⬇️Scotty’s Top DIY Tools: 1. Bluetooth Scan Tool: amzn.to/2nfvmaD 2. Cheap Scan Tool: amzn.to/2D8Tvae 3. Professional Socket Set: amzn.to/2Bzmccg 4. Wrench Set: amzn.to/2kmBaOU 5. No Charging Required Car Jump Starter: amzn.to/2CthnUU 6. Battery Pack Car Jump Starter: amzn.to/2nrc6qR ⬇️Things used in this video: 1. Common Sense 2. 4k Camera: amzn.to/2HkjavH 3. Camera Microphone: amzn.to/2Evn167 4. Camera Tripod: amzn.to/2Jwog8S 5. My computer for editing / uploading: amzn.to/2uUZ3lo 6. Video editing software: amzn.to/2jv5Fhf 7. Thumbnail software: amzn.to/2k7tz6C 🛠Check out the tools I use and highly recommend ► goo.gl/rwYt2y 🔥Scotty Shirts and Merch ► goo.gl/pTAeca Subscribe and hit the notification bell! ► goo.gl/CFismN Scotty on Social: Facebook ► facebook.com/scottymechanic/ Instagram ► instagram.com/scotty_the_mechanic/ Twitter ► twitter.com/Scottymechanic?lang=en
Scotty do you ever use a lift when working on cars or is the jack and stands good for everything? Also, would you be willing to let a team of archaeologists examine your garage?
“Honey, is he still out there shouting about brakes?” “Sure is. He’s been going since 2am this time. The police came at 3 but he ignored them, then he stopped for a coffee at 5 but he’s been flat out since then.”
Scotty, you're a straight talker with integrity. It is great to experience that rare quality in this day and age. Much of your advise and insights is much appreciated and some resonates with what I was taught 40 years ago. Keep up the good work. Your efforts are much appreciated!
Watching this guy's channel makes me wish I had a vintage muscle car, tools, and a garage to work in. I still have that spirit in me, being from the tail end of a bygone era.
@Bill Hill well I have a similar truck to your's its a 1955 GMC truck with manual drum brakes all around. It just took more effort to stop then power brakes.
@@billybob042665 Same here , on my 70 duster it was dangerous if you didn't start braking ahead of time especially in the rain , when i first got it i learned that pretty quickly after zipping past 2 or 3 stop signes lol
Scotty, I remember talking about this 35 years ago in college. The professor said that if you need to stop the rotation fastest drum brakes are what you want. But to have controlled breaking or not or not to instantly stop, disk works best.
I love how Scotty speaks to both the how (direct technical explanation) and the why (history, design choices, degree of importance, etc.) for all of these basic auto issues. You can't beat a good "Pros & Cons" video. ;)
You know I've been watching a lot of Scotty's videos in just the last year and I've learned a hell of a lot. I don't agree with everything he says all the time, but I mostly agree with what he says. And he obviously knows more than I do so I've learned a hell of a lot also.
Sucks that some people didn't grow up in a car guy family. My dad and his brothers were hot rodders or lowriders so everyone knew things about cars. Me and my buddies are all car guys. It's a fun and useful hobby to get in to
Slotted rotors have another benefit. I use slotted rotors because I live in an area with TONS of dusty dirt roads. I found that normal discs if you don't get rain after a while get dust packed between the rotors and pads travelling at higher speeds down dirt roads. Which I've had cause a lot of brake loss. Slots give a place for the dust to go and get blown out.
Hi Scotty, Your videos are a great mix of knowledge and humour. I have been watching your videos from India and learning a great deal about cars. Seeing your garage reminds me of my fathers garage. My father is an engineer and still has tools and nuts and bolts from 50 years ago in the garage. I wish you good health to keep doing what you love and keep producing these great videos. You are a global treasure.
Nice explanation. Scotty got it right this time. But he left out one of the reasons for putting drums on the rear - the parking brake. You don't want to rely on hydraulics to keep the car from rolling away after you get out of it. You want a strong, mechanical linkage to keep the friction surface firmly in contact with the drum or with the rotor. With rear drum brakes, a simple cable from the handbrake lever to the brake shoes, and another lever attached to the brake shoes, can keep the brake shoes in contact with the drum. What kind of mechanical connection are you going to use to keep the friction pads in disk brake caliper in contact with the rotor? While some cars do have some kind of mechanical connection to keep brake pads in contact with rotors, the solution for other cars is to use a combination system which has a rotor and small drum cast into a single unit, and small brake shoes inside the drum. So now you have disk brakes AND drum brakes on the rear. Now things are getting more complicated, and heavier - heavier than plain rotors would be, and possibly heavier than plain drums would be - defeating one of the advantages of disk brakes. Might as well just make the drums a little bit bigger, and dispense with the rotors.
Yep. That's why trucks that need a reliable and strong parking break have them. Trailer plus truck on a hill can cause a bunch of damage if it gets loose.
I had a '73 Peugeot 504 sedan, and it had 4 wheel disc brakes. They had a metal cam on each rear caliper that was connected to the park brake cable. The easy way to set them was to hold your foot on the brake pedal, then pull the park brake handle. They worked just fine.
I remember the Corvette disc brakes. I worked for a Chevy dealer. My understanding was that the parking brake slipped on the rear disc brakes. I never thought about the fact that the linkage might have been the reason for the change back to drums. They told us that the static friction on a disc is less than on a drum. Hmm. I bet they were lying again.
My car Tata aria have all 4 Disc brakes , but handbrakes are mechanical itself , drum inside the disc is used as normal brake drum with brake shoes inside , so the handbrakes on my car are fully mechanical (drum brake) and its all wheels are discs ...got it?
My 1990 Celica has all wheel disk brakes. It depended on the trim. Lowest trim level Celicas had drums. Everything else in the lineup had all wheel disks.
Yeah my 86 as well, mine's a japanese version though and every time i open the hood i get asks if the strut bar is aftermarket. Check that out too. I don't know how your generation was but not every 4th gen came with a strut bar
Yup my 01 has read drums that I’m converting to disks, mainly cause I hate changing drums. Also I’m planning on boosting later on so I’m using bigger rotors from the avensis for stopping power
I'm surprised that any Gen6 Celica had drum brakes. But then I was also surprised when Scotty said he has manual winding windows on that car too. My 1994 Celica GT in the UK has disc rear (plus drums for handbrake) and of course electric windows. Alas no air con though. My 1972 Hillman Avenger has front disc brakes, so I'm guessing they were fairly universal by then on all but the cheapest cars (MK1 Escort base model for example). However my Avenger has no servo assistance, so you stop the car with your foot. I really like that system, you get to feel the road better, but if you're expecting a dead stop when you gently touch the brake pedal, then you're possibly in for a rude awakening.
@@daveschannel49 so they can't hear scotty's high pitch voice wearing them at the furthest distance possible from scotty ie at back end of the house dave haha (;-)
😳 a few persons i knew did the rear conversion ended up with worse braking performance because they didn't factor in that drum brakes provides more braking torque than disc and they needed to change the proportioning valve to compensate.. regular driving stick with factory set up
Scotty I think you are perhaps the most bull free advice giver. You get straight to the point, are brutally honest, and don’t beat around the bush. I like that in a person. I’ve been a mechanic for many years (not as long as you though) and watch your channel because you teach me things in an efficient manner and I like the way you give your advice. Keep up the great work my friend!!! God bless!!!!!!
Slotted or drilled rotors are a scam. Don't go for it, unless you race the car. Regular daily driving, go with the regular rotors. I learned the hard way after spending a lot of money on drilled rotors, only - as Scotty mentioned- to have noisy brakes and a lot worse breaking distance. I couldn't return them after a week of use so my rotor and pads replacement ended up costing me 3X the price instead of going with the plain old regular oem rotors from the start.
I have slotted and drilled and they have way mot bite to them! So yes i use them as i race a lot and the thermal dissipation helps a lot and is definitely noticeable.
FroztiProductions odd, because any cracking tends to be because of too much heat. The drilled holes actually help reduce the tension in the metal as well. The holes help reduce the heat of the rotor from increased air flow and help the brake dust have a place to go during use. Go with quality metal, never go to the store and get the cheapest part or go online and get the cheapest part. You pay for what you get.
