A brake pad material used in a popular, commercially available vehicle that consisted of steel wool, iron powder, graphite, coke, styrene-butadiene rubber, MgO, BaSO4 and phenolic resin was tested with the friction assessment and screening test. The average friction coefficient (0.357) and total wear (19.75 wt %) were measured. An alternative friction material formulated with identical constituents but optimized with the golden section principle and relational grade analysis was produced in a laboratory environment. This material exhibited an average friction coefficient of 0.419 and a low total wear of 6.25 wt %. An analysis of component costs indicated that the large volume price of the commercial material, $1.01/kg, was less than that of the laboratory material, $1.21/kg, However, the performance/cost ratio of the new material was appreciably greater.