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

You people who cling to the belief that drum brakes are just as good, are dilutional. Unless you drive like a person who is elderly and in traffic, you stay 100 yards behind the person in front of you. Then you have a person who will be climbing up your rearend.

 

I’m running 15” wheels so plenty of room for a disc. Should finish tearing down the front end today. Looks like the entire front brake setup will need replaced from the booster to the drums.

 

There are many ways to go about this but cost was part of it for me. Tim

 

Hey now. I AM elderly!

 

If ya go discs, the tri 5 guys like those hubs. Can be used for a disc swap.
The wife’s 56 will get discs. Her request. But discs with the least amount of offset added. Some disc kits look goofy with extra wide offsets.

 

I live in one of those European countries where we need to get permission to fart so just fitted new shoes, drums etc. to my car because I would not have gotten past our inspection, and after the C___D years I just want to enjoy the thing this summer and next. The drums are the later Ford Falcon/Mercury Comet/Mustang/Fairlane/Meteor ones with heavier construction and fins so should be better than the 60 years old drums which were on the car but I don't delude myself I could attack corners like I would once the 140-series Wilwood 4 piston discs go on (after I get the permission to fart which will cost me and be a pain in the arse, but). So I'll drive like the old man I am - for a while

Pic shows the kind of roads we have, good brakes are a must if you want to fully enjoy driving... Your conditions may be very different so sticking with the drums will save money and work I suppose.

 

And be at fault when they rearend you!

 

The last several posts have me unsure if I am diluted or deluded.....

 

Brian didn't mention the main reason drums work well on the pre-war cars. In most cases, the later-model drums swapped onto these were an actual improvement. Sourced from newer heavier cars, these worked for the usual reasons. Want better performance? Make it bigger or reduce weight. You're doing both in this case (especially on fenderless cars) and while they still can't match discs overall, there's a very real improvement over the OEM brakes.

By the '50s, those options were mostly gone. Drum brakes were near their end of full development and choices in larger brakes were very limited. In 1957 Detroit fell in love with 14" wheels, and the smaller wheels caused a backward step in braking performance into the mid-'60s. There was only so much drum brake that you could cram inside a 14". While 'police' and 'heavy duty' drum brake options were available on some models (usually paired with larger 15" wheels), they weren't common and rots of ruck finding those bits today. With disc brakes right around the corner, additional work on drums pretty much ceased. By the end of the decade, front discs were available on all but the cheapest models.

 

Would be interesting to compare braking distances, of cars for the 40s, 50s, and 60s,
to those of the late model junk we have to share the road with today.

 

I drive low and slow
I guess I’m good

I don’t mind getting passed or flipped off.

 

Cool comment from Steve.
The turning of this into an argument is really not neccesary.
The systems do what they do. The physical science is the reason they do it different.
The OP was asking for opinions and got them.
What ever way he'll go is his choice. We have laid out the reasons for preferences.
Calling upon assumptions of character does not change physical science.

 

It would probably just scare the hell out of us...

 

Then compare the results of repeated braking.
That is where I would expect the real difference.
Heat is the enemy.

 

Thank you to everyone that posted. After reading everyones opinions I’m positive that both drum or disc will absolutely do everything I need them to do. Both systems have millions of miles on them.

 

Agreed and you see that it is also a somewhat controversial subject even on a traditional forum. Kinda like asking about tires…

 

Maybe I better save the points vs HEI for another day.

 

Now you are figuring this place out.

 

Braking distances is not the problem , it is directional predictability with brake fade.
My old 65 Fairlane was like "threading a needle with cataracts" when approaching a narrow one lane bridge.

Most cars with drum brakes still have the power to lock the brakes at high speed ONCE!

@MikeC62
I was just looking at a complete drop spindle disc brake kit [which seemed like a bargain] but most "kits" only have 10.5" rotors.

Try and find a OEM setup from a '70 or newer Impala/Caprice

here [photo stolen from the interwebs]


Try and find a car in a Junkyard and cannibalise the complete front spindle and braking system [and rebuild that if needed]

1969-82 C3 Corvette spindles / brakes make a nice swap. Get everything between the upper and lower ball joints, but use the Impala steering arms.
But the Corvette Delco Moraine Callipers will need rebuilding

 

I only needed to feel the helplessness of having inadequate brakes one time, fortunately, I barely came out OK with that experience. I also learned that slowing down quickly without locking up the tire stops a vehicle much faster the locking up the tires will and you can still steer the car. I have been converting everything that had drum brakes to that vehicle's brand of factory disc brakes since the early 1970s.

Buying a cheap complete "disc brake kit" was pretty sketchy back then, and it hasn't improved much. Unless you step up to a hard core racing brake set up and then choose the correct brake pads for your use, the auto factory stuff is tough to beat and long as you match the vehicle weight pretty closely.

 

So you need to take these questions and comments to the "off topic" part of the HAMB.

 

there is not a car on the road built in the last 20+ years that does not stop way faster than a drum brake 60's car.
"just fine" and "good enough" is only just fine and good enough until it isn't.

 

I had a '64 Olds 88, bone stock, in 1973. Drum s all around of course and power brakes. The car always stopped as straight as an arrow no matter what.

 

If only there was an Automotive Engineer to ask (then ignore).

 

On my 62 Bel Air I wanted to upgrade from the stock manual drums for several years, but my car is low and I couldn't kick the wheels out from their stock position without creating more problems.

I installed CPP front disc brakes with their original offset kit. It leaves the wheels in the same spot as factory and in the process the car got power brakes with a dual reservoir master cylinder as well.

I had a few issues with the parts from CPP, but the performance of the kit is awesome and I'd change it over again and again. My drums had all new stuff and were fine, but the discs are so much better. I don't get pull while braking, I have way more stopping power, and it's just a lot safer for modern traffic and modern roads.

Yes, these cars have been around for many years with drums, but modern traffic isn't what it was 30+ years ago and being able to stop quickly is never a bad thing.

 

the problem with drums is you have to stop faster than the modern car in front to you

 

[QUOTE="gimpyshotrods, post: 15259291, member: 82854"]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.[/QUOTE]


Perfect...it is not the "glorious '60s anymore; worst traffic fatality decade. The it is better to look good, than to feel good mentality fails.

 

I had a 71 Javelin that I replaced all the brake shoes with the Lakewood metallic shoes, man would that car stop. Seemed the hotter they got the better they worked.

 

Drum brakes are adequate, but disc brakes are substantially better. Especially in a full sized car like an Impala. There is no wrong answer here. It's not as if you won't be able to drive often and safely with (properly functioning) drum brakes. But as someone who has cars with both, the disc brake car stops substantially better.