Totally agree with all of your explanations here, and I learned a bunch of new things too! Thanks Scotty! For normal daily driving, I would even believe rear drum brakes last much longer than rear disk brakes (as those seems to rust way quicker, being used less often) .
Those wear discs with a drum parking brake are better they don't wear and NEVER use it for emergencies unless it's about 5 mph or less the car will spin out it's for PARKING ONLY
2017 Tacoma owner manual says that the rear drum brakes can ice up in winter if you use the parking brake at night. Water ice can form inside the drums and you'll be stuck until you can thaw them. Sure enough, some owners report their trucks are locked up in the morning after a freezing night.
Can't stand disc brakes on the rear of a vehicle in the salty states. They rust away and seize up about 3 times faster that the front discs, so you have to replace the rears every few years! Drums are pretty much lifetime maintenance-free units that are better suited for the daily driver. Plus the parking brake always works way better on a drum brake since it uses the main shoes anyways. Love the vids, Scotty!
Driven in Canada for 20 years and only ever owned two vehicles with rear drums. I’ve only had ONE caliper seize on me... and it was so easy to replace along with the ruined disc that I’d take it over drum brakes any day even if it had to change calipers every year. That same cheap jobber caliper and disc are still going strong after 7 Canadian winters... the other one is probably the age of the vehicle: 14 years.
Drum brakes on oll of my cars were rusty inside and hand brake requred maintenance. Disk brakes were always okay. Audi 80 uses main disk pads for a hand brake and it is great.
so many seized rear calipers. those pins become one and weld themselves in. I find if you are a little harder on the brakes intentionally they dont seize as bad.
Despite knowing quite a bit about automobiles myself, I still find the need to acquire new information a never ending battle, at least i will not be one of those stuck in the past mechanics. I've learned quite a bit from Scotty Kilmer.
A big reason for rear drum brakes is that it is easier and cheaper to arrange a handbrake mechanism. Some cars have a combined disk/drum at the rear, the drum just for the handbrake.
Thanks Scotty! Love the history of disk brakes you mentioned- very interesting stuff and it makes sense. Dealing with an old Ford truck with four wheel drum brakes with no brake booster and they stink! I like the idea of converting just the front. Thanks again!
I have to take back the "they stink" part. I've got them working pretty good- just needed to tighten them up. This is something you can mention on your master cylinder video- the fact that the brakes need to be properly adjusted at the wheel so that they drag a bit (at least for drum brakes) to tighten the pedal! Thanks again.
Not so easy on my car because Honda had the genius idea of making the front disc brakes hub over rotor. So you have to take the axle nut off first which requires a heavy duty impact driver or a sumo wrestler standing on the a breaker bar. Then you have to remove the hub, then the rotor comes off.
@@dekoldrick What the heck kind of Honda do you have? Apart from the stupid screws that hold the rotor onto the hub (which I threw away after the first rotor replacement), it's actually really easy to replace the rotors on my 2010 Civic.
No complaints with drum brakes on my 06 Silverado. Changed the front pads, rotors, drums, shoes, and wheel cylinders at 100k miles. They were all original. Not bad for 13 years.
pughconsulting My brakes are all original too discs are fine but the drums in the back for some reason make noise when you brake below 30 KM 25 MPH so I think it’s time for a brake job
This answered all my questions. I have a 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer ES that has 14" wheels with drum brakes in the rear, and disc in the front. The drum brakes were replaced/renewed about 18 months ago. Then about 6 months after that, I was told from another shop that they are leaking, and something (I think the cylinders) had to be replaced to stop the leaks. I only put about 9,500 miles a year on this car. It's my around town beater car, and I drive it to work which is only 7.5 miles each way. It's been a great car the 5 years I have had it. Thanks Scotty
then that means your a good driver and not to aggressive. but when brakes get old and still have lots of pad left, they get hard from age and make a squeak that drive people crazy. its normal to get 10 years out of drum brakes, they tend to get rusted up inside and fall apart. so with 100,000 on it, you still might want to have them changed. and old brakes tend to lose grip because they become hard with age. like new rubber grips very good but old dry rubber slides. over time you slowly get used to having to work the brake harder, this shortens the life of the front disc brakes as they are then made to work harder. so the 2nd set of front disc brakes tends to not last as long, and always use ceramic brakes, the cheap organic make crazy noise and makes the wheels go black with organic dirt all over them and do not take the heat nearly as well. only about a 15 dollar difference for the better ceramic brakes. ceramic is for disc brakes while drum brakes will be organic or semi metallic.
Back when there were many disc front drum rear configurations around, was the fact that drum brakes are self assisting. This was useful for the functioning of the emergeny brake system as the e-brakes used the rear brake drums /shoes and could be mechanically engauged as was done using a small e-brake pedal or hand lever. On 4 wheel disc brakes back then, Corvettes, Volvos etc. 1960 and 70's the emergency brakes where a completely separate drum brake subsystem that was designed into the rear disc brake hat on each rear rotor. Worked well but lots of parts so costly. In the 1990's, to solve the cost problem of a 4 wheel disc brake system with emergency brakes, the designed advanced into the cam driven calipers where the e-brake function could then be incorporated to use the rear disc brake pads/rotor to also function as e-brakes. Mechanical tolerance control and mechanical advanatge was the challenge that was solved.
I have had a Nissan Frontier for 25 years...and in all that time I have changed rotors once and pads several times in the front.....but I have never touched the rear drums It's a 5 speed so I do a lot of engine braking and gentle coasting whenever possible.
That's only with the badly made ones or the rotors were modded after they were made, making fractures a real possibility. That's only a problem with generic, badly made ones, or were worn out too quickly and couldn't dissipate the heat due to being far past the car manufacturer requirements for a safe usable rotor
I drive a semi truck, and to this day all trucks and trailers in the USA come with drum brakes. Some people convert to disk, but almost all of the 80,000 pound trucks still use them. And we have to be aware of brake fade, especially when coming down a mountain! But despite all that, proper use of the engine brake will keep that from happening.
Didn't the Kenworth T-600 or 660, in 2005 or so, come with disc as an option on the steer axle? Worked at a dealer and seen a couple new ones come in with them. Still used #30 cans and some type of wedge system vs s-cam? , but I left before I worked on one.
I work on super chassises and other truck components as a part time gig, and honestly, drum brakes make sense in a semi truck situation, especially when the brakes are actuated by compressed air rather than fluid. And plus, they're quite simple to replace and get to when doing wheel seals.
Omg!! I had a 1972 Maverick. I really miss those days! Bad brakes but It still my favorite car I ever had. It was my first. It was such an incredible feeling! Age slowly sucks the fun out of everything.
Ive been selling auto parts for almost 2 years now and a customer told me drums were far superior then i asked why arent higher trims offered with drum brakes? Well he was an older gentleman but i did not argue and agreed with him. Thank you for shedding some light scotty!
ummm higher rims??? you mean larger in diameter wheels??? well they do use drum brakes on bigger wheels such as old farm tractors, giant huge 8 foot high wheels. and the big semi trucks use drum brakes. now yes a semi truck may have front disc brakes, but for stopping power where more pad to metal contact is needed, drum brakes have more contact surface. so they are better for stopping heavy loads. but semi truck drivers also adjust the drum brakes every time they go out on long trips. its just a simple adjustment, no need to take the wheels off on them, its just a screw, in 2 years of selling parts, you have a very long way to go. do you know why ceramic is better than organic for disc brakes. and what happens to organic pads??
Sep596 Odds are, the customer is one of those from the 'everything was better in the good old days' mindset. You usually can't reason with them, and you did the right thing by just sending him on his way without argument.
My only guess would be that disc brakes almost need vacuum boosting to get enough mechanical advantage to work well where drum brakes can work as good as they're going to with basic hyrdraulics or even just a cable.
@@ExaltedDuck NEED vacuum assist? Depends on the vehicle. I've a few front-disk vehicles without assist - notably a '77 F100. Yes, it took a little more effort, but not a whole lot, and I got used to it real quick. I've had a few Chevettes and Pintos with unassisted front discs, too. Then there was my old Mercury Monarch with its optional 4-wheel disc brake setup ... with a frackin HYDROBOOST. All you had to do was look at the brake pedal funny and you were instantly in a four-wheel skid.
1029’24/0538h 🇺🇸 Scotty, thank you. The rear drum breaks can be, also adjusted by reversing the vehicle and pulling the hand lever, holding the release button, several times. Thus the adjusting the adjuster device gets tightened. I’ve done it and I could feel the breaking much much better. Cheers…….
