Hey Guys: I'm doing a poll since i'm thinking of 4 wheel disc Brakes over 2 wheel disc Brakes. Who has the 4 wheel disc brakes...WOULD YOU DO IT AGAIN? ARE THEY WORTH THE EXTRA COST?

Thanks
Bob

Bob

I think the fact that no one wants to answer is indeed the answer.

Just my personal experience....I removed my rear disc (early 80's Trans Am) and went back to drums on the rear. The aggravation of trying to have parking brakes that actually work drove me to the swap. I didn't see any advantage to stopping power.

I guess you can get the mega-buck racing type disc set ups if you got the cash....I'm on a budget so I went with what I knew would work. I'm not racing the car so factory bone stock works for me.

jim

Jim made the point.

If you are not road racing the car you don't need rear discs.

Just a bragging point for a muscle car.

If you need a proportioning valve to tone down the rear drums after converting to discs in front, that answers the question. Discs on the rear shed heat better, but the grabbing power isn't needed.

Hey Guys: I'm doing a poll since i'm thinking of 4 wheel disc Brakes over 2 wheel disc Brakes. Who has the 4 wheel disc brakes...WOULD YOU DO IT AGAIN? ARE THEY WORTH THE EXTRA COST?

Thanks
Bob

I have them on my 67, GM on the front and Mark Williams on the back.

Never thought of them a a "bragging point", just a stopping point.

The system is not power, uses a 69 corvette master made for 4 wheel disc brakes.

Would I do it again, in a NY second. After driving and working on many early vettes, I've come to love these brakes, plenty of whoa:yes::yes::yes:

I put four wheel disc on my '66 and fought many problems before getting it right. It stops great and the system looks and works well. When it came time for brakes on my '70 I bought and re built the entire system with stock replacement parts, drums, brake shoes, wheel cylinders, spring kits, calipers, pads, brake lines, wheel bearings ect. I swear it stops just as good as my '66 and was cheaper and easier to complete. If I had it to again, I would just re build the rear drums and add the front stock single piston style disc brakes and prop valve:thumbsup:

4 wheel disc here. got them on all three cars in the garage. all three kits came from stainless steel brake company. i started out with the early 80's trans am rear disc but i couldn't figure out how to get the disc to fit or the parking brake. i did keep the trans am booster and master cylinder.

I have them on my 59 Elky
Not gonna do it again for the 66.

NOT being a parking brake user----this really negatively affects the performance of the rears, as the E-brake keeps them adjusted.

Pain to get set up-----and they still do not work nearly as well as the factory brakes on my 97 T-Bird. Stopping between the 94 T-Bird and the 97 T-Bird is different as naight and day, and I expected the same feeling I get in the 97 Bird.

Might work a lot better if I could get enough boost----I can only fit a 7" booster in that car due to the 454 and the hydraulic clutch master.
Perhaps someone that has used a 7" single diaphram and a 7" dual diaphram booster in the same car/engine could let me know if THAT upgrade is worth the trouble.

Bryan

I have 4 wheel SSBC w/hydroboost on my 67 coupe and they STOP.
My 67 convertible has four wheel manual discs and it also stops very well.
Just wanted to update for safety and ease of maintenance, etc.
Parking brake works great on both cars.
I will do 4 wheel on my 63 Impala project coming up as well, I'm sold.

I did C5/LS1 combo on my 65 Chevelle with a hydroboost setup and it stops on a dime. I like the ease of changing the pads. I always hated having to mess with all the springs on drum brakes.

I was told, by Dick from True Connections that there is a significant increase in stopping power. Plus he was telling me that the P-Valve actually makes each wheel get equal power, so it sort of squats and slows, not nosedives and slows....L

Like I said, just word of mouth, but it's from a pretty credible source.

I'm definitely upgrading on my Chevelle when I get the $$$$

my Nova had 12" C4 vette brakes i nthe front, and the stock 71 drums in the rear. once i got the prop valve adjusted right, it just squatted down and came to an abrupt stop with no drama.
so drums can d a good job- and they do have less rotating mass to deal with (most of the mass on a disc rotor is towards the center, which means less resistance to acceleration than drums, where most of the mass is out towards the outside edge), so there has to be some sort of benefit there.
of course, most disc setups have a little bit of drag all the time, where drums totally back away from the drum.
as for the parking brake keeping the calipers adjusted- just use a later model setup that has the parking brake inside a small drum hub in the middle of the rotor and self adjusting calipers. the junkyards are full of Caprices and S series trucks- and the occasional F body- to be parts donors.

Here's my experience:

Drum brakes, when not experiencing ANY fade, have more stopping power then disc brakes. NOW, if you are having problems with brake fade, you either drive hard or drive in harsh weather, you will notice the difference.

On my car, I replaced all the brake components to the stock disc/drum set-up. I began to experience alot of fade when driving to school in the rain and alos during summer when I'd go out for some "spirited" driving so I decided to upgrade to rear discs. There was no difference when normal driving. Howver, I did notice a HUGE improvement on freeway stops. In CA you can be going 80 mph one minute and a second later be in stopped traffic. I also noticed a big difference in "spirited" driving.

So there you have it, if you experience fade often, you will like the disc brakes, otherwise you may regret it.

Oh, and to the statement of making the car stop level. That is not true. The car dips forward due to weight transfer, not the proportioning valve. In fact, the proportioning valves job is to bias the fluid supply because when the weight of the vehicle transfers forward, the rear wheels are more likely to lock up due to the lack of weight being exerted on them. If the car nose dives with the disc/drum set-up then either the drum brakes are out of adjustment or the metering valve is not functioning properly.