Not taking sides in this one, but drive a 37 Ford with the stock cable operated drums, or a 63 valiant in a downpour with a single chamber master cylinder.

Discs are better. Chrysler had them on the first 300 in 1955.

In Virginia driving your car "hard' on public streets can cost you the car, and leave you with the payment book.

regards
gary

lol my model AA truck has 4 wheel drum brakes. they are oversized majorly to account for if the truck was loaded up with its load capacty of 1.5 tons thier close to modern drum but different in the way that theres no wheel cylinder and in its place a V shaped wedge that pushes the pads out to contact the drum

others who drive thiers around say if they stomp on the brakes it can put your face into the windshield (mechanical linked rods to the brakes, no cables/ fluid to do any stopping) the time it takes to stop is equal to the force you press.

typically drum brakes (especially ye old car ones) are suspectible to locking up.

my friends car (75 maverick) has 4 wheel drums and stops mighty fast

my chevette has manual brakes, front solid rotors and rear drum. it can stop pretty fast but feel its not good enough.

my dads 60 VW Ghia has 4 wheel drum and that thing stops on a dime!

now my s-10 is annoying cuz its got rear abs (supposedly) so when i have to jam the brakes the front wheels slide and the back doesnt...

heres a pic of the model AA brakes
https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...2dd7c98423.jpg
https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...a4979281a9.jpg

front axel with hubs
https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...9b9fb6e161.jpg

just a side note...

i don't have a link, sorry, but a radio program informed listeners here locally of inferior brake pads and shoes. you know, the $8 variety at the cheap discount auto joints and $50 installed brakes offers?

in addition to poor quality, there's the formerly banned chemicals being used such as asbestos, mercury, and such. i wouldn't want to be around those even on my car!

i prefer ceramics BTW...less heat, no dust, and shorter braking distance.

I agree. Even people driving economy cars drive hard enough that drums aren't the best choice. It's quite common.

What are the supposed benefits again? I find it hard to believe that the difference would be measurable. Anyway, the safety IS far more important. Then there's the cost of the conversion...it will never pay for itself.

Here on GasSavers.org, most of us advise against doing things that are illegal or that drivers find dangerous.

Most of us advise against tailgating trucks; not only is it dangerous (visibility, flying tire fragments, etc) and rude, but it's also ineffective. A safe 3 second following distance (far more than most other road users practice) has been found to be most effective for some people, though some report success as close as 1.5 seconds -- but any closer and FE goes down, not up. There's a link about drafting in my sig.

Taking turns at high speeds, well, I don't know how many other hypermilers do it, but I started doing that back when I took pride in being able to waste gas like no other. When talking about it, I try to express the importance of knowing your limits and leaving some wiggle room. The car's handling is NOT the only limit; much more important is visibility. If you can't see perfectly around the turn, you don't know what's there. These days, trying to save gas, I take my turns slower because I'm usually not trying to accelerate balls-to-the-wall through them.

Engine-off cruising is not as bad as it seems on first impression. I recommend against doing it anywhere that there's other traffic (vehicular, pedestrian, or wild animals), anywhere that it's illegal (and I started a thread to collect such laws, it's not as clear as you might think), or for anyone who is not comfortable with it. Steering works fine and brakes do not stop working just because the engine is off -- and in the time it takes to use up all your brake boost (2 heavy applications or 4-6 medium for my car), you can dump the clutch and have the engine running again (not to mention extra engine braking). Then there's discussions of the mechanical effects on the car, etc.

More people would remove airbags for hot rodding than would do so for hypermiling. They don't weigh much, and most cars don't get a FE benefit from the usual weight loss efforts (another link in my sig).

That attitude is in line with most GasSavers.org users. Saving gas pales in comparison to saving lives.

There seems to be some degree of willful ignorance going on here, so whatever. :rolleyes:

that requires a willful suspension of disbelief! :)

not here tho. i own stock in ceramics, so i'm willfully, intelligently pushing for my shares to do better!