An old guy told us years ago, when you downshift to slow your car your using engine parts, transmission parts and rear-end parts to brake with. A set of brake shoes or pads are way cheaper than any of those.
Especially when going through corners. Rode the Tail of the Dragon not long ago, used the rear brakes more in that day of riding than what I normally use in like 3 months
Don't forget, another reason they used them a lot in the past is that parking/emergency brakes were cheaper and more reliable(for the time) with drums...
There is one advantage with drum brakes. They are self energizing. That is that the leading shoe of the drum brake tends to wedge into the drum when applied.
Not really a good thing. My old civic with rear drums would lock easily in the back in the snow before my front would. They were a pain to adjust. Hard to drive with confidence.
Even cars with 4 wheel drums have proportioning valves as during braking there is a wheight transfer to the front so they do most of the work, regadless of being drum or disc.
not always true. my 67 chevrolet heavy duty half ton van did NOT have any proportioning valve and it would lock up the rear brakes first if the truck was empty or lightly loaded. not a great thing but that was life with older stuff.
Yeah... that’s when American vehicles were “unsafe at any speed” 400+ cubic inches of displacement and nothing but leaf springs, drum brakes, and bias plies to reel it in.
@@Bartonovich52 I don't know exactly why leaf springs would make a car dangerous. Many american cars had 4xcoil springs from the late 50's on. I imagine you mean that the rear solid axle was dangerous, but it isn't really, it may provide less exciting handling, but it a lot more predictive than the snap-oversteer caused by the swing axles used on many Euro cars at the time.
@@MrTheMiguelox Agree, many Saturday night short track cars along with vintage racers still use solid axles and leaf springs. Although, unlike some internet jockeys those people actually know how to drive.😁
Seeing how disk brakes are now the standard, even less expensive cars now have 4 wheel disk brakes. It's called economy of scale. Build more of them and it becomes cheaper. Less parts to a disk brake also makes them more desirable. Changing disk pads is way easier than drum brake shoes. I can change the 4 disk brakes on my car in less than an hour with new disks and rotors. With drum brakes, I have to remember where all the springs and pieces go and it is kind of a PIA to snap the springs into the holes of the drum shoes and back plate. Disk brakes are also self adjusting but so are drum brakes. The problem with drum brakes is getting them adjusted at first to have the correct pressure on the drum from the drum shoes. Lots of people died because of drum brakes. They used to be made of asbestos. The dust from drum brakes was toxic and lead to lung cancer. Lots of old time mechanics died of lung cancer brought on by inhaling drum shoe dust. Some have said that actor Steve McQueen died of lung cancer brought on by his inhaling brake shoe dust. He did do a lot of his own mechanical work on his machines.
but have to remember brake shoes last way longer than rear pads because of friction drag.. som people don't even change them for nearly the life of the vehicle
@@joebrown9621 My rear shoes made it to 170,000 miles and still had a good amount of friction material on them when I replaced them - I only did it because one adjuster had seized so while you're in there might as well put new ones on.
Drum brakes aren't that hard to change, its just the getting the dang springs back on that creates a headache LOL. Many vehicles that have drum brakes in the back still have those original drum brake shoes when the vehicle finally dies because they aren't used as heavily as the front brakes...that is unless someone drives around with the parking brake on LOL. Front brakes do most of the work so disc front brakes and drum rear brakes were the standard for several years, they're slowly going to all wheel disc brakes now, my 08 toyota tundra had 4 wheel disc brakes, they just wear out faster thanks to the electronic nannies using them for ABS, traction control, stability control, and the fake rear limited slip which was nothing more than the brakes being applied to the wheel that was spinning faster LOL.
Steve McQueen worked at a garage as a professional mechanic doing brake work on a daily basis. He probably inhaled lots of brake dust, which in all likelihood contributed to his getting lung cancer.
I recently found out something about rear drum brakes to be careful of. Because they don't wear quickly and get replaced very often the adhesive they use to bond the padding to the metal frame of the brake shoe can eventually break down. As such, you can have a rear shoe with a lot of miles on it that looks okay because the padding is still thick but the adhesive can deteriorate causing the padding to separate from the frame of the brake shoe. I've seen cases where the padding has separated from the frame of the shoe and gone around and gotten caught at the top and bottom of the drum. As a result I've gone back to using riveted instead of bonded brake shoes for rear drum brakes.
1970 Maverick rocks! That was my first car. 170 ci of pure awesomeness! I had 3 on the tree and converted it to a floor shift. I was working night shift at a local factory and thought I could get the job done, catch some sleep and go to work that night. I went for 3 days & nights with no sleep. I had to heat and rebend the linkage because it was backward. It was a Hurst custom made kit too.
Thanks to u scotty i got me regular brakes for my f150 ,4 motorcraft rotors n brake pads ,,i wanted drilled just for show but watching all your videos ive been learning alot ..symply go with oem i paid 600 dollars well spent ,very quite brakes ,no dust ..before i replaced my rear brakes with wagoner pads from oreylis i paid 70dollars for that trash ..at motorcraft i spend only 65 for the same pair i only had that pair for 2 weeks bc i replaced all 4 this weekend with the oem
The channel name is right under the "thumbs down" button on my phone. Sometimes trying to get to a channel I hit down by accident. I can't imagine a "thumbs down" on these videos is anything BUT an accident.
Well, Scotty talks fast and some people have a real hard time keeping up with their comprehension. And sometimes he talks about more than one thing at a time and it's complete mental overload. So they blame him
Thank you very much for the information, I was debating on potentially getting a rear disk brake conversion kit since I've never owned a vehicle with rear brake drums. Thanks again! 💯
Thank goodness I learned on drum brakes first before disc brakes became more common. Experienced brake fade (scary when first unexpected) as well as learning how to change own brake pads. And yes, back then brake linings were asbestos. Not dangerous in itself until they start to wear and create asbestos dust, which is where the danger comes from. Also from changing own drum shoes as they were called, lose the swivel pin in the grass that the shoes hinged on and you are screwed.
I put slotted cross drilled rotors on my car cause the regular rotors I use keep warping. Probably because I use cheap rotors but the cross drilled rotors on Ebay and cheap and work well.
Probably just needed breaking in to stop the warping. Which involves speeding to about 50, hard brake without stopping then speeding up to 55,60,65 doing to same thing about five times. Then let them cool down for about half an hour.
High chance your warping is from mismatched tightening of your lug nuts. It really makes a huge difference. Use a torque wrench when tightening lug nuts to ensure they are all exactly the same tightness. I used to get warped rotors on my cars all the time until i realized to use a torque wrench, ever since, no more problems. Last set of new rotors going on 3 years now, no warp or pulsing
Hans Wurst ikr, I live in the Caribbean and we got all the badass Japanese cars since we drive on the same side as the UK. The USA didn’t get any of the good cars.
Drum brakes are used because of the parking brake. Rear discs would still need a drum brake inside anyway for the parking brake so it's cheaper to let that also be the regular brake.
3:55 yeah. I was told by my mechanic that I've been using the car pretty much without the rear brakes for years. Of course they got repaired to top condition. But if I was not told there was a difference, I would not notice. The only thing I noticed is my handbrake working again.
And drums are much better in winter conditions. Sometimes ice and snow locks the rear tires (disc brakes), but with a drum brakes never had this problem.
Trump Jong Un most cars have abs to prevent that from happening and most work great. You should also pump your brakes on ice just for good measure. Disc brakes are superior to drums plain and simple
@@trumpjongun8831 no they're not they slip to much cus they wet the discs locking up is means the brakes are actually working and abs doesn't lock up your brakes you must have like an 80's car or early 90's
My 2010 Grand Marquis went over 80000 miles on the original pads and rotors. And they still had a bit of life in them, the only reason I had to changed them is the rotors got too rusty on the outside edge where there is no contact.
@@billygensmer8207 I replaced the original shoes on my '62 Impala after 75k miles when the one of the wheel cylinders blew. The car was 54 years old at that time.
