the inventor of the modern resin-composite brake friction material, and Ferodo was the first company to use asbestos in brake linings, a material standard for most of the 20th century before health concerns led the industry to phase it out. In 1926 Ferodo's UK operations became part of Turner & Newall, a British industrial group; Turner & Newall was in turn acquired in 1998 by the American automotive supplier Federal-Mogul, a deal that also brought Federal-Mogul significant asbestos-related liabilities from Turner & Newall's history and contributed to Federal-Mogul's 2001 Chapter 11 filing. Federal-Mogul itself was acquired by Tenneco in 2018, and in 2022 Tenneco carved out its aftermarket and ride-performance operations, including Ferodo, into a dedicated business unit called DRiV.

What they make

Ferodo's core business remains brake friction: disc brake pads and drum brake linings for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, brake fluid, and clutch friction facings, alongside a long-standing motorsport arm, Ferodo Racing, which develops brake pads and brake fluids for racing and high-performance road use. The brand's aftermarket range is built to cover a broad span of European and Asian vehicle applications, consistent with its role as one of the older, most recognized names in brake replacement parts.

Where they fit — OE vs aftermarket

As part of DRiV, Ferodo sits alongside other long-established Federal-Mogul-descended brands such as Champion, Moog, Monroe and Fel-Pro, and it is supplied both as original equipment to some vehicle manufacturers and as an independent aftermarket brand through drivparts.com and general parts distribution. Because of this heritage, Ferodo parts are generally engineered to match or exceed original factory specification rather than being a purely budget alternative.

Buying guidance

Choose Ferodo pads or linings by exact part number rather than by vehicle name alone, since brake hardware differs across trims, engine variants and markets. Ferodo brake fluid should be matched to the DOT specification required by the vehicle, not assumed interchangeable across grades. Given the brand's asbestos-era history, note that modern Ferodo products sold today use asbestos-free friction compounds, in line with industry-wide bans introduced from the 1980s onward; any genuinely old stock or historic asbestos-containing linings should not be used or handled without appropriate precautions.