DRUM BRAKES VS DISC BRAKES, WHICH IS BETTER ?

Drum Brakes Vs Disc Brakes - Hey, we are back with, Today we are going to be comparing drum brakes vs disc brake systems. Now as we go along a little bit later we are going to talk about different styles of brake rotors and different brake pad compounds before we do that we just want to touch on the brake systems themselves and the two main styles starting here with the drum brake system.

As you can see just by the looks of it, it does look like a drum hence the name drum brakes. But actually, it is two separate pieces here, you got the outer piece that spins with the wheel and its got a facing on the inside here a machine facing and then this backing plate which stays stationary and this is actually inside the drum as it rotates and when you apply the brakes pressure forces these brake shoes outward against the facing of the drum and it causes the vehicle to slow down. 

These types of brakes were found on vehicles all the way up through probably the early 70’s late 60s early 70s when disc brakes started to come onto the scene. Now along with the early 1970s, mid-1970s manufacturers started moving towards disc style brakes and basically with those styles whereas with a drum brake you have this whole complete housing the disc brake system is built around a disc or rotor which spins with the wheel and the actual braking compounds as opposed to shoes you have actual brake pads. 

These pads fit inside this caliper and the caliper then fits over the rotor and the pads come down each side of the rotor and as the brakes are applied the caliper squeezes or clamps the brake pads around the rotor. There is a good reason why manufacturers started moving away from drum brakes more towards disc brakes. 

For one because this is an enclosed style where the brake shoes are actually inside the housing when friction occurs during braking you can get heat building up pretty quickly in there which will lead to brake fade and adversely affect the performance of your brakes. 

On disc brake style you have an open-air design with the rotor spinning and you’ve got the friction surface out here as the stopping occurs a lot of that heat is dissipated into the open air so you don’t get the fade as quickly. Also on drum brakes, you can sometimes get mud or water in there which can affect wet weather braking, disc brake not as much as a problem actually sometimes the centrifugal force of the brake rotor will actually spin the water off and that can improve wet weather braking as well. 

The third reason some people like the disc brakes is because you can get the calipers and the rotors and different machine rotors and anodized calipers can become a cosmetic thing it can be an appearance enhancement especially if you have the right style of wheels on your car where you can kind of see through the wheels and see where the brake components are at. 

Now if there is one advantage to the drum style brakes it's just simply cost it is just a little more cost-effective to make them and install them and for that reason, you will still see drum brakes on the rear brakes on many vehicles, you will see front disc brakes and rear drum brakes and that is simply because that keeps the cost down. Whereas on the front of your vehicle that is where a lot of the stopping force goes as your momentum is taking you forward so you need the improved braking upfront and not quite so much in the rear there is not a lot of stress on the rear brakes so to keep that cost down they go with the drum brakes. 

Also some vehicles you know ultra-high-performance vehicles will go to four-wheel disc brakes for improved stopping all the way around. So what happens though if you have an old hot rod and you have got the drum brakes, does that mean you are stuck with the old drum brakes? It doesn’t. Actually one of the most popular upgrades we see are the disc brake conversion kits which we offer for a wide variety of vehicles, allows you to swap out the old drums and put in the disc brakes at least in the front side, get that improved stopping power. 

Now that we have covered the basics of drum brakes versus disc brakes and told you kind of the advantages of the disc brake system over the drum brake system we are going to do some basic comparisons down the road as I mentioned earlier on some of the disc brake components including the different types of rotors available slotted, drilled, solid and we will also get into some of the brake pad compounds you can choose and how you want to go about picking the right one for your application. 

In the meantime, if you have any questions about brakes or any other high-performance-related topic feel free to leave a question in the comment section below.