Thanks scotty, i been researching 3 weeks straight and man i sure learned a whole lot, put 18 inch after market wheels on my car $$ not cheap but i love my cars to look nice since the 80s but the rims i put are way more see through than any aftermarket rim i ever bought since the 80s and the front rotors and rear break drum looked tooo rusty and my car looks super shiny paint job/ new rims and that rust drives me crazy so i ordered 2 FRONT DURAGO HIGHLY RECCOMENDED ELECTROPHORECTIC COATED 100% MILL BALANCED ROTORS FOR RUST PROTECTION and i ordered 2 TOP OF THE LINE ACDELCO PROFESSIONAL ADVANTAGE COATED BREAK DRUMS for the rear and yeah you right if i aint racing the car and its just my daily family driver i have read you are wasting your time putting the rear as disc brakes also, so your info is spot on!!
5:11 not only if you are racing but if you drive down mountains a lot. I live in a mountainous country, Haiti, so I can tell you that drilled rotors make a difference when I go down from mountains that are over 2Km (about 1.2 Mi.) high. Changing them more often should not be a problem for me so long as I feel safer.
Me too also just done a rear wheel bearing just bolted strait in got the whole hub for £26. If it was a drum i found the bearing was inside the drum and the rest of the bearing was stuck on the shaft what i nightmare
it takes a well set up mechanic only 30 minutes to do rear drum brakes. where rear disc brakes tend to get stuck slider pins and stop working on the rear, more dirt gets up into the rear, that's why drums was popular for rear brakes, they are more sealed from dirt getting in. and can last 10 years with moderate driving where as most people get 3 to 5 years out of disc brakes on the front. but they do work harder. and less brake pad material on disc brakes to do the stopping,
@@ateam6486 they get more wear and I like them for a trucks ( my drums take longer because they are usually locked up or rusted on one of the farm trucks) but not a huge fan for them on my sports cars I change my brakes out every 30-40 because I dont want them to get to low
Scotty. Alot of cars still use drum brakes for parking brakes, easier to install. Hope they still teach drums to Automotive Students, along with Carburators. And how to install a distributor. Saw a vid recently of Dickie wearing supposed mechanic wizzes, 4 whiskers between them, trying to Build a old school Mopar 440. Couldn't or didn't understand How. 😀
easier to install? why would carb. maintenance still be taught? new cars dont have distributors and new breed of mechanics are not mechanics, theyre parts changers. true mechanics are a dying breed
Michael Wilson. That's precisely what I said. You have 2 sets of rear brakes so that you can have a handbrake. Obviously that's not as cheap to make as a single set.
I have a late 80's to early 90's model Fuso Dump Truck in the philippines with front Disc Brakes already.. Bought it surplus. It amazed me since brand new japanese and chinese dump trucks sold here still has front drum brakes.
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Scotty do you ever use a lift when working on cars or is the jack and stands good for everything?
Also, would you be willing to let a team of archaeologists examine your garage?
Scotty Kilmer
you love made in chine cars mean you is democrats
Scotty, is the Lexus GS450 Hybrid from 2008-2009 a good car, any expensive or serious problems?
Scotty Kilmer uncle scotty I am confused which to buy camry or honda accord.please I need your help? I am from Saudi Arabia?
Srsly man, STOP TRANSLATING YOUR VIDEOS TO OTHER LANGUAGES!!!!
“Honey, is he still out there shouting about brakes?”
“Sure is. He’s been going since 2am this time. The police came at 3 but he ignored them, then he stopped for a coffee at 5 but he’s been flat out since then.”
Hahaha this comment is under rated. I've been watching him alot lately. hes cool but I do wonder what his neighbours are thinking sometimes hahaha
🤭😂🤣stop it you're Killin me
Lol. I am dying in the middle of pass way.
I don’t get this reference 🙈
@@alicebate6384 It's not a reference, more of a skit.
He started filming at dusk and ended at dawn. What a hero
The guy works 24/7
When do the people start turning into vampires like in the movie? 😂
Scotty, you're a straight talker with integrity. It is great to experience that rare quality in this day and age. Much of your advise and insights is much appreciated and some resonates with what I was taught 40 years ago. Keep up the good work. Your efforts are much appreciated!
I couldn't have said it better.
Scotty is the best.
Really appreciated 👌🏾
Watching this guy's channel makes me wish I had a vintage muscle car, tools, and a garage to work in. I still have that spirit in me, being from the tail end of a bygone era.
He is the man. Good upstate NY fella born & raised!
I had a 61 chevy pickup with drums. It took me a quarter mile to do a panic stop. Pucker factor = 11
@Bill Hill well I have a similar truck to your's its a 1955 GMC truck with manual drum brakes all around. It just took more effort to stop then power brakes.
@@billybob042665 Same here , on my 70 duster it was dangerous if you didn't start braking ahead of time especially in the rain , when i first got it i learned that pretty quickly after zipping past 2 or 3 stop signes lol
Ha, pucker factor. My dad used to say that. Thank you, sir. I forgot that one.
Your avatar...💀
@@jonathanbelanger6574 Stopping was an afterthought until the 80s
Scotty is always down to earth with his explanations. He’s a true mechanic and I love this channel.
Rev up your disc Brakes
Mustansar Haidat I wonder if DiscGo turned into a famous dance 💃 lol 😉
Be sure to use jack stands and make us a video!!!
Fuse your disc brakes together 💗
Don't they'll overheat ;)
spin up your rotors!
Scotty, I remember talking about this 35 years ago in college. The professor said that if you need to stop the rotation fastest drum brakes are what you want. But to have controlled breaking or not or not to instantly stop, disk works best.
Scotty has a dream about brakes. Wakes up and does a video about brakes at 3am AND you can’t forget the shades cause those lights are too bright!
I remember when GM proudly declared "Disc Brakes" on the brake pedal back in the 70's and 80's
As did Ford back in the '60s.
My 86 Chevy has it as well.
My 1993 buick park avenueultra had drums in the back.
Yet, Even they (both GM and FORD) used Drums and not Disc's at the rear
I love how Scotty speaks to both the how (direct technical explanation) and the why (history, design choices, degree of importance, etc.) for all of these basic auto issues. You can't beat a good "Pros & Cons" video. ;)
You know I've been watching a lot of Scotty's videos in just the last year and I've learned a hell of a lot. I don't agree with everything he says all the time, but I mostly agree with what he says. And he obviously knows more than I do so I've learned a hell of a lot also.
You agree with Scott cause you are a follower! Real men are building 69 charger's in our own shop's pal...
Why did you film this video at 3 am? Did you like have a nightmare about drum brakes and disc brakes lol
He's saving his daylight for when we change the clocks.
@@markgigiel2722 ken m
There is nothing like working on some car brakes at 3am in the morning! You should give it a shot!
@@ferenc-x7p farken lol
haga ha ha hagaha
Thank you for this incredible education, Scotty! You're like the "uncle" we all need to ask our car questions to.
Facts. I wish he was my unc.
Sucks that some people didn't grow up in a car guy family. My dad and his brothers were hot rodders or lowriders so everyone knew things about cars. Me and my buddies are all car guys. It's a fun and useful hobby to get in to
@@jamesearlcash7725 I can confirm that it sucks. I didn't have a dad, garage, sane older brother...any of the usual ways you learn to fix cars.
Slotted rotors have another benefit. I use slotted rotors because I live in an area with TONS of dusty dirt roads. I found that normal discs if you don't get rain after a while get dust packed between the rotors and pads travelling at higher speeds down dirt roads. Which I've had cause a lot of brake loss. Slots give a place for the dust to go and get blown out.
Hi Scotty, Your videos are a great mix of knowledge and humour. I have been watching your videos from India and learning a great deal about cars. Seeing your garage reminds me of my fathers garage. My father is an engineer and still has tools and nuts and bolts from 50 years ago in the garage. I wish you good health to keep doing what you love and keep producing these great videos. You are a global treasure.
Nice explanation. Scotty got it right this time. But he left out one of the reasons for putting drums on the rear - the parking brake. You don't want to rely on hydraulics to keep the car from rolling away after you get out of it. You want a strong, mechanical linkage to keep the friction surface firmly in contact with the drum or with the rotor. With rear drum brakes, a simple cable from the handbrake lever to the brake shoes, and another lever attached to the brake shoes, can keep the brake shoes in contact with the drum. What kind of mechanical connection are you going to use to keep the friction pads in disk brake caliper in contact with the rotor? While some cars do have some kind of mechanical connection to keep brake pads in contact with rotors, the solution for other cars is to use a combination system which has a rotor and small drum cast into a single unit, and small brake shoes inside the drum. So now you have disk brakes AND drum brakes on the rear. Now things are getting more complicated, and heavier - heavier than plain rotors would be, and possibly heavier than plain drums would be - defeating one of the advantages of disk brakes. Might as well just make the drums a little bit bigger, and dispense with the rotors.
