GM Sport Pads 3
Finish is the variable most buyers change on this part: the same blank is supplied brushed, sand blasted or polished, and the studs are unaffected by the change.
Specification
| Part family | Overmoulded finisher plate |
|---|---|
| Construction | Metal face with moulded rubber inserts |
| Face detail | Brushed stainless face with round rubber studs, soft-cornered outline. |
| Face finish options | Brushed aluminium, sand blasted stainless steel or polished stainless steel |
| Face marking | Laser etching available on steel components |
| Insert compounds | EPDM, SBR, TPE or TPE-SEBS, to drawing |
| Tooling | Designed and built in house |
| Prototype parts | 4 weeks from prototype tool |
| PPAP | Typically 8 weeks, to ISO/TS 16949 or VDA |
| Dimensions | Built to customer drawing or to a supplied sample |
| Moulded from | Beijing rubber plant (rubber) / Shanghai plant (plastics) |
The face on this part
Brushed stainless face with round rubber studs, soft-cornered outline. It sits in the GM Sport Pads group, and the photograph above is of the part itself rather than a rendering — what you see is the tread, the outline and the finish as they leave the tool.
Putting a logo on it
Many of our customers require an aesthetic logo to be present on their parts. On steel components we laser etch it, after finishing rather than before, so the mark sits in the finished surface instead of under it.
Why the insert compound is a separate decision
The plate decides how the part looks; the insert decides how it behaves. EPDM for weather and ozone, SBR where cost governs, TPE or TPE-SEBS where a softer touch is wanted. Shore A hardness belongs on the drawing next to the dimensions.
Tooling, and who owns the timing
All tooling is designed and made in house, in the same buildings as the moulding lines in Shanghai and Beijing. That is why parts from a prototype tool take 4 weeks rather than the eight to ten a subcontracted tool would need.
Other parts in GM Sport Pads
Background reading
Sport Pad or Rubber Pad? The Difference That Decides Your Tooling Cost
A sport pad has a metal face; a rubber pad does not. That single difference drives tooling count, unit price and how the part is validated.
Overmoulding vs Press Fit: Two Ways to Get Rubber Onto a Finisher Plate
Both produce a metal-faced pedal pad. They differ in tooling, in retention and in how easily the part can be pulled apart.
Brushed, Sand Blasted or Polished: Picking a Pedal Face Finish
The three finishes buyers actually ask for, what each one hides, and why a finish change is not a tooling change.
Questions buyers ask
Can the metal face be changed without retooling the rubber?
Yes. The stainless or aluminium blank and the rubber insert are separate tools, so a change of finish — brushed, sand blasted or polished — does not touch the rubber tool. A change to the insert pattern does.
How long before I see a real GM Sport Pads 3 sample?
Four weeks from a prototype tool. The tool shop is in the same buildings as the moulding lines in Shanghai and Beijing, so prototype work does not queue behind a subcontractor.
What do you need from us to quote it?
A drawing or sample plus the annual volume. Say at that point whether PPAP is required and to which standard — ISO/TS 16949 or VDA — so it is planned in rather than added later.
How is the material verified?
In our Beijing facility, next to the production line: Shore A hardness, density, ozone, ageing, tensile strength, elongation to fracture, vulcanization and insulation resistivity, oil resistance and Mooney viscosity.
Quote the GM Sport Pads 3
Send the annual volume and, if you have one, the drawing. Prototype parts follow 4 weeks after a prototype tool.