Alright, so I am going 65 on the freeway, and this trucks tire blows out and traffic is slowing FAST, and I need to get to 20 in like 5 seconds, so I slam on the brakes, and then they start smoking! Anyone know why this happens? I'm not sure what the front has, but the back has drums, and I'm sure disc brakes from 1988 are nothing compared to ones nowadays. I would like to have the car that much safer, so please help me on this one!

 

Other than the smoke did they work properly? Do they still work properly afterwards? It could be you just had some dirt/grease/oil on your rotors or pads that burned off. If they still work properly that was probably it.

 

Yeah they still work properly, there was a very noticable sqeak immediately after the smoke and smell, but that has gone down significantly. I would still like a better braking system, of not only adding discs to the rear, I mean it is 20 years old after all.

 

where your brakes smoking?or did you lock up one of the tires and it was smoking from skidding on the pavement?

 

You could have slightly glazed the pads, they should be ok, just dont do any more hard breaking until they re-seat. If you want better brakes, time to upgrade the rears to disc, and get some good rotors and pads. Get ready to spend some bucks, but this is one of the most important parts of your car.

 

I'm pretty sure these don't have anti lock brakes, but I could be wrong...I'll look it up on google later...anways, they didn't skidd at all, and the smell wasn't rubber, it was a very unfamliar smell, but it gave off the slighest hint of metal. And I am further motivated towards that decision because the brakes starting sqeaking almost immediately after, and they sqeak a lot now, and my car looks/feels even more crappy because of it.


I was thinking of getting some nice oversized discs, but nothing too heavy, or at laeast not too heavier then the current setup.

And brakes are suddenly a very wise upgrade for a car, as I have just realized, because I can't justify making it faster, at least not anything that will take a lot of effort.