Yep. That's why trucks that need a reliable and strong parking break have them. Trailer plus truck on a hill can cause a bunch of damage if it gets loose.
I had a '73 Peugeot 504 sedan, and it had 4 wheel disc brakes. They had a metal cam on each rear caliper that was connected to the park brake cable. The easy way to set them was to hold your foot on the brake pedal, then pull the park brake handle. They worked just fine.
I remember the Corvette disc brakes. I worked for a Chevy dealer. My understanding was that the parking brake slipped on the rear disc brakes. I never thought about the fact that the linkage might have been the reason for the change back to drums. They told us that the static friction on a disc is less than on a drum. Hmm. I bet they were lying again.
@@alext9067 i would say they are probably right about the static friction since a drum brake has a lot more surface area in contact than a disc.
My car Tata aria have all 4 Disc brakes , but handbrakes are mechanical itself , drum inside the disc is used as normal brake drum with brake shoes inside , so the handbrakes on my car are fully mechanical (drum brake) and its all wheels are discs ...got it?
My 1990 Celica has all wheel disk brakes. It depended on the trim. Lowest trim level Celicas had drums. Everything else in the lineup had all wheel disks.
Yeah my 86 as well, mine's a japanese version though and every time i open the hood i get asks if the strut bar is aftermarket. Check that out too. I don't know how your generation was but not every 4th gen came with a strut bar
Yup my 01 has read drums that I’m converting to disks, mainly cause I hate changing drums. Also I’m planning on boosting later on so I’m using bigger rotors from the avensis for stopping power
My 94 as well, makes life little bit easier when changing brakes
This guy love everything cheap and base model and no looking forward to spend any $. Typical cheapstake
I'm surprised that any Gen6 Celica had drum brakes. But then I was also surprised when Scotty said he has manual winding windows on that car too. My 1994 Celica GT in the UK has disc rear (plus drums for handbrake) and of course electric windows. Alas no air con though.
My 1972 Hillman Avenger has front disc brakes, so I'm guessing they were fairly universal by then on all but the cheapest cars (MK1 Escort base model for example). However my Avenger has no servo assistance, so you stop the car with your foot. I really like that system, you get to feel the road better, but if you're expecting a dead stop when you gently touch the brake pedal, then you're possibly in for a rude awakening.
I just can imagine scotty's neighbours wearing wireless headphones when watching tv.
I dont get it? Why?
@@daveschannel49 so they can't hear scotty's high pitch voice wearing them at the furthest distance possible from scotty ie at back end of the house dave haha (;-)
You are so direct and honest on your vids, love the vids
Your are true legend, I shared this with my Gf, she asked me about how brakes work, very helpful 👍 from 🇦🇺
👉🇺🇸🇺🇸🇦🇺👍🇦🇺🇺🇸🇺🇸👈
Scotty, you have so much energy.
Ur job is ur enthusiasm
My car is so old, its only brake is an old shoe on the end of a lever rubbing up against the edge of a wheel.
Could be worse ... you could be a calloused-foot Fred Flintstone. :-)
@@cybrarian9 That's how I get the car moving in the first place! It's hard work when I've got the whole family plus some take out dino steaks.
@@mandolinic , let me guess, your license plate says "BEDROCK" or a variant of same.
@@cybrarian9 Yabba Dabba Dooh.
Must be a model T with mechanical brakes lol
Glad I saw this, only yesterday I was contemplating replacing my drums with disks. Great timed video :D
Don't lie to yourself, you planning on adding 4 disc brakes as DLC on the next NFS.
@@brunoraoni Wrong, I was planning on adding 4 disc brakes as part of the Season Pass on the Ultra Deluxe Edition™.
😳 a few persons i knew did the rear conversion ended up with worse braking performance because they didn't factor in that drum brakes provides more braking torque than disc and they needed to change the proportioning valve to compensate.. regular driving stick with factory set up
EA Games, It's In The Grave.
Scotty still says disks are waaaay better than drums *shrugs*
Scotty I think you are perhaps the most bull free advice giver. You get straight to the point, are brutally honest, and don’t beat around the bush. I like that in a person. I’ve been a mechanic for many years (not as long as you though) and watch your channel because you teach me things in an efficient manner and I like the way you give your advice. Keep up the great work my friend!!! God bless!!!!!!
I gotta say this is a good video. I learnt a lot sir.
Slotted or drilled rotors are a scam. Don't go for it, unless you race the car. Regular daily driving, go with the regular rotors. I learned the hard way after spending a lot of money on drilled rotors, only - as Scotty mentioned- to have noisy brakes and a lot worse breaking distance. I couldn't return them after a week of use so my rotor and pads replacement ended up costing me 3X the price instead of going with the plain old regular oem rotors from the start.
I have slotted and drilled and they have way mot bite to them! So yes i use them as i race a lot and the thermal dissipation helps a lot and is definitely noticeable.
Perhaps if I plan on occasional track visits in my daily driver I should vent vented, non-slotted/drilled rotors.
@@FroztiProductions yeah well lets just hope you drive a fun daily haha
@@somedudeinchirons4936 It's fun to me, at least... It's a slow project. Drilled rotors scare me, I've heard so many stories of cracking.
FroztiProductions odd, because any cracking tends to be because of too much heat. The drilled holes actually help reduce the tension in the metal as well. The holes help reduce the heat of the rotor from increased air flow and help the brake dust have a place to go during use. Go with quality metal, never go to the store and get the cheapest part or go online and get the cheapest part. You pay for what you get.
Totally agree with all of your explanations here, and I learned a bunch of new things too! Thanks Scotty!
For normal daily driving, I would even believe rear drum brakes last much longer than rear disk brakes (as those seems to rust way quicker, being used less often) .
Those rear drum breaks make a much simpler system for the emergency brake setup.
Those wear discs with a drum parking brake are better they don't wear and NEVER use it for emergencies unless it's about 5 mph or less the car will spin out it's for PARKING ONLY
Drum brakes are less efficient.
@@Thunderstormworld yes they're less efficient but they make the best parking brake
@@DylanL69 not really, disc still out preforms and less hassle
@@DylanL69 Not when the parking brake is tucked under the hat of a rotor. You get the best of both worlds
2017 Tacoma owner manual says that the rear drum brakes can ice up in winter if you use the parking brake at night. Water ice can form inside the drums and you'll be stuck until you can thaw them. Sure enough, some owners report their trucks are locked up in the morning after a freezing night.
You're a legend Scotty. Love your passion on explaining things. Keep up the good work. GOD BLESS!!!!
Can't stand disc brakes on the rear of a vehicle in the salty states. They rust away and seize up about 3 times faster that the front discs, so you have to replace the rears every few years! Drums are pretty much lifetime maintenance-free units that are better suited for the daily driver. Plus the parking brake always works way better on a drum brake since it uses the main shoes anyways. Love the vids, Scotty!
Driven in Canada for 20 years and only ever owned two vehicles with rear drums.
I’ve only had ONE caliper seize on me... and it was so easy to replace along with the ruined disc that I’d take it over drum brakes any day even if it had to change calipers every year. That same cheap jobber caliper and disc are still going strong after 7 Canadian winters... the other one is probably the age of the vehicle: 14 years.
Shoes also last a lot longer than pads because they have more material.
Drum brakes on oll of my cars were rusty inside and hand brake requred maintenance. Disk brakes were always okay. Audi 80 uses main disk pads for a hand brake and it is great.
so many seized rear calipers. those pins become one and weld themselves in. I find if you are a little harder on the brakes intentionally they dont seize as bad.
Pine Hollow Auto Diagnostics It’s called maintenance.
I was actually thinking about going from disc brakes to drum brakes...
*...on my bicycle.*
Funnily enough, many children's bikes used something very similar to drum brakes for stopping.
I love the drum brakes on my bicycle when I was a kid. Because the screech when you hit the brakes hard. It sounds like your doing a burnout.
Why the hell u watch this video then🤣
No.
