Brake Drums

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ptbill

ptbill

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Doing a brake job on my 65 Barracuda with 9" shoes and keeping the car mostly stock. My question is should I have my old drums turned at $15 each or Rock Auto has drums for $17 to $20 each. Not sure of the quality of the drums. Need opinions.
Thanks Bill
 
I have heard several people complain about the quality of the available "new" drums. Seems hit and miss with roundness, weights, etc. If your present ones can be turned try it. At least you know their history. Maybe some others on this forum have experience using the new stuff.
 
General Disarray said:
I have heard several people complain about the quality of the available "new" drums. Seems hit and miss with roundness, weights, etc. If your present ones can be turned try it. At least you know their history. Maybe some others on this forum have experience using the new stuff.
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Like others have stated, most replacement drums are from China. Dubious quality and material used on this stuff.
There's a reason the stuff is dirt cheap.
 
Lots of cast parts are being made in India now. Their castings are decent but the machine work is usually crap. They make cylinders for antique Indian motorcycles and they are pretty much junk.
That being said, I have some rock auto 11" drums I just bought and they look to be very good quality. Im sure the metal is much softer and they wont last as long.
Im just glad that these are still available new.
 
I have done hundreds of brake jobs. What you should learn from the previous is- if you are able to safely turn your drums, do it. If your drums are out of spec and you need to replace them- turn the new ones also. The quality of all of our parts is getting worse and worse. You should be concerned about two things here. That the drum is round, most are not, leading to poor braking. The other thing is the condition of the mating surface, breaking the glaze, making the surface more consistent and allowing the shoe to "bite". There are times during a build that you can go "cheap", but doing brakes is not one of them. Do it once - do it right.
 
Murray said:
I have done hundreds of brake jobs. What you should learn from the previous is- if you are able to safely turn your drums, do it. If your drums are out of spec and you need to replace them- turn the new ones also. The quality of all of our parts is getting worse and worse. You should be concerned about two things here. That the drum is round, most are not, leading to poor braking. The other thing is the condition of the mating surface, breaking the glaze, making the surface more consistent and allowing the shoe to "bite". There are times during a build that you can go "cheap", but doing brakes is not one of them. Do it once - do it right.
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Murray has sound advice. If originals can be turned, do it. The quality of 40-50 year old steel is better than new
foreign steel. If you want to find about the quality of Chinese steel, look up articles on line about the new bay bridge in San Francisco.
 
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