What Sangsin Brake America makes

Sangsin Brake America is the North American arm of Sangsin Brake, a South Korean brake and friction-material maker founded in 1975. The US operation sells original-equipment-grade brake pads and rotors into the automotive aftermarket and, through its Georgia plant, is building heavy-duty brake systems for the North American commercial-vehicle market. The company frames its pads as OE technology brought to the aftermarket rather than economy replacement parts.

The aftermarket line runs across three tiers. SB Genuine is an OE-specification ceramic pad tuned for quiet, low-dust everyday braking. SB Premium is a hybrid-ceramic pad built with Kevlar for longer durability. SB Torq is a high-performance metallic formulation aimed at drivers who want extra bite for street, off-road, and light-track use. All three are marketed as "Built with Kevlar," and the company also sells brake rotors individually or in kits. Sangsin states that all of its friction materials comply with the NSF 2025 copper regulations, the phase-down of copper in brake friction that California and Washington set in motion.

Product development runs out of an in-house Technology Research Center. The company says it develops more than 200 new products a year and tests them on brake-specific dynamometers, in an anechoic chamber for noise, vibration, and harshness analysis, with thermographic cameras that read disc temperature during braking, and with XRF and scanning-electron-microscope analysis of the friction material itself. Much of that test equipment, the company says, was engineered in-house.

Ownership and history

Sangsin Brake America is a subsidiary of Sangsin Brake Co., Ltd., which the company and Georgia officials describe as Korea's largest brake manufacturer. The parent opened in 1975 as the Sangsin Chemical Industrial Company, focused only on brake friction products, and now sells into more than 90 countries with OE relationships that put its pads on vehicles as they leave the assembly line. The group also runs affiliates including Sichuan Sangsin Brake in China and operations in Mexico, India, and Brazil.

The US entity is young. In March 2019, Governor Brian Kemp announced that Sangsin Technology America, the group's US manufacturing and import entity, would invest $20 million in a 220,000-square-foot plant in McDonough, in Henry County, Georgia, creating 200 jobs. It was the group's first US manufacturing operation and marked its entry into heavy-duty brake systems for the North American commercial-vehicle market. The announcement came at the Technology and Maintenance Council annual meeting in Atlanta, and Sangsin chairman Hyoil Kim said Georgia was "the clear-cut winner" for a factory serving the growing US commercial-vehicle market. The aftermarket business runs from a headquarters office in Duluth, Georgia, north of Atlanta.

The North American leadership team is drawn from the automotive industry. Y.K. Chung is President. Brian D. Kirts joined in 2023 as Vice President of Aftermarket Sales and Marketing after roles as Head of Sales at ZF Group and Vice President of Sales at MAT Holdings and Brake Parts Inc. K. Mike Lee joined in 2021 as Vice President of Original Equipment Business and Technology Development, bringing brake-systems research experience from General Motors and Delphi along with more than 20 patents.

Certifications and quality

Sangsin's public quality position for the US market rests on two claims. Its friction materials are stated to comply with the NSF 2025 copper regulations, the environmental limit on copper content in brake pads. And its parent is an OE friction supplier, a business that runs on IATF 16949 quality systems and OE validation testing as a matter of course. The in-house Technology Research Center, with its dynamometers, NVH chamber, and material-analysis instruments, is the visible expression of that testing discipline. No dated third-party management-system certificate for the US entity was located, so the quality position here is best read as a current company claim backed by group capability rather than a verified US certificate.

Known customers

Sangsin Brake America does not publish a named aftermarket customer list, which is normal for a friction supplier selling through distribution. The company's own materials describe two demand pictures rather than named accounts: OE fitment at the parent level, where automakers install Sangsin pads on new vehicles, and North American aftermarket distribution of the SB pad and rotor lines. Its 2019 Georgia plant was pitched at the heavy-duty trucking market, positioned near the North America Brake Industry (HDNABI) group in Norcross, a supplier of undercarriage systems to truck, trailer, and bus makers.

No individual aftermarket account clears the documented bar, so the honest reading is a sector one: OE-grade friction sold into the North American passenger aftermarket, plus a new heavy-duty brake-systems line for commercial vehicles.

Sourcing evidence

The group's US import record, filed under Sangsin Technology America in McDonough, reads like an active brake supplier feeding a US operation. There are 895 sea shipments on record since 2015, running at roughly 27 TEU per month and spread evenly across the calendar, from 39 shipments in a slow month to 101 in a busy one. The most recent shipment landed on September 24, 2026, so the lane is live, not historical.

Five shown of the named suppliers on record. The mix is exactly what a brake and brake-system supplier should show: the dominant declared code is HTS 8708.30, brakes and servo-brakes and parts thereof, alongside trailer and undercarriage parts. Origins split China 595 and South Korea 295, with Chinese volume covering both the group's own Sichuan Sangsin plant and heavy-duty undercarriage from Guangdong Fuwa, and Korean volume coming from the parent and air-brake maker Mirae VC. Top lanes run from Yantian, Shanghai, and Pusan into Savannah, Georgia, the port nearest the McDonough plant, and into Long Beach and Los Angeles. The pattern of finished brake assemblies and components inbound to a US plant is consistent with a manufacturer and distributor, not a pure reseller, and it is one input a buyer would weigh alongside nearshoring and tariff exposure when sourcing friction parts.

Coverage caveats: these are US ocean-freight records only. Air, truck, and rail movements do not appear; most shipments are house bills of lading that name freight forwarders rather than the underlying factory; cost estimates cover only about 40 percent of shipments and are order-of-magnitude at best; and product categories come from declared manifest codes, which are noisy. Absence of a record is not evidence of absence.

Frequently asked questions

What does Sangsin Brake America make?

Sangsin Brake America sells original-equipment-grade brake pads and rotors for the North American automotive aftermarket, in three tiers: SB Genuine (OE-specification ceramic), SB Premium (hybrid ceramic built with Kevlar), and SB Torq (high-performance metallic). Through its Georgia plant it also builds heavy-duty brake systems for commercial vehicles. It is the North American division of Sangsin Brake, a Korean OE friction manufacturer.

Who owns Sangsin Brake America?

Sangsin Brake America is a subsidiary of Sangsin Brake Co., Ltd. of South Korea, founded in 1975 and described as Korea's largest brake manufacturer. The parent sells friction products in more than 90 countries and runs affiliates in China, Mexico, India, and Brazil.

Where is Sangsin Brake America located?

The aftermarket business is headquartered at 3473 Satellite Boulevard, Suite 114 North, Duluth, Georgia 30096, north of Atlanta. Its first US manufacturing plant, a 220,000-square-foot facility, is in McDonough, in Henry County, Georgia.

Is Sangsin Brake America a manufacturer or a distributor?

Both. Its US import record shows finished brake assemblies and components flowing to its Georgia operation, and its 2019 investment established a 220,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in McDonough for heavy-duty brake systems. It also distributes the SB aftermarket pad and rotor lines across North America.

Are Sangsin brake pads compliant with copper regulations?

The company states that all of its friction materials comply with the NSF 2025 copper regulations, the environmental limit on copper content in brake friction that originated with California and Washington state rules. Its pads are also marketed as "Built with Kevlar."

How large is Sangsin Brake America?

The 2019 Georgia announcement pointed to a $20 million investment and 200 planned jobs at the McDonough plant. Data brokers that model headcount from LinkedIn show far smaller numbers, which reflect the sales office rather than the manufacturing operation and undercount a plant workforce. The company does not publish audited US revenue.

Last verified September 28, 2026. Is this your company? Request a correction.