Technical 62 Impala wagon - Stay with drum or switch to disc?

Wanted to get some opinions on brakes. In the past I’ve always switched over to disc brakes but after reading several post from guys I’m kind of leaning towards just rebuilding the power drum brakes. This wagon will only be a stock cruiser. Thanks

 

I’m rebuilding the drums on my merc.
I’ll put discs on the wife’s 56
It’s up to you.

 

I did new wheel cylinders, booster and master cylinder on my Merc and kept the drums, if it had needed new drums as well I’d probably have gone to discs.

 

If you're not driving at high speed in the mountains, or making repeated panic stops, drum brakes in good condition should be adequate.

 

Well, given how almost all late models now on the road all have some sort of ABS brakes that easily out-perform drums, I'm a proponent of you can't have too much brakes. And in spite of all the guys that claim 'drums are just as good', they're not. If they were, Detroit would still be using them.

What I suggest is looking up a contemporary road test of your vehicle (or as close as you can find) and see what they found. Merely 'adequate' may not cut it anymore IMO, and that was with a more level playing field as discs hadn't arrived yet.

 

I make decisions similar to @Oneball in that if something needs new drums, I might convert to disks. Otherwise, I typically rebuild the drums unless I am pulling a trailer or something.

 

After I turned 75 I put discs on the front an upgraded the rear drums with self adjusters so I no longer needed to crawl under the car every 6 months.
Back when I worked for Sears Auto Center we found that front self adjusting drum could cause unwanted problem and we’re glad to see discs starting to happen.
If you don’t have power brakes and buy 4 piston style calipers like Wilwood sells you will find they work just fine with a 7/8” MC and no booster. Good luck and have fun with your Impala!

 

I drove for too many years with drums. Drums are great for trailer queens, and if you drive slow.

 

My opinion is; if you can lock and slide your tires, what more can discs do than that? However, if you do a lot of mountain/hill driving, the discs are superior because of their fade resistance.

My folks bought a new 63 Mercury Monterey breezeway. That was the same year I got my driver's license. I found out that about two hard stops from 90 mph and the brakes would fade so bad that you had to shift to neutral to keep from creeping forward at a stop light. I never mentioned that to my folks.

 

So Unki….our parents drove drum brake cars, as I did before 1976 when I bought a car with front discs, and they were so dangerous we died in a brake related accident and none of us were born?

 

I'll admit my needs aren't the same as you guys that live in the less-populated flatlands. The I5 corridor has gotten incredibly crowded, and even most secondary roads are busy these days. Add in coming dangerously close to running out of drum brakes coming off a mountain pass a few times, discs are pretty much mandatory IMO...

 

I had my 57 T-Bird for 28 years with drum brakes. When I first got it I notice brake fade as I drove in the hills here in and around Portland. I went totaly through the brake system and had a local outfit reline the shoes with the best premium lining they had. I also had them fit the shoes to the drums. I never experienced brake fade after that and the car had very good brakes.

 

Not lock up. That's the primary improvement over drums that discs offer. By the early '60s, most of Detroit had settled on 'self energizing' drum designs for reduced pedal effort. It's too easy when trying to get maximum braking performance out of drums to go 'over center' on pressure and have the brakes lock up. Discs, NOT being self energizing, don't have that problem and a reasonably skillful driver can get measurably better performance without locking up. Shedding heat better is another plus, but not the main advantage, you still want to be careful on mountain passes as most OEM discs will heat-soak if you ride them long enough.

 

Hi Mike.
As others have stated it depends on you and your needs.
I have a '64 Impala wagon that I put thousands of miles on with stock drum/drum/single pot MC.
As I continued the process of driving and upgrading the car it reached a point in the restoration process where the car, and me, deserved better for many obvious reasons.
I just this past winter did a tubular a-arm, disc/power/master upgrade and just returned from a trip to Nat's East in York PA. The upgrade was a huge difference maker for the car in every way for me.
But again, the originals gave me many trouble free miles. It's your call.
Tim

 

Disc Brakes, Period.

