Not in the hills in TN, much less mountain roads where you have to basically ride your brakes all the way down the hill, drums sucked under those circumstances… And especially someone like you that wants to drive at or below the speed limit… Good luck with that… lol
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+1
And, let’s not forget that drum brakes were essentially useless after driving through a deep puddle. I got pretty good at applying light pressure to the brake pedal with my left foot while I drove, in order to dry-out the brake linings. That way, I was able to get near-normal braking power back w/in a few minutes.
You just have to love those “satisfactory” drum brakes.
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It’s not within their means, it’s within their times. Drum brakes were absolutely fine and safe way back when, because that’s what everyone had. The playing field was level. Everyone had the same ■■■■■■ stopping ability and kids knew that cars couldn’t stop for them. People knew to engine brake down hills and to allow adequate following distance and to avoid puddles.
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I learned to maintain a long following distance when I began driving, and I still follow that practice, even with very good braking ability on modern cars. I also used to downshift and use engine braking on long downgrades. Nowadays, I just use the regenerative brake, and I get a mild recharge in the process.
But, try as I might, I haven’t yet figured out how to avoid large puddles that stretch across the entire roadway. Luckily, those puddles aren’t much of a concern with modern braking systems.
Throw the car in a lower gear going downhill. I do that even with an automatic.
And watch your speed in such circumstances as going down hill, or in the presence of puddles.
I’m not saying drums are ‘better’, just suggesting how to operate if they’re all that’s available.
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I still have a manual transmission, downshifting helps some, but you still gain speed, my truck’s 6 speed automatic downshifts using engine braking, but it still gains speeds, and even with it’s Dynamic Radar Cruise Control (DRCC) it downshifts to try to maintain speed but will still gain speed and it will still have to apply the brakes to slow the truck back down…
I don’t care how much you downshift, the vehicle will still gain speed going down our hills and you have to apply your brakes… And that applies to disc as well as drum brakes…
And you can start off at the top of the hill going as slow as you want, even from a stop, never touch your gas pedal, and you will still have to use your brakes… lol
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But you’ll do so at a reduced, and thus more controllable rate.
Of course! but again, You’ll do so at a reduced frequency, and, depending on your load (vehicle plus living or inanimate occupants), apply less pressure to the brakes.
Again, not justifying drums, just stating facts based on my own experience, even if my last 3 cars were all disc braked.
Riding your brakes is riding your brakes, it still builds up heat, heat is something that drum brakes do not dissipate very well at all and once they get really hot, they fade away…
We have a road very close to me (as well as many others) that is a 35 mph posted speed limit, you can top the hill doing 30-35 mph and 1/2 way down using low gear and engine braking, you will still gain 20 mph if you are not riding you brakes… Heck even with the computer controlling the braking and engine braking using DRCC, it will still hit 10 mph over before hitting the brakes hard to slow you back down, if you are close to someone, it will ride the brakes to keep the set distance from the vehicle in front of you…
I don’t have any degrees or PHD’s or anything like that, but I think it is called something like physics, put a 4,000 pound ball at the top of a hill and it will continue gaining speed the longer it rolls down that hill…
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True.
But 4,000lb sllab, a la BeamNG, don’t have gears to downshift into.
Sorry, I no idea what that even means, I only speak and understand English, and not the best at that… lol
No need to explain, I have google if I really want to know…
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It was an off-hand reference to a driving software, which has crazy elements such as giant rolling b a l l s, swinging hammers, giant road humps, but above all, highly realistic physics and vectoring driving dynamics and during crashes.
Your 4,000 b a l l reference reminded me of BeamNG.
You should never ride your brakes down a large hill or mountain. Many newer vehicles will downshift automatically to provide engine braking and older cars where the driver was required to think for themselves will allow you to downshift for engine braking.
You can overheat disc brakes just as well as you can drums. I will say that disc brakes are much more fool proof than drum brakes. I look at the drum brake as the “thinking mans brake” if you will. More efficient and effective but requires you to think about what you are doing.
Will you just stop with this nonsense ! I don’t want my neighbor with 2 children in car seats having to worry if driving through a water puddle will cause her brakes to not stop her vehicle as quick as it should.
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Come on down to my area and we will see how little you use your brakes, then you can tell me you don’t have to ride your brakes on some of these curvy hills around me… I HAVE a 2023 that downshifts itself and uses engine braking with the three brake clutches etc to control down hill speeds, and guess what, you still gotta use your brakes, I even have a 5 speed manual car, you can ONLY downshift so much before you are bouncing off the rev limiter, my old school full manual shifted (automatic) that will lock up the back tires if you down shift to early without giving it gas, so I know it has engine braking, still have to use the brakes…
I do let off to let them cool for a few seconds before braking again…
I grew up driving the curvy rolling hills, so I know how to drive down hills… lol
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Looking at this ad from “The Good Old Days” makes me wonder…
Did the customers who died from lung cancer, or emphysema, or heart disease ask themselves how they could have gotten seriously ill? After all, they did smoke the “thinking man’s cigarette”!
Similarly, did the folks who had an accident because of their lousy drum brakes wonder how that could have happened in light of the fact that their old barge had “thinking man’s brakes”?
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That shortened my parents’ lives also, perhaps by as much as 20 years.
Thankfully, the anti-smoking campaigns launched in the 1970s reduced smoking by 70 percent in adult males and 30 percent for adult women, by the 2000s.
I worked with a life long smoker. We sometimes visited customers together. I watched as he climbed two steps to a platform. He had to wait a while and catch his breath beforez climbing the last step into the building. It was sad watching a good man like Fred face emphysema.
Here, for a change, is a rational discussion of why some trucks still use drum brakes. Turns out they’re gradually switching to disc brakes, except where they are used in salty or muddy conditions.
I want to see your library some day. 
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I don’t agree with the author’s assertion that drum brakes are better in a salt environment for trucks. If that were the case, then drum brakes would be better for cars too, but he doesn’t state that. IMO disk brakes on any road going vehicle get cleaned anytime the brakes are applied.