Need help trying to decide which to go with. I want to do a drum to disc conversion on my protege, but i also want a sim setup. Unfortunately I only have the budget to do one (roughly $500). The car is currently a autocross/DD but Im slowly moving it more towards on track use but I do plan on keeping the engine stock so I don't know if the rear discs are going to be overkill or make little difference. The fronts already do a really good job of slowing the car down as is.
Rear disc brakes on a light fwd autocross car add unsprung weight, a bit of cool, and not much more.
Rear disc will help your lap times basically not at all. Sim setup.
One has the ability to entertain you.
One has the ability to keep you alive.
I vote for the sim setup. You're already fast as berkeley in that car.
Not running is an inconvenience. Not stopping will kill you.
I could definitely see rear drums becoming an issue on track.
I still vote sim setup.
dculberson said:Rear disc will help your lap times basically not at all. Sim setup.
This. The rear discs would have very little effect on your fastest lap time, although they will affect how many laps you can do at once...
Just a nugget of information for your decision:
Chrysler ran some Stock Shelby Chargers at a 24-hour race at Nelson Ledges back in the early 80’s. At one point a rear brake line started leaking due to road debris, etc. The team clamped off the rear brake line with a pair of hose grips and the car continued the race and I believe it won its class.
The drivers didn’t notice a difference and their lap times didn’t change.
The Shelby Charger had 10-1/4” vented discs and single piston calipers in the front and 220mm rear drums.
So yeah, unless you plan on adding a bias bar/brake proportioning valve that is adjustable by the driver with a ton of weight movement/corner balancing, I’d say keep the brakes in good working order and get on with it.
Reasons I would swap rear drums for disks: The old drums are crusty and seized so would be getting replaced anyway or I was building a car for endurance racing. Even then, people have run small cars with rear drums in Lemons and Chumpcar without issue.
Otherwise, I’d just put track worthy pads and rotors on the front and make sure there’s good fresh fluid in the lines. Maybe worry about it later if you have issues with heat, which would be unlikely for rear brakes on a smaller car.
This is really an entertainment question: what is more fun for you, changing the brake setup or playing video games?
I know my answer, but I already have a sim setup....
The only benefit I see in the rear disc swap on my Civic, other than the "cool" factor, is that discs are easier to service than drums, but drums last forever, it seems. I'd find a track day.
In reply to Stefan :
This is pretty much what I was looking for. My brakes right now more than meets my autocross needs but just wasn't sure about track use. I'll go with the sim setup and just buy a set of replacement shoes and drums when I take it to the track.
You'll need to log in to post.
