I have to completely rebuild the front brakes on my 29 chevy I need to replace every thing from the drums to wheel cyl and the master cly would it be better to change over to disc I have everything for disc but rotors and brake parts it has a nova brake system on it now thanks
Where i live discbrakes dont work well. If it not on a daily they rust and stick constantly. Even on my dailys i need to replace the discs every 2:nd or 3:rd year becouse of rust.
Will changing to disc front brakes widen the wheel track? On the 68 - 74 Nova front sub-frames, the disc brake cars had wider wheel tracks. That's why, the drum brake sub-frames fit the 1940's GM cars and trucks, better than the disc brake ones.
Stick with the drums. I and my father rebuild the complete stock set up on my 53 Chevrolet and it stops better then any disc brake combination I have ever driven! This includes panic stops! Yes I still run the single reservoir master cylinder. For all of you who think that you have brakes with a dual reservoir master cylinder, I just lost a wheel cylinder on my 94 Chevrolet half ton. The pedal when to the floor only by down shifting and pumping the pedal was I able to stop! I believe most people think disc brakes stop better because they replaced worn out parts with new parts.
Drive your drum brakes down a steep long grade while using them to keep your speed reasonable and see about stopping at the bottom . I did this on my old drum brake equipped 56 f100 and blew through a stop sighn because it wouldn't stop even though I was standing on the pedal .drum brakes fade when they get hot also if you drive it through water and they get wet they hold the water and it takes a while to dry them with a disc its dried off in one revolution. Sent from my SM-G965U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
You might also need different front rims with the disc swap, too. Yes drums don't like to get soaking wet and don't work quite right until dry. That's why you want to ride the brakes a little after a big puddle. To dry them out some. -Dave Edit: Down a grade without using the transmission gears is asking for trouble regardless of the type of brakes.
I live in the Catskill Mountains of New York! Mile Hill just west of my house and East Windham Mountain about 15 mile east of where I live are very steep grades I drive them both regularly with no issues. Oh yes, Mile Hill has an intersection and a traffic light at the base never once have I had brake fade or been unable to stop. How do the stop all the 18 wheelers out there, they all still have drum brakes?
what you should do might depend on the rest of the car. We can't see it, so we can only guess. Does it have a big powerful motor? or a six? or what? does it look traditional, or more like a street rod? How do you use it?
They run in lower gears and have the exhaust brakes .out here we have a lot of mountains and all the grades have truck escape ramps with pea gravel 20 inches deep to stop runaway trucks .i know I would never go back to drum brakes or a single reservoir brake system .if you drive slow and anticipate trouble drums are fine Sent from my SM-G965U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
People have been known to smoke their disc brakes too on long down hill grades. Again, first downshift then use the brakes sparingly as you descend the hill. -Dave
Exactly. I like both setups. But if I am going discs it is a performance upgrade and I lean toward real performance discs not grocery hauler discs. Anyway like Jim days depends on the car and how it is used I suppose.
Drilling the rotors helps but if you are running floaters and not stationary calipers they are not really much better then drums. What comes stock on most American cars (not all) are floaters they are not really a performance upgrade.
And carbon ceramic pads drilled and slotted rotors help a lot controlling heat..the biggest issue I have seen with discs are rotors warping the drilled and slotted rotors virtually stop warpage Sent from my SM-G965U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
it has a 327 with 350 trans 8" ford rear i drive it in town and on interstate it is a sedan delivery it is just harder to stop than my other car. I have never drove a car with non power disc brakes is the reason for asking
Ok, my worthless opinion I prefer drums on open wheel cars or pre war cars in general they just look better, the cars are light and the brakes can be made to perform well anything else I probable use discs however, there sure are a lot of big trucks that still run drums
I would change to disc if it was me, a sedan delivery isn't light, better resale option and maybe better for others in the household driving the car. I have been contemplating a swap to disc on my T, pretty hot engine and it would be better for my new driver son to manage the car.
If all you have driven have been disc brake cars, swap to the disc brakes. Driving drum brake cars after only ever having driven disc brake cars has a learning curve, especially in a panic salutation, and that is not the place you want a learning curve. Gene
Not sure about other cars, but the front disc conversion kits for 55 - 64 Chevys move the wheels out. Makes them look odd. I had the same thing happen on my 93 S-10.....Twice. The first time, a front brake hose blew out. The result was no brakes, with the pedal to the floor. About 6 months later a rear brake line broke. The result was the same. No brakes, and the pedal on the floor. This was in spite of having good brake shoes, pads, drums, and rotors. It was a good thing that it had a 5 speed stick shift. Myself, I'd stick with the drums. Are the drum brakes that you have, self-energizing?
I'm not as old as many here, but I am old enough to be able to say that I like the feel of well adjusted non-power drum brakes. -Dave
In 1970 to 72 I worked for Sears doing brakes, swept area had a lot to do with it Fords had less trouble than Chevys their shoes were 1/4 wider. Then there were chevy C10s a Impala ran 2 3/4 front and 2 inch back shoes the C10 2 inch front and back. In the 60s they would not make 2 hard stops from 70 back to back.
Warpage comes from heat and floaters always drag one puck. Unless you are canyon carving drums a in good shape will do you just fine. Granted I grew up with drums and no antilock so I am probably better suited for driving and old heap than the kid who grew up driving his mom's handy down Celica. I look at it this way my 4 thousand pound brick of a C-10 had no trouble hitting the return road from 128 with the stock brakes and our little T has no trouble stopping with drums from 135+ either. The C-10 was my daily for 80,000 miles and didn't get banged up city or country from brake issues. None of this is anything against disc brakes. It is more of a lets get past the hype of the modern street rodder, and given my options for modern discs I really like 4 and 6 piston Brembos and for traditional discs I am hooked on either the two piston Bendix discs that came on the '64 Avanti or Hurst Airheart calipers. Although the 4 piston kelseys that came on late '60s Mustangs and Big Block Darts were petty good brakes too. BTW if I can go by the rolling stock and brakes on whatever that car is it must be a cool car. I would like to see the rest of it.
Sorry to disagree Beaner, but ANY mid size or full size GM disc brake set up, yes the "floaters", will out perform the best drum brakes in every measurable way. Well, except one. It is true that disc's do not have as great of braking force as self-actuating drums. But there is more to performance than just maximum braking force. And with power assist that really is not an issue anyway. Disc brakes resist fading under heavy use better, they resist fade when wet far better, they don't require periodic adjustments, they don't pull to one side or the other, and best of all they are far more controllable at the limits of tire adhesion than self-actuating drum brakes. A hard stop with drum brakes is a lock up and slide condition while your butt hole grabs at the seat material and you hope and pray the slide will stop before you hit something, because you lose steering control with the wheels locked up. And the stopping distance is greatly increased when the tire is sliding vs a controlled stop with maximum braking force just this side of lock up. You simply cannot operate drum brakes the same way, with the same control. And yeah, I love to do some canyon carving. But any high performance driving is improved with a good brake system.
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