preliminary needling by a preliminary needler with rollers 7 and needling by a needler 8 the mat of needled nonwoven material thus produced is in the example depicted wound on a roll 9 at the discharge from the first part of the installation the roll 9 is carried into a second part of the installation shown in fig2 and is paid out for the remainder of the process of producing a friction material as a variant not shown the second part of the installation follows immediately on from the first part and the needled nonwoven mat is not wound up the needled mat is fed into a cutting station 10 where rings 11 or sectors 12 as depicted in fig3 or any other shape that the friction material is to take are cut out the part of the mat that is not cut out also called a skeleton is directed to a winder 13 for subsequent recycling the cut out shapes 11 or 12 are conveyed into an impregnating bath 14 containing one or more resins of the thermosetting type in solution or dispersed in water the impregnating bath 14 is of the following composition by weight expressed in parts in a manner consistent with the proportions indicated previously for fibres and fillers at the end of impregnation squeezing takes place firstly in the bath conveyor 16 and outside the bath rollers 17 as a variant not shown the cut out shapes 11 12 undergo after soaking in the impregnating bath a hydroextraction.