Here we go again . . .
Drum brakes have so many failure points…Springs, Hold downs, Cylinders, Adjusters…all can and have failed.
There are problems with poorly designed calipers. My 4runner has that problem with the Front calipers. I’m now on my 4th set at 260k miles. But my 98 and 90 Pathfinder had original Calipers well past 300k miles. Where as the rear drums had several sets of hardware kits.
With drums you always built in a cushion when stopping.
Ah, the joys of drum brakes. I remember fondly and with great nostalgia the time I went through a puddle in my '71 Ford Maverick with drums all around, and pressing the brake. The complete lack of stopping power was just wonderful!
I’ll stick with disks, thank you very much.
Speaking of the joys of drums . . . I’m sure all of us have had some fun trying to remove drums
Trying to back off the adjuster, so that the drum would clear the lip, only to discover that the adjuster was seized
Having to wail on the drum with a deadblow hammer
Trying to remove the drum with the puller and strap, only to have that fail also
Can’t seem to recall any seized rotors . . .
I agree overall Disc brakes are better, that being said, there are rarely problems posted here with drum brakes. There is always a discussion going here that involves disc brakes. I drive a 32,000lbs truck that has 4 wheel drum brakes and it stops great.
Another problem with disc brakes, when a car sits a lot, the discs get rusty and pitted causing pulsation, with drums I never have that problem.
Discs are better though.
Can't seem to recall any seized rotors
Some rotors were pressed on. Those were pain to get off if you had to replace them.
Never had any seized rotors? You obviously don’t live in Western NY. I have had many I had to remove with a sledgehammer. My fear was that I would have one crack around the center instead of cracking to the hub which usually releases them.
Of course if you have an old car here with steel wheels, they may need the sledgehammer here also.
My god people this ain’t like building a space shuttle. In my experience you don’t really need anything other than the correct brake fluid to re-install the brake piston.
Never had any seized rotors? You obviously don't live in Western NY.
No…grew up in Upstate NY north of Syracuse where they average almost 2 times the snow of Western NY due to the fact the Erie freezes during the winter and stops producing Lake effect snow after January…where Ontario doesn’t freeze and they get lake effect all winter (and fall and spring) long.
I have had stuck rotors…but they don’t take much to get off (unless they’re pressed on). Ever try to remove a drum that has an Parking brake frozen (which happens more times then I care to remember)? Many companies now have threaded holes in the front of the drum so you can thread in bolts to remove a stuck drum. Stuck drums can be far far far more troublesome to remove then a stuck rotor.
when a car sits a lot, the discs get rusty and pitted causing pulsation
Rust and pitting doesn’t cause rotors to pulsate. It’s warping that causes the pulsating. And never had a problem with rust on rotors. The second you apply the brakes it removes the rust. Only when the vehicle has been sitting for months and months in wet weather will it cause any problem.
I have had rotors rot and delaminate from sitting. The spot where the pad was on the rotor corrodes differently than the rest of the rotor and makes a really nasty spot and this causes pulsation.
I agree light rust will be removed when you apply the brakes, however there are many cases where the rusty rotor requires machining.
I have had rotors rot and delaminate from sitting.
Never had a vehicle sit that long. And I’ve bought new/used cars from dealers that had been sitting for a few months on the lot…and never had that problem with rotors. The rotors had rust…but it wasn’t an issue.
To MikeinNH- True you got more than twice as much snow as WNY but they don’t carpet bomb with salt like they do near Buffalo. IT is much warmer in Buffalo than it is north of Syracuse so they use mostly sand because salt doesn’t work at their temps. Salt creats most rust when the temps are at and above freezing.
People in the north country are better winter drivers and don’t expect bare roads in the winter.
I have run more Watertown turn out of Buffalo or Montreal via watertown that I can’t even estimate the number. If you can drive there you can drive anywhere.
1 inch of snow followed by 2 inches of salt?
this thread became quite fun all of a sudden!
True you got more than twice as much snow as WNY but they don't carpet bomb with salt like they do near Buffalo. IT is much warmer in Buffalo than it is north of Syracuse
You have to get up near Watertown to get much colder then Buffalo. They do carpet bomb the roads with salt. When you have a town budget who’s Snow removal budget is very close to the School budget. Last time I had heard…Plus most people there don’t work there. Most travel south to Syracuse to work.
The salt they use north of Central Square is very brown because it is half or more sand.
… thought I’d follow up on this one - It’s a challenge… also I read this one because it was “Oneboxed”… while I figure out what that is, here’s what happened: I sent all four calipers out to be replated by a black-box magical process at a reputable online mail-in service. A note on that later. put all four calipers back together myself, using new Ate seal kits and brake assembly paste. incorporated the calipers into a 98% new brake and clutch hydraulic system, bled it, ran hundreds - maybe a thousand or two - miles on them, and they work perfectly well. car stops good, no leaks can be seen, etc. thanks.
… the online service … can I give the name?.. I can recommend them. They even re-replated one caliper when it got a bit corroded before I installed it - so they stand by their work.
I take it you’ve never driven there in the winter. Because if you did you’d know that is completely false. The small town I grew up in uses more salt then most small cities. It accounts for a good portion of our budget every year. Too many hills to just put sand on. Many cities salt accounts for less then 1% of their total budget…it accounts for nearly 20% of many small towns budgets in that area.
I drove tractor trailer for Maislin Transport and later Yellow freight for
many years starting in 1972 , I was either making Watertown turns out of
Buffalo or going through to Montreal. We drove through Blizzard conditions
weekly for at least 5 months that would have all the truckers parked on Ice
Road Truckers.
The winter of 72-73 was so bad that people were getting in and out of their
houses by their second story windows all of Jan. and Feb. and the only way
for them to get around was by snowmobile. There was a 35 mile long stretch
of route 11 that they could not keep open by plow anymore , Even with the
large rotary plows. They had to use bucket loaders and dump trucks to keep
it open. Even with our tall cab over tractors it was like driving in a
tunnel because we couldn’t see over the banks.
So , yes, I have driven up there.
My point wasn’t that they don’t use a lot of salt. My point is that the
Buffalo area uses more salt per lane mile on a lot less snow and at warmer
temps which makes it a lot worse on your car.