Rant: People who think that drum brakes are dangerous

Ya but Elwood your blind. If I couldn't stop with what I have I would be the first to change it.

I've had 2 friends in the last 3 months involved with accidents. A
Everyone had disc brakes.

I have had and been in accidents. Never has it been in a classic. N
Knock on wood. I drive a classic 4-5 times a week.

 

You tell them brother...

 

They're just not AS safe. But, like anything else, if you don't know what you're doing, you will get hurt.

 

I put discs on my F100 and it was one of the most noticeable changes to a vehicle I ever did. I used to lock it up in traffic and hope it stayed in its lane. After the swap I could modulate braking and stop sooner to boot. If it's not a daily driver you could run drums, but I can't count the number of times I would be gradually stopping for a light and a Honda would switch lanes to be first in line in my lane, reducing my braking distance to half.

 

It's the douche bag drivers, not the drum brakes. I see them all the time totally out of adjustment "I thought that happened automatically?" is the usual reply.

 

That bashed Chevelle with power drums should have been able to put you through the windshield in a panic stop, or you are a shitty mechanic.

 

YES.......send those to me also!

 

There is the key, the answer, and the problem.

 

Yeah and there is one and only one reason for that; Heat dispersion.

Otherwise they'd use discs.

 

Fuck Ya....Fuck them street rod fags

The street rod fuckers that say it can't or should not be done can't or don't work on there own cars (1 800 street rod)

SORRY....
I had brake issues with street rod guys and NSRA in the past

 

Kinda funny that people would claim that drum brakes are unsafe considering they stopped millions of cars for decades before discs came around. They obviously don't know shit. I ran drums on my big block, 4 speed '56 F 100 (see avatar) for years and never had a problem, even when trying to slow down quickly after a race. If the p.i.t.a. 9" Versailles rear disc brakes on my '51 F1 give me much more of a headache I'm going back to drums and screw the so called "experts".

 

No Power brakes. As for me being a shitty mechanic I'd show you our Bonneville truck but it's way OT for this place.

 

A wise man once said to me "You can't fix stupid".

IMO, it's all about how people drive and knowing the limits of the vehicle you drive. I read a study a few years ago published by DOT or NHSTA that showed the per capita number of bad accidents has gone UP. Their theory was that as safety has improved, the average attention a driver pays to the road goes down, because of a sense that the car would protect them no matter what. I suppose with 10 airbags going off, that might make sense for some.

 

That seems to be the new deal here... My ot ride that rules. Wonder how many here are actually subscribed the journal mag. Not that some don't have disc mind you.

 

The front disc and rear 11" drum didn't save my truck. Doubt anything could have. It still requires a number of feet to stop 4650 lbs traveling 30 mph, and 25-30 feet are not enough.

Most issues with drum brakes are they are too small for the weight of the vehicle. Due to their design, disc brakes usually have 2 times the stopping surface as drum brakes have. Proper size drums, properly adjusted, will stop the same car in the same distance, the 1st time. It becomes a different story with repeated stops because the drums can't dissipate the heat as fast as the discs can.

As far as the single pot master, the only advantage with a double pot is in the event of a brake line failure, the double pot will still be able to stop a vehicle when a single pot looses all braking function when the fluid is gone. Most people do not check the condition of their brake lines until they fail.

Given the current availability of parts, big drum brake parts are getting harder to find. When it comes to brakes, bigger is always better. Its easier and cheaper to get more braking surface from disc brakes. Because I'm not so good at checking the condition of my brake lines, I prefer the double pot master cylinder. For the average guy on the street, disc brakes with a double pot master are better choices. Just my thoughts, you may do whatever your comfortable with. Gene

 

So, you are saying a proper maintained manual drums caused that? compared to manual disc? I am calling BS


Edit: I don't mean to be a prick, but I've had it with BS, fairy tales and nonsense

 

I have drums on all four and just rebuilt them. ill stick with the drums!!!

 

fight nice, kids

 

It's called Drama

 

i know my drum breaks are not safe. thats why i drag a 1000 lb steel safe behind me...it helps me slow down. and in case that doesnt work i have a 20 ft poll with foam on the front. this way no one gets hurt.

 

Yeah, and how many times are we going to go through this argument?

 

All four drums brakes on my shoebox, always worked really well. The key to any brake performing well is too be well maintained.what I hate is all the people who end a paragraph with " just saying"

 

Drum brakes work fine. Disc brakes just work better. If you're willing to hot rod the motor, customize (ie upgrade / personalize) the interior or body work, why not hot rod the brakes and chassis? I think disc brakes were invented primarly for aircraft, and then applied to other vehicles but I'm not sure. I suspect that the first sneaky engineer / racer who put them on his car beat the bejesus out of everyone else. Then of course he started a business and sold disc brakes for race / sporty cars - LOL - and then joined SEMA and got a booth at car shows and became a gold chainer - LOL.

Funny thing, however, is that since there were no "traditional rodders" yet back in the 50-60's, all the racers and wanna be racers all thought disc brakes were cool. Gary

 

Ive been trying to visualize your explanation and the picture you posted, they don't fit . If you were stopping and needed only 15 feet more, the damage would be much much less. If you t honed the person who pulled out its there fault. If you rearended somebody, well is blame it on the brakes too.

I wasn't there, maybe your explanation lost something in the translation but doesn't make sense. I'm reserving my right to call BS, just saying.

( I hate that "just saying" crap too)

 

That is a good point, antilock brakes have scared the shit out of me on gravel roads in the past....

SOMETIMES you WANT those wheels to lock...

And,,, the 11" drums on my 55 Lincoln work just fine....

 

The same guys that berate the drum brake/single pot, likely smoke cigs and are overweight. See all the wrecked LATE models at body shops? Salvage yards? Skid lid and Hans device, wear them!

 

Gary,
From a wiki
Disc-style brakes development and use began in England in the 1890s. The first caliper-type automobile disc brake was patented by Frederick William Lanchester in his Birmingham, UK factory in 1902 and used successfully on Lanchester cars. However, the limited choice of metals in this period, meant that he had to use copper as the braking medium acting on the disc. The poor state of the roads at this time, no more than dusty, rough tracks, meant that the copper wore quickly making the disc brake system non-viable (as recorded in The Lanchester Legacy). It took another half century for his innovation to be widely adopted.

But this about hating people who say drum brakes are dangerous.

 

only problem vehicle i ever had with drum beakes were mechanical
1931 AA Ford Wrecker i drove regurly at 25 with a p/u on back u best leave a lot of room in front
other than that most of my cars had them no problem

 

I have drums on my shoebox,and ran drums until I sold my 61 apache. I do favor disks over drum but it's not because one type is safer than another.
And not to start shit,but just an FYI. As a diesel mechanic I can tell you guys that there are ALOT of big rigs on the road that are running disks....BIG ASS DISKS !
They are known as ADB's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Air_disc_brake.jpg