Starfury

I beg to differ. My factory drums worked fine at stopping the vehicle. I don't think the discs work much better as far as stopping distance.

The problem with them is that they don't stop straight.

67mustang302

Try making the first turnout at the drag strip here from 110mph. Drums will fade out before you ever get under 50mph. It's not that drums don't work, they just suck at heat dissipation. In really hot climates and highway speed they get hot and don't work as well. Stopping hard, especially a heavy vehicle, puts a lot of heat into the brakes. Especially if you're going down a hill.

trashline

when I daily drove my 66 for about 3 years I had 4 wheel drum, I will admit stopping straight was a pain but I always spent alot of time adjusting. I never did get them perfect.

Responding from home to the firehouse sucked in that car, I would be able to stop from home using the trans/ clutch down shift from 3rd to 2nd at about 60-70 mph, it would lock the back wheels up and make them chirp haha, and give me enough stopping/slowing down power to make a reasonable stop in the parking lot. If i came from a distance further then home (which was about .7 miles) and thru any light or traffic that forced me to slow down I could not stop worth a crap even using the trans, and would have to brake earlier down the road. It is not a fun feeling when you have to shut the car off and use the clutch to stop the car just before hitting a light pole or building.

cprstreetmachines

yuuuup. Used to stop down with the 8 second cars trying not to over heat them. lol And in bad climate weather, look out for puddles. Then they really pull.

HGC

As long as you know how to drive with them there is nothing wrong with drum brakes. I don't drive my 65 over 70 MPH so fade is not much of a problem for me. I know what you're thinking...and no, even though I am 58 I don't drive like an old man wearing a hat. I had the 05 Mustang up to 120 last week. But back to the point, rain won't affect drums that much. Driving through standing water can cause them to lose a lot of stopping power briefly, but as long as you know how to dry them out that is not much of an issue either. In fact, with the right technique you can prevent the standing water from causing a problem in the first place. I drove a 67 Buick LeSabre down Pikes Peak with manual drums without a problem, and that car only had one low gear (yep, an automatic with just D and L) which would not allow me to use the engine for braking.

gothand

Don't know what time this accident took place, but it is pretty darn hard to keep that much space on the 605. Not saying that it isn't a good idea, but that freeway gets pretty congested, even by L.A. standards (I worked on the HOV lane addition design in the early 90's).

JMD

IDK,,, I think drums kind of get a bad rap, especially as they relate to daily drivers, the drums in my heavy *** Lincoln (4300 lbs + driver) stop the car pretty damn good. (good enough to lock all 4 wheels at will)

OVER 99% of big trucks built even today will still have drums. (Disk brakes have been available for a long time)

Drum brakes have their good points as well as their weak points...

Canary94GT

I've never really worked on brakes before, but I have a 94 Mustang as a daily driver and a 65 with manuals drums and, after driving both, I just couldn't see why people gave drum brakes such a bad rep.

But I didn't know or think about the braking *straight* thing. It does seem like there is a little more "looseness" when stopping the 65, but it is nothing I would consider unsafe under normal conditions.

67mustang302

Drum brakes have a real hard time in performance applications. They're used a lot on big trucks because they're much cheaper than discs that large. But, that has it's price, around here there are numerous trucks that burn down every year when the brakes catch fire trying to keep from going out of control down long grades...though a lot of that is just bad truck driving as well, starting out too fast at the top of the hill. Trucks with smoke pouring off their brakes barreling down Hwy 58 is a very common(several times a day) occurrence around here.

Disc brakes are just way more reliable though, they don't have nearly as many things that can go wrong that drums do.

Carlos Pineiro

Drum brakes are simply not as efficient as discs. Also, drums will not apply even pressure they way discs do so with real hard braking the car gets squirrelly.

I have both, and so far, I have successfully stopped my car many times.

CP