😂😂😂
Despite knowing quite a bit about automobiles myself, I still find the need to acquire new information a never ending battle, at least i will not be one of those stuck in the past mechanics. I've learned quite a bit from Scotty Kilmer.
The good thing about watching Scotty Kilmer's videos is, if you ever go deaf Scotty communicates simultaneously with sign language.
This what i really like and love with Sir. Scotty, his logic in explanations are very comprehensive. Salute to you Sir. Scotty.
A big reason for rear drum brakes is that it is easier and cheaper to arrange a handbrake mechanism. Some cars have a combined disk/drum at the rear, the drum just for the handbrake.
Thanks Scotty! Love the history of disk brakes you mentioned- very interesting stuff and it makes sense. Dealing with an old Ford truck with four wheel drum brakes with no brake booster and they stink! I like the idea of converting just the front. Thanks again!
I have to take back the "they stink" part. I've got them working pretty good- just needed to tighten them up. This is something you can mention on your master cylinder video- the fact that the brakes need to be properly adjusted at the wheel so that they drag a bit (at least for drum brakes) to tighten the pedal! Thanks again.
Scotty reminds me of the doc from back to the future. And sounds the exact same.
Hugh Mungus now you say it... he does 👍🏼
HUGH MUNGAS WHA ? HUGH MUNGAS WHA ? ARE YOU SEXUALLY HAREASSING ME
Rev up your FLUX CAPACITORS!!!
I also had an old Maverick and remember having to “pump” the brake pedal after driving through deep water to “dry out the brakes”, lol
One of the best car mechanics on RUclips...Thanks Scotty, I've learned a lot from all your videos!
I WAS JUST GOING TO DO A REAR DRUM TO DISK CONVERSION ON MY CHEVY EXPRESS VAN. THANKS FOR THE INFO JUST SAVED ME 500 BUCKS.
Thanks for clearing this one up Scotty! I've been wondering this for a long time!
Disc brakes and rotors are so easy to change too i just bought a car and glade mine have front and back disc brakes.
A seeing idog oh so true
oh yeah the birds beak, cable, springs, F&@!
Not so easy on my car because Honda had the genius idea of making the front disc brakes hub over rotor. So you have to take the axle nut off first which requires a heavy duty impact driver or a sumo wrestler standing on the a breaker bar. Then you have to remove the hub, then the rotor comes off.
The only good thing about drum brakes is that they last a long time, but disc brakes are easier to change, and they stop you faster.
@@dekoldrick What the heck kind of Honda do you have? Apart from the stupid screws that hold the rotor onto the hub (which I threw away after the first rotor replacement), it's actually really easy to replace the rotors on my 2010 Civic.
No complaints with drum brakes on my 06 Silverado. Changed the front pads, rotors, drums, shoes, and wheel cylinders at 100k miles. They were all original. Not bad for 13 years.
pughconsulting My brakes are all original too discs are fine but the drums in the back for some reason make noise when you brake below 30 KM 25 MPH so I think it’s time for a brake job
This answered all my questions. I have a 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer ES that has 14" wheels with drum brakes in the rear, and disc in the front. The drum brakes were replaced/renewed about 18 months ago. Then about 6 months after that, I was told from another shop that they are leaking, and something (I think the cylinders) had to be replaced to stop the leaks. I only put about 9,500 miles a year on this car. It's my around town beater car, and I drive it to work which is only 7.5 miles each way. It's been a great car the 5 years I have had it. Thanks Scotty
Thank you for useful presentation, Scotty! And thank you for your Service, Airborne!
The rear shoes on my 05 Vibe have lasted well over 100,000 miles. The front rotors and pads were changed around 65,000 miles.
then that means your a good driver and not to aggressive. but when brakes get old and still have lots of pad left, they get hard from age and make a squeak that drive people crazy. its normal to get 10 years out of drum brakes, they tend to get rusted up inside and fall apart. so with 100,000 on it, you still might want to have them changed. and old brakes tend to lose grip because they become hard with age. like new rubber grips very good but old dry rubber slides. over time you slowly get used to having to work the brake harder, this shortens the life of the front disc brakes as they are then made to work harder. so the 2nd set of front disc brakes tends to not last as long, and always use ceramic brakes, the cheap organic make crazy noise and makes the wheels go black with organic dirt all over them and do not take the heat nearly as well. only about a 15 dollar difference for the better ceramic brakes. ceramic is for disc brakes while drum brakes will be organic or semi metallic.
Deplorable Vibes are good cause they’re literally redesigned Toyota Matrixes...
shoes tend to last longer than even rear pads on disc brakes because of the extra frictional drag created by the pads
Driving a manual adds to brake life as well. BTW most of my driving is suburban.
Your rear disc brakes will probably last 250k+ easy if your car doesn't get rust.
Kilmer makes me happy that I was a mechanic in my younger years.
Scotty you work too much
Do you ever take a break ???
no I work every day, but this isn't work for me, it's fun and interesting helping people out
Yeah, he takes a break on this D. ;)
Maybe he should take a BRAKE.
Scotty Kilmer
Amen, that’s the only job that should exist.
*type of job
Back when there were many disc front drum rear configurations around, was the fact that drum brakes are self assisting. This was useful for the functioning of the emergeny brake system as the e-brakes used the rear brake drums /shoes and could be mechanically engauged as was done using a small e-brake pedal or hand lever. On 4 wheel disc brakes back then, Corvettes, Volvos etc. 1960 and 70's the emergency brakes where a completely separate drum brake subsystem that was designed into the rear disc brake hat on each rear rotor. Worked well but lots of parts so costly. In the 1990's, to solve the cost problem of a 4 wheel disc brake system with emergency brakes, the designed advanced into the cam driven calipers where the e-brake function could then be incorporated to use the rear disc brake pads/rotor to also function as e-brakes. Mechanical tolerance control and mechanical advanatge was the challenge that was solved.
I have had a Nissan Frontier for 25 years...and in all that time I have changed rotors once and pads several times in the front.....but I have never touched the rear drums It's a 5 speed so I do a lot of engine braking and gentle coasting whenever possible.
Don't forget drilled/slotted rotors have a tendency to crack around the holes/slots.
That's only with the badly made ones or the rotors were modded after they were made, making fractures a real possibility. That's only a problem with generic, badly made ones, or were worn out too quickly and couldn't dissipate the heat due to being far past the car manufacturer requirements for a safe usable rotor
I just stick my foot out when I want to stop
I take my shoe off when I do this
LOL
Fred Flintstone style. Lol
Fred? Hey, it's Barney here!
I don't need to.stick it out, I've got holes in the floor. Is your car rust-free then?
I drive a semi truck, and to this day all trucks and trailers in the USA come with drum brakes. Some people convert to disk, but almost all of the 80,000 pound trucks still use them. And we have to be aware of brake fade, especially when coming down a mountain! But despite all that, proper use of the engine brake will keep that from happening.
Stab braking and all that jazz. Roll that coal brother. 10/4
Didn't the Kenworth T-600 or 660, in 2005 or so, come with disc as an option on the steer axle? Worked at a dealer and seen a couple new ones come in with them. Still used #30 cans and some type of wedge system vs s-cam? , but I left before I worked on one.
I work on super chassises and other truck components as a part time gig, and honestly, drum brakes make sense in a semi truck situation, especially when the brakes are actuated by compressed air rather than fluid. And plus, they're quite simple to replace and get to when doing wheel seals.
I've heard going down a mountain, you hold your brake pedal for 3 seconds and let off then do it again a bit later.
@@patcallahan1050 I think so. I had a 2019 Cascadia with disc brakes on the steer axle, but everything else was still drums
Omg!! I had a 1972 Maverick. I really miss those days! Bad brakes but It still my favorite car I ever had. It was my first. It was such an incredible feeling! Age slowly sucks the fun out of everything.
My C240 has rear disc stoppers AND rear drum ebrake. Remove disc, mechanism inside😁. Happy your channel is prosperous.
Im laughing so hard that he kept his shades on even in the dark lol.