 

Drums. ON my cars well adjusted work fine, it sounds like you have power as well. It should help.
Most of mine are daily in LA traffic, the '57 wagon just did a trip through Tehachapi Mountains.
It all depends on how you drive and your surroundings. 65-75 year old cars were never mean to drive at constant 75mph.

If you expect it to drive like a new car, there are many other things to update as well.
Its your car in the end do what makes you feel safe. report back though.

 

So no real consensus....I have owned 409" cars, 327" Corvettes, Malibus, coupes, etc. All with drum/drum.
Also owned blower coupes and Nova's with disc/drum. No hard fast rule for me. Just depends on the car.

 

Thanks for all the opinions. Sure looks like for the kind of driving I will be doing I can’t really go wrong either way. I am in the process of removing the entire front suspension for a rebuild and if I’m going to need to replace most of the drum brake parts I might go ahead and install disc.

 

Might be good either way. I can say, if you convert to discs, pay attention to the parts that come in the kit. Sometimes, a kit to fit a full size car comes with the same brakes for an S10 pickup. Need larger rotors for the heavier car.

 

Try to avoid "Kits" and stay OEM
If you're on 14's get the complete disc brake spindle/knuckle from a 69 Impala . With 15's you can go 70 Impala or later.
And convert to tandem M/C while you're at it.

Most brake threads here on the HAMB are caused by DIYers suffering from the "Dunning Kruger effect"
Try not to reinvent the wheel, the factory already made the setup you need.

 

Never said they were "dangerous", just that they don't work well enough for the way I drive.
Drums can't shed heat as well as discs. Brake fade is real. There is such a thing as progress.

 

Mate .......... Brake fade is caused by the drums heating and expanding away from the shoes.
Where do you get the brakes hot enough to do this on Antarctica ???

 

Do you drive on modern roads, alongside modern cars and trucks?

Every 4-wheeled vehicle that I own has 4-wheel disc brakes, even the Model A.

 

Had a real close call in a car with front drum brakes back in my late teens...... narrowly avoided a head on with a guy doing over 100mph (him, not me, I would have only been doing about 85). It's frightening how little control you have once everything is locked up and skidding. Only front discs for me since then.

 

Drum Brake over-heating is real and yes can be avoided,
especially when we mature to the point of traveling to arrive alive.
( with all due respect to mountains )
The one time an emergency turns tragic can change the story of your life.
Having been through the reckless twenties etc.
The two times that I will not overlook was traveling in rain, finding an unexpected puddle.
The second time I found A citizen ahead of me had water kill the motor.
I needed reflexes and luck to make my day.
Crossing the bridge to disc brakes makes life better.
One last thought.
When it comes time to replace the lining,,, no more finger pinching and knuckle busting.

 

I have front discs on my Ford and I drive in traffic pretty often. I have had people cut me off a couple of times and between the discs and 3-point belts, I was fine.

I just got an OT '66 Belair with power front discs, just went through the brakes 100%. With a disc conversion, sometimes it will increase the front track width by close to 1" per side.

If you stay drums, make sure the lines are good. The Chevy wagons were known failures with the long line down the driver-side frame rail. Replace the hoses. A dual master conversion is pretty easy on those. I did that in my '65 Belair and used a power brake set up from a '70 Impala.

 

Go with discs, you will not be sorry.

 

I’ve had both on many different cars and here’s been my experience.

Every car I’ve had with after market disc brakes didn’t stop as well as cars I’ve had with drum brakes that were set up correctly and maintenanced

also I have daily drove several cars with early ford brakes, stay up on your maintenance and they work great.

 

Well, there you have it. A perfect consensus. Drum brakes are just as good as disks because we (those of us who lived through the 50's and 60's) didn't die when our parents drum brake equipped cars didn't crash. Or go with disk brakes, if you like to actually stop in todays traffic conditions. I can't make an argument for either side, I put drum brakes on my roadster for the scientifically sound principle that they look better on an open wheeled car. I have disk brakes on the cars we tow a trailer with because I don't care what they look like underneath the car, and the aesthetics of not crashing into whatever is stopping ahead of me are improved over twisted sheet metal.