1964 Drum & disc brakes pros & cons | Ford Thunderbird club group 1955-2005 T-Bird models

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1964 Drum & disc brakes pros & cons

Frank Brigandi

Frank Brigandi

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Thunderbird Year
1964
Hello everyone,
Why not stay with 4 drum brakes?
I’ve been reading about cronic problems converting drum brakes to disc.. ie stiff pedal, weak braking…
I have a friend with a resto mod 68 Impala, I drove his car a few times.. the brakes are frightening.. very hard.. no feel for how much bite you’re getting..So, I drove it very slow..
He has huge rotors, new lather wheels.. to accommodate the brakes.. feels awful to me.
Drum brake fans to the front and talk me out of converting to discs…

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Since we are an all Ford Thunderbird website, you can omit the make/model from future titles. Title revised.
 
Two reasons. In a panic stop situation, drum brakes will grab and lock up the wheels, then you have no steering control. This is because drum brakes are self energizing, meaning the rotation of the brake drum "pulls" the brake shoes into the drums, multiplying stopping force beyond the force you're putting on the brake pedal. Also, the braking power of drum brakes can fade during prolonged braking, because drum brakes don't shed heat well.

I recently converted the front brakes on my '64 to disc brakes and installed a dual master cylinder, new booster, and a proportioning valve. You have to make sure everything is sized and adjusted right.
 
64ZCODE said:
Two reasons. In a panic stop situation, drum brakes will grab and lock up the wheels, then you have no steering control. This is because drum brakes are self energizing, meaning the rotation of the brake drum "pulls" the brake shoes into the drums, multiplying stopping force beyond the force you're putting on the brake pedal. Also, the braking power of drum brakes can fade during prolonged braking, because drum brakes don't shed heat well.

I recently converted the front brakes on my '64 to disc brakes and installed a dual master cylinder, new booster, and a proportioning valve. You have to make sure everything is sized and adjusted right.
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I’ve read too many threads about which brakes to buy..
Which brakes did you purchase and install.
From master cylinder down to brakes.
Thanks in advance
 
I'm leaving the drums on my '62. They're very effective, and honestly I don't drive like I did when I was 21. I had a '61 back then. Drove like a maniac! Lots of 100+ mph, and never had brake issues. So I'm not in the convert to disc camp. But to each his own.
 
74 Harley said:
I'm leaving the drums on my '62. They're very effective, and honestly I don't drive like I did when I was 21. I had a '61 back then. Drove like a maniac! Lots of 100+ mph, and never had brake issues. So I'm not in the convert to disc camp. But to each his own.
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This is a breath of fresh air.
I have zero intention to drive aggressively. This is a back road motoring joyride, very casual endeavor. Did you upgrade the master cylinder to separate the front and rear brakes? Or did you just leave it stock?
 
The major problem with drums, is that few shops nowadays have the same experience/equipment/parts/etc. as when these old cars were new. If you don’t live up in the mountains, or drive through deep puddles, properly maintained drum brakes work just fine. Make sure your emergency brake works as designed and your brake lines/fittings/fluid are all good, and don’t drive aggressively or try to steer out of trouble in a panic stop.
Those who learned to drive before anti-lock brakes became standard, had to un-learn a lot of bad habits. Driving OEM-correct vintage cars requires learning vintage driving style.
 
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I have heard stories that ranged from WOW, the disks are so good to, Hmm, don't seem much different than the drums. It would be difficult to make an argument that disks would not be better overall, at least if it's a properly done setup. That said, what I think often happens is people have drum brakes that are shot, glazed drums, glazed or contaminated linings, leaking wheel cylinders, out of adjustment, rusty, etc. So they don't work very well. I've seen people post how their brakes can barely stop them from 60 mph and they are going to change to disks. If they spent half the cost of the disk conversion on redoing their worn-out drum brakes they would have well-functioning brakes again.

My drums work great and can easily stop me from 60. I used to have a power booster but did not like it.. too much boost, so took it off. The brakes are a little firmer than most modern cars but the feel is SO much better without the booster. Are they as good as disks? No, unlikely. But Disks don't fix following too close or driving too fast or panicking and locking up the wheels. If you have a PROPERLY set up disk system you can lock the wheels: if you can't lock the wheels something is wrong whether you have disks or drums. Of course, you don't want the wheels to lock and disks are easier to modulate to prevent locking.

I'm not advocating for what others should do. I do think the factory drums work pretty darn good IF you have them in good order. I might even put disks on someday, we all like to tinker and improve things, even things that are working OK. Also, if you do need to spend money to fix worn out drum brakes and everything needs replacing, it's not unreasonable to decide to spend a bit more for disks and get the extra benefits.
 
Frank Brigandi said:
This is a breath of fresh air.
I have zero intention to drive aggressively. This is a back road motoring joyride, very casual endeavor. Did you upgrade the master cylinder to separate the front and rear brakes? Or did you just leave it stock?
Click to expand...
I left it stock. At the time (mid '80s) there were no upgrades available for these cars.
 
Also, as NOS/USA brake parts became scarce (along with competent drum service), disc conversions kits became more available/popular, largely due to the inferior quality of initial Asian repo drum system parts, and the retiring/die-off of experienced personnel.
We now live in a throw-away society. Today, many things that were alway repaired in the 50’s/60’s, are simply tossed and replaced. Since quality repro drums are now finally available, I won’t have to bother to hunt down a shop with the antiquated equipment (or skill) to precision turn the old ones, or install & arch oversized linings to fit.
 
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