He's the coolest man 😎
Ive been selling auto parts for almost 2 years now and a customer told me drums were far superior then i asked why arent higher trims offered with drum brakes? Well he was an older gentleman but i did not argue and agreed with him. Thank you for shedding some light scotty!
ummm higher rims??? you mean larger in diameter wheels??? well they do use drum brakes on bigger wheels such as old farm tractors, giant huge 8 foot high wheels. and the big semi trucks use drum brakes. now yes a semi truck may have front disc brakes, but for stopping power where more pad to metal contact is needed, drum brakes have more contact surface. so they are better for stopping heavy loads. but semi truck drivers also adjust the drum brakes every time they go out on long trips. its just a simple adjustment, no need to take the wheels off on them, its just a screw, in 2 years of selling parts, you have a very long way to go. do you know why ceramic is better than organic for disc brakes. and what happens to organic pads??
If drums aren't actually better, why do heavy diesel trucks all use drum brakes.
Sep596 Odds are, the customer is one of those from the 'everything was better in the good old days' mindset. You usually can't reason with them, and you did the right thing by just sending him on his way without argument.
My only guess would be that disc brakes almost need vacuum boosting to get enough mechanical advantage to work well where drum brakes can work as good as they're going to with basic hyrdraulics or even just a cable.
@@ExaltedDuck NEED vacuum assist? Depends on the vehicle. I've a few front-disk vehicles without assist - notably a '77 F100. Yes, it took a little more effort, but not a whole lot, and I got used to it real quick. I've had a few Chevettes and Pintos with unassisted front discs, too. Then there was my old Mercury Monarch with its optional 4-wheel disc brake setup ... with a frackin HYDROBOOST. All you had to do was look at the brake pedal funny and you were instantly in a four-wheel skid.
I really like drum brakes for off roading application.
No stones!!
that's why I was surprised to hear that disks are used in tanks. Drums are more rugged.
1029’24/0538h 🇺🇸 Scotty, thank you. The rear drum breaks can be, also adjusted by reversing the vehicle and pulling the hand lever, holding the release button, several times. Thus the adjusting the adjuster device gets tightened. I’ve done it and I could feel the breaking much much better. Cheers…….
Thanks for explaining the history and performance advantages of disc brakes.
When he mentioned the Maverick I smiled
My first car was a ‘75 Maverick, disc front drum rear, non power, learned to plan my stops real quick 😂
My first car was a maverick too!
I always apply both brakes equally on a motorcycle. I don’t want a cement sandwich!
I use engine breaking and some front brake because I don't need to move my foot
As you should, keeps the back end from ending up in front of you.
An old guy told us years ago, when you downshift to slow your car your using engine parts, transmission parts and rear-end parts to brake with. A set of brake shoes or pads are way cheaper than any of those.
Especially when going through corners. Rode the Tail of the Dragon not long ago, used the rear brakes more in that day of riding than what I normally use in like 3 months
Don't forget, another reason they used them a lot in the past is that parking/emergency brakes were cheaper and more reliable(for the time) with drums...
I just changed the drum brakes on my 2006 Scion xA. That was the first and LAST time I want to do that 🤣
Good points. The thing I don't like about drum brakes is they are harder to change and they are hidden so you can't see their condition.
There is one advantage with drum brakes. They are self energizing. That is that the leading shoe of the drum brake tends to wedge into the drum when applied.
But wouldn't that also depend on if the drum brake was a servo or non servo
@@thefuzzypickle8277 whether the brake is servo assisted or not, it is an inherent trait of a drum brake.
Only on one side of the brake has this effect unless you have twin pistons or cams that are linked which is a then called a twin leading shoe system
Not really a good thing. My old civic with rear drums would lock easily in the back in the snow before my front would. They were a pain to adjust. Hard to drive with confidence.
if you change just the front brakes to disc there needs to be a proportioning valve installed for the rear brakes.
Even cars with 4 wheel drums have proportioning valves as during braking there is a wheight transfer to the front so they do most of the work, regadless of being drum or disc.
not always true. my 67 chevrolet heavy duty half ton van did NOT have any proportioning valve and it would lock up the rear brakes first if the truck was empty or lightly loaded. not a great thing but that was life with older stuff.
Yeah... that’s when American vehicles were “unsafe at any speed”
400+ cubic inches of displacement and nothing but leaf springs, drum brakes, and bias plies to reel it in.
@@Bartonovich52 I don't know exactly why leaf springs would make a car dangerous. Many american cars had 4xcoil springs from the late 50's on. I imagine you mean that the rear solid axle was dangerous, but it isn't really, it may provide less exciting handling, but it a lot more predictive than the snap-oversteer caused by the swing axles used on many Euro cars at the time.
@@MrTheMiguelox Agree, many Saturday night short track cars along with vintage racers still use solid axles and leaf springs. Although, unlike some internet jockeys those people actually know how to drive.😁
Based off all of Scotty’s vids look for:
4 wheel disc brakes
Chain, not a belt
Toyota or a good brand
Manual trans
😁😁
2 wheels disc brakes btw
The perfect vehicle has already been made and its a 1994 Toyota Celica. Save yourself the trouble don't even worry about anything else.
Quick, informative video. I love it. Came here to get an answer and I got it. Thank you Scotty!
Thanks for this illuminating historical and technical account on drum and disk brakes and when to execute a drum to disk conversion.
Seeing how disk brakes are now the standard, even less expensive cars now have 4 wheel disk brakes. It's called economy of scale. Build more of them and it becomes cheaper. Less parts to a disk brake also makes them more desirable. Changing disk pads is way easier than drum brake shoes. I can change the 4 disk brakes on my car in less than an hour with new disks and rotors. With drum brakes, I have to remember where all the springs and pieces go and it is kind of a PIA to snap the springs into the holes of the drum shoes and back plate. Disk brakes are also self adjusting but so are drum brakes. The problem with drum brakes is getting them adjusted at first to have the correct pressure on the drum from the drum shoes. Lots of people died because of drum brakes. They used to be made of asbestos. The dust from drum brakes was toxic and lead to lung cancer. Lots of old time mechanics died of lung cancer brought on by inhaling drum shoe dust. Some have said that actor Steve McQueen died of lung cancer brought on by his inhaling brake shoe dust. He did do a lot of his own mechanical work on his machines.
but have to remember brake shoes last way longer than rear pads because of friction drag.. som people don't even change them for nearly the life of the vehicle
@@joebrown9621 My rear shoes made it to 170,000 miles and still had a good amount of friction material on them when I replaced them - I only did it because one adjuster had seized so while you're in there might as well put new ones on.
Drum brakes aren't that hard to change, its just the getting the dang springs back on that creates a headache LOL. Many vehicles that have drum brakes in the back still have those original drum brake shoes when the vehicle finally dies because they aren't used as heavily as the front brakes...that is unless someone drives around with the parking brake on LOL.
Front brakes do most of the work so disc front brakes and drum rear brakes were the standard for several years, they're slowly going to all wheel disc brakes now, my 08 toyota tundra had 4 wheel disc brakes, they just wear out faster thanks to the electronic nannies using them for ABS, traction control, stability control, and the fake rear limited slip which was nothing more than the brakes being applied to the wheel that was spinning faster LOL.
Steve McQueen worked at a garage as a professional mechanic doing brake work on a daily basis. He probably inhaled lots of brake dust, which in all likelihood contributed to his getting lung cancer.
I recently found out something about rear drum brakes to be careful of. Because they don't wear quickly and get replaced very often the adhesive they use to bond the padding to the metal frame of the brake shoe can eventually break down. As such, you can have a rear shoe with a lot of miles on it that looks okay because the padding is still thick but the adhesive can deteriorate causing the padding to separate from the frame of the brake shoe. I've seen cases where the padding has separated from the frame of the shoe and gone around and gotten caught at the top and bottom of the drum. As a result I've gone back to using riveted instead of bonded brake shoes for rear drum brakes.
I drove bike for a long time. I use rear break first then front break only if I want stop faster.
2:10 - 2:14 me on a date with a big girl after being catfished
😂
ALOEVERA "hey, thats alotta weight"🤷🏽♂️
1:43 me with a big girl
@@JDMHaze THAT'S ALLOTA DAMAGE
Shit's gonna overheat fast!!! haha. Great comment Keye T.
1970 Maverick rocks! That was my first car. 170 ci of pure awesomeness! I had 3 on the tree and converted it to a floor shift. I was working night shift at a local factory and thought I could get the job done, catch some sleep and go to work that night. I went for 3 days & nights with no sleep. I had to heat and rebend the linkage because it was backward. It was a Hurst custom made kit too.
Thanks to u scotty i got me regular brakes for my f150 ,4 motorcraft rotors n brake pads ,,i wanted drilled just for show but watching all your videos ive been learning alot ..symply go with oem i paid 600 dollars well spent ,very quite brakes ,no dust ..before i replaced my rear brakes with wagoner pads from oreylis i paid 70dollars for that trash ..at motorcraft i spend only 65 for the same pair i only had that pair for 2 weeks bc i replaced all 4 this weekend with the oem
I always tell people changing drum brakes is like working on a bear trap.
Thats a load of shite
Just need the right tools and do one side at a time.
I actually am working on a 1974 maverick that also has drums all the way around, did you ever do that conversion?
Hey scotty why do some people dislike your videos 🤔 beats me!
The channel name is right under the "thumbs down" button on my phone. Sometimes trying to get to a channel I hit down by accident. I can't imagine a "thumbs down" on these videos is anything BUT an accident.
Every RUclips video has dislikes
@@Magnatross especially cnn videos
Well, Scotty talks fast and some people have a real hard time keeping up with their comprehension. And sometimes he talks about more than one thing at a time and it's complete mental overload. So they blame him
There’s haters everywhere.
Thank you very much for the information, I was debating on potentially getting a rear disk brake conversion kit since I've never owned a vehicle with rear brake drums. Thanks again! 💯
Thank goodness I learned on drum brakes first before disc brakes became more common. Experienced brake fade (scary when first unexpected) as well as learning how to change own brake pads. And yes, back then brake linings were asbestos. Not dangerous in itself until they start to wear and create asbestos dust, which is where the danger comes from. Also from changing own drum shoes as they were called, lose the swivel pin in the grass that the shoes hinged on and you are screwed.
I put slotted cross drilled rotors on my car cause the regular rotors I use keep warping. Probably because I use cheap rotors but the cross drilled rotors on Ebay and cheap and work well.
Probably just needed breaking in to stop the warping. Which involves speeding to about 50, hard brake without stopping then speeding up to 55,60,65 doing to same thing about five times. Then let them cool down for about half an hour.
High chance your warping is from mismatched tightening of your lug nuts. It really makes a huge difference. Use a torque wrench when tightening lug nuts to ensure they are all exactly the same tightness. I used to get warped rotors on my cars all the time until i realized to use a torque wrench, ever since, no more problems. Last set of new rotors going on 3 years now, no warp or pulsing
Thankfully the GT-four Celica received disc brakes on both front and rear.
My European 1.8 had all disks too from factory. I guess it's an US thing on the Celica
Hans Wurst ikr, I live in the Caribbean and we got all the badass Japanese cars since we drive on the same side as the UK. The USA didn’t get any of the good cars.
My motorcycle braking was different.
I always touched the rear brake some,
just before the front.
Keeps the forks from diving so much.
best tutorial.
fully explained.
coolest presentation and one with all my questions answered.
My 1st involvement with disc breaks was 1998. After 35 years of driving 4 wheel drum breaks it was a nice change.
Drum brakes are used because of the parking brake. Rear discs would still need a drum brake inside anyway for the parking brake so it's cheaper to let that also be the regular brake.
My Mondeo has rear discs, and uses the pads for the parking brake. My BMW, though, has combined drum/disc as you state.
Drums have more contact area than discs, are self energizing & work as a great handbrake.
And eliminate the all-too-often frozen handbrake adjustment mechanism.
9-21-2019 - - - "Twang !!! " Hey, where'd that spring go???
You are down to earth on cars and their mechanics. Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge.
3:55 yeah. I was told by my mechanic that I've been using the car pretty much without the rear brakes for years. Of course they got repaired to top condition. But if I was not told there was a difference, I would not notice. The only thing I noticed is my handbrake working again.
Drums on the rear last much longer against salt spray than discs do too.
And drums are much better in winter conditions. Sometimes ice and snow locks the rear tires (disc brakes), but with a drum brakes never had this problem.
Trump Jong Un most cars have abs to prevent that from happening and most work great. You should also pump your brakes on ice just for good measure. Disc brakes are superior to drums plain and simple
@@trumpjongun8831 no they're not they slip to much cus they wet the discs locking up is means the brakes are actually working and abs doesn't lock up your brakes you must have like an 80's car or early 90's
@@DylanL69 If the ice in your rim doesn't rip the ABS wire out.
@@ty2010 I highly doubt that ice would rip out the wire
Not to mention rear drum brakes can last up to 80k miles. At least from experiences.
So can rear discs. That’s because in normal driving they are rarely used
I never changed rear drum brakes and they lasted 250 000 miles!
The rear drums on my Ford Focus currently have 167,260 miles on them.
My 2010 Grand Marquis went over 80000 miles on the original pads and rotors. And they still had a bit of life in them, the only reason I had to changed them is the rotors got too rusty on the outside edge where there is no contact.
@@billygensmer8207 I replaced the original shoes on my '62 Impala after 75k miles when the one of the wheel cylinders blew. The car was 54 years old at that time.
If Scotty replies to my comment i will buy a Toyota instead of a Mercedes
Looks like you’re buying a Mercedes then
OOf
so, which Toyota will it be then?
Ronald de Rooij a Toyota Celica
@@ronaldderooij1774 hahahah he actually replied. well looks like i am getting a Toyota Tercel. thanks scotty !
Thanks scotty, i been researching 3 weeks straight and man i sure learned a whole lot, put 18 inch after market wheels on my car $$ not cheap but i love my cars to look nice since the 80s but the rims i put are way more see through than any aftermarket rim i ever bought since the 80s and the front rotors and rear break drum looked tooo rusty and my car looks super shiny paint job/ new rims and that rust drives me crazy so i ordered 2 FRONT DURAGO HIGHLY RECCOMENDED ELECTROPHORECTIC COATED 100% MILL BALANCED ROTORS FOR RUST PROTECTION and i ordered 2 TOP OF THE LINE ACDELCO PROFESSIONAL ADVANTAGE COATED BREAK DRUMS for the rear and yeah you right if i aint racing the car and its just my daily family driver i have read you are wasting your time putting the rear as disc brakes also, so your info is spot on!!
5:11 not only if you are racing but if you drive down mountains a lot. I live in a mountainous country, Haiti, so I can tell you that drilled rotors make a difference when I go down from mountains that are over 2Km (about 1.2 Mi.) high. Changing them more often should not be a problem for me so long as I feel safer.
Drums are such a pain at times to replace. Glad my car is disk all the way around
Me too also just done a rear wheel bearing just bolted strait in got the whole hub for £26. If it was a drum i found the bearing was inside the drum and the rest of the bearing was stuck on the shaft what i nightmare
it takes a well set up mechanic only 30 minutes to do rear drum brakes. where rear disc brakes tend to get stuck slider pins and stop working on the rear, more dirt gets up into the rear, that's why drums was popular for rear brakes, they are more sealed from dirt getting in. and can last 10 years with moderate driving where as most people get 3 to 5 years out of disc brakes on the front. but they do work harder. and less brake pad material on disc brakes to do the stopping,
@@ateam6486 they get more wear and I like them for a trucks ( my drums take longer because they are usually locked up or rusted on one of the farm trucks) but not a huge fan for them on my sports cars I change my brakes out every 30-40 because I dont want them to get to low
My previous car was drums all 'round and lucky me I never had to replace anything, worked like a charm for the whole 3 years I had it.
Just time consuming. What sucks is when the self adjuster stops working and its raining too often to do a manual adjustment.
Scotty. Alot of cars still use drum brakes for parking brakes, easier to install. Hope they still teach drums to Automotive Students, along with Carburators. And how to install a distributor. Saw a vid recently of Dickie wearing supposed mechanic wizzes, 4 whiskers between them, trying to Build a old school Mopar 440. Couldn't or didn't understand How. 😀
easier to install? why would carb. maintenance still be taught? new cars dont have distributors and new breed of mechanics are not mechanics, theyre parts changers. true mechanics are a dying breed
The other reason for rear drum brakes is that it is easier and cheaper to have a handbrake.
Michael Wilson. That's precisely what I said. You have 2 sets of rear brakes so that you can have a handbrake. Obviously that's not as cheap to make as a single set.
I have a late 80's to early 90's model Fuso Dump Truck in the philippines with front Disc Brakes already.. Bought it surplus. It amazed me since brand new japanese and chinese dump trucks sold here still has front drum brakes.