As to the efficacy of using discs…
As someone who daily drives a classic car, for two decades driving a 1947 Desoto Long Wheelbase Sedan in San Francisco city stop and go traffic and on the highway to our place 80
miles away I can talk with some experience on this issue.
If drum brakes are properly done, they work fine in normal driving conditions.
The two key phrases here are “properly done” and normal driving conditions”
Finding people to properly turn a drum and have and know how to use an arc machine is getting harder and harder at least in California. Sure, one can buy all the equipment yourself
and do it, but that gets old as ones back gets older.
The normal driving conditions of the 1950’s and 1960’s is nothing like today. A lot more stop signs, a lot more traffic lights, and a lot more people driving on the road. Most of
the cars on the road are using disc antilock brakes.
The mismatch between modern traffic conditions and car with the drum brakes can and does become an issue. How much depends on where you live, and if the classic car IS your main
car.
Brake fade is an issue. In the old days everyone knew that so going down a mountain or big hill in second gear to save the brakes was a normal thing. People did not hound you on
the rear bumper. Today is totally different. You can become less safe doing that because of other people trying to pass you in places they should not. Discs make that issue for the most part go away.
High freeway speeds and anti-lock brakes.
I have had people on several occasions dive into my stopping distance and then jam on their anti-lock brakes. I had a hard time at 75 MPH trying to stop straight as the drum brakes
even when adjust fine do not like hard emergency braking at that speed. They tend to pull. Do I want my wife trying to handle a situation like that? No. My years of racing drum cars as a kid prepared me, her not so much.
For 95% of the classic cars the stock drums are just fine. But if you are going to use the car in high concentration stop and go traffic, high speed high concentration freeway driving
and / or mountain driving then discs may be a good choice.
Driving the 1947 with drums was PITA around San Francisco and the area. When I changed it to front disc brakes it was much improved and a lot easier to maintain. With about 5 years
with drums and 15 years with discs I can attest to the improvement.
I plan in using an AAJ kit on the 300K with Wilwood calipers. I also completely rebuilt the stock system, and I am using that now. When I get around to doing the swap, I will of
course report back how it works. I intend to be brutally honest and if the swap yields little I will say so. If it is worse, I will swap it back.
In any case, all the original rebuilt parts will be tagged and crated so in 20 years when I am dead if a new owner wants to make it stock they can. That is my thing. I do not mind
alterations if all the parts are bagged and tagged so it can be reversed with a couple of weekends of work.
James
From: dave
mason <forwardlook300@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2024 09:24
To: Michael Corrigan <mcorrigan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Peter Pellicani <pellicaniaerosvc@xxxxxxxxx>; Chrysler 300 List Server (chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) <chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; James Douglas <jdd@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: {Chrysler 300} Brake Line Routing
Although we don’t plan on changing any cars to disc brakes, it’s my understanding that they don’t help the car stop any better than drums, but where they shine is superior cooling
and therefore less brake fade. Could be better for someone driving in the mountains or pulling a load?
D&K
I agree we are here to help one another and this hopefully includes avoiding making mistakes. Ther are also legitimate differences of opinion. With respect to this issue, my own
experience with AAJ may be worth relating.
I suspect that I am like many people who generally believe disc brakes are better than the old drums and better able to stop big heavy cars quickly. I was attracted to this conversion
because it looked relatively simple and I hoped to drive my car a lot. The process was anything but simple and once I started down the path, the problems compounded. For example, the fancy new double chamber master cylinder that AAJ sold me that was supposed
to make the whole system safer, didn’t have the correct fittings in it, and I spent a fortune, trying to figure that out before ultimately my mechanic swapped it out for an original master cylinder from a junked H.
I left the drum brakes as they are on the J I bought a year ago and as many writers here have confirmed, the car stops just fine. Many members of this forum, who know a lot more
than I do have repeatedly said that the folks at Chrysler probably knew better in most cases then the people who came later trying to “improve“ what was built originally. My own experiences make me increasingly of that mind as well.
My advice to all of our members is to move very slowly with any decision that involves a modification from the original specifications because it can often lead you into unexpected
and unpleasant new territory! Our cars are pretty darn nice as they are!
Excellent response and I agree. Also having a non-Letter car you are automatically in that "group" Doesn't apply to all, but if the shoe
fits.....
One would hope that the Club would be big enough and confident enough to support all its members when they ask a question.
I find it irritating when members disparage another member because they happen to choose to make a modification to their cars.
Unless one is an ultra-purist and goes to the trouble of finding all NOS parts for a car, sends out all the reused parts for
the “correct” plating that the factory used, sought out original material, and on and on… then all of use are in one way or another “modifying” the cars.
It is only a matter of degree to which we are modifying it.
Helping a person should be the goal of all club members not telling him/her that their choices are bad because it is not your
choice.
I hope that Zach will post some photos so I can see what he is dealing with and I for one would be happy to try and help him
as opposed to just be dismissive to